Well, here's the chapter.

BTW, in case there was any confusion, I meant May Zedong, not May Marigold. Maybe I'll do her next time, maybe not, who knows! Have fun reading!

In the wastes,

Two walk,

A houseless knight,

And a one eyed sniper.

Vacuo sucked.

Ok, ok, ok, that was unfair. More specifically, traveling in the desert sucked. And that was a sentiment almost nobody in Vacuo disagreed with. It was the same in Atlas, people just hated traveling anywhere outside the cities. It sucked for similar reasons: extreme temperatures that made you uncomfortable, harsh terrain, and harsher Grimm.

So yes, the deserts sucked. Yes, they were beautiful, yes, they were grand and sprawling, and yes, the nomads that he occasionally met were very nice and even lended him some water dust.

But it still sucked. Jaune had padded his clothes with ice dust just to keep his armor on and that was actively neutralizing his passive aura regeneration. So he'd have to choose between either being baked in his metal coffin or not letting his aura regenerate from the the damage it took from a fight he had with a boarbatusk

Luckily, he remembered the trick that the homicidal desert gods hated: traveling at night. During the day, he'd just lay on the dunes or play a game with Darling, or more likely sleep. At night, he was free to travel without the need to fear the heat.

"Ah, the desserts. They never lose their charm. Did you know, I played quite the game with a mischievous thief here. He thought himself clever with his ingenious and ancient tricks. I suppose he was. But what he didn't realize was that he was playing against the mother of cheating." Darling laughed to herself as she laid on a magical sunchair and sipped from a pina colada.

When Jaune asked for a sip, she told him if he bet his soul she'd consider it.

Jaune was tempted.

Sitting in the dessert under the sun was made tolerable with an umbrella he had bought from a caravan that was passing by. It was nice, perfect for dessert travel. It completely blocked the sun from hitting his face or eyes as he laid on the sands on the side of a dune.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

And then Jaune heard rifle shots. Loud rifle shots. Jaune sighed, he really couldn't let this go. His curiosity really sucked sometimes. Then again, curiosity was what allowed him to enter this life in the first place, so, well, it really was a mixed book. There was about a 5% chance that he was going to be shot, but who cared?

Jaune walked over the dune, taking care to carry his umbrella, and saw quite the sight.

A young girl, about his age, with tan skin and rosy hair wearing a beanie that covered her left eye, multiple piercings on her right ear on top of a ripped lobe on her left, a red and white striped hoodie, a black scarf that covered her neck, and some rolled up tracksuit pants. She also carried a neat looking mecha-shift axe, one she was using to cut the absolute crap out of a cluster of sulfur fish.

She wasn't making much progress though, given how the Sulfur Fish collective took minimal damage from the individual slashes. Well, Jaune decided to do his job. He began to sllide down the dune and midway through, he hopped upwards and adjusted himself so he was right above the Sulfur Fish. He twisted midair so his feet faced down and when his armored feet crashed into the Grimm, he poured amplified aura into the sabatons.

And the Sulfur Fish were either smashed to bits or flung in the air.

Either way, they were dealt with.

And when the dust cloud was clear, he was face to face with the girl from earlier, who was picking herself up from the floor. She turned her axe into a sniper rifle and was pointing it at him, her one visible eye squinting cautiously.

"W-who are you?" Her voice was soft, a bit scratchy, and there was a tinge of fear.

"Name's Jaune Arc, short, sweet, rolls of the tongue, ladies love i-" Jaune was promptly shot in the face for his troubles.

"You deserved it." Jaune was nursing a small ice dust pack on his face as he and the girl, May Zedong, were sitting under an umbrella. Some time had passed and after several misunderstandings, they had finally come to a peace.

"It was cheesy, but did you really need to pull the trigger?" Jaune sighed, his face was still sore. Thank god for aura, he supposed, but even with a very strong aura pool, a rifle shot point blank in the face still hurt like a ten ton brick slamming his kneecap.

"Yes." Evidently, she didn't trust Jaune.

"Jeez, that's what I get for trying to help."

"It is, should've just left me alone." Did she not get sarcasm? Whatever. "Also, you sounded like a sleaze."

"I-" Jaune's finger was up, but he failed to find a point in his favor. "-Yea that's fair."

"Like a real piece of shit. The type of guy who says he'll pull out-"

"Ok, this is getting real personal real quick." Jaune sighed. "Look here, why don't we just start over-"

"Nah."

"Ok then!" Jaune threw his hands up, he'd given up at that point. "I'm going to go then." Suddenly, he felt a tug at his hoodie. "Hmm?" He looked over to see May, holding on. "Let go."

"I don't wanna."

"What are you, five? Let go." Jaune tried walking, but was met with fierce resistance. And by fierce resistance he meant that May was using her entire weight to try and keep Jaune from going. "LET GO!"

"NO!"

"WHY!?"

"B-because." May blushed, embarrassed. "I can't survive on my own."

"..." Jaune sighed. Pragmatism and politeness warred in his head. In the end, his noble side won out, like it usually did. So, he sat down once more, which earned a slight smile from May. "Alright, what's the pitch?"

"Well, I'm a student from Shade." Jaune nodded. "And the bitch pack-I mean Team NDGO decided it'd be funny if they shoved me into a malfunctioning rocket locker. So, I'm out here."

"On the edges of the Vacuan deserts?" He'd heard a few things about the academy's rocket lockers, but they were that powerful!?

"Yep." Wow. "Anyways, I'm trying to get back. But, well." May was scratching the side of her head as her embarassment deepened. "I have no clue how to survive. And, I'm a sniper." She pointed at her rifle. "I do best with someone to take attention off of me. And without my team, well, yea." Jaune sighed, she really did have his sympathy now. Still was kind of a jerkass, but that never stopped him from helping anyone out.

"Fine." Jaune supposed he was just the tour guide for troubled children now. Though, he was a child himself. Or was he? He'd have to check if his 18th birthday had passed yet. "Let's get to actually know each other, then."

"W-what are you talking about? Don't be weird, I just need a spotter, nothing else." Jaune sighed. And all was the norm once more. Well all was back to the norm that was established about 20 minutes ago, but still.

"Alright then, let's turn in for sleep." And so, Jaune, making sure to stick somewhat close to the center of the shade, closed his eyes and laid down. As he tried to force himself to sleep, he couldn't help but feel something poking at the back of his head. "Are you actually staring at me until I fall to sleep?"

"Yep."

Jaune sighed, this was going to be a fun few days, wasn't it?

"Have I ever mentioned how much I hate the desert?" Jaune sighed as he shook the sand out of his armor for the tenth time that day and probably 50th time in the past couple days they've been walking. "Like, seriously! It sucks!"

"Heh, weakling." It was a little before noon, only a few hours until sleep. On Jaune's insistence, they had taken a break under the umbrella, on the top of a small dune this time, with May peering through the scope of her rifle. Jaune was busy shaking the sand from his greaves and the inside of his shoes to bother responding to the jab. "Anyways, that's why I wear these."

"A puffy winter jacket and track pants? Sorry, I want to look like a huntsman, not a freaking gym teacher whose son turned down the thermostat." May offered a flipped bird in exchange. "Real creative." He really hadn't had a good way to vent his anger for a while and May had made herself an open target. "Use a bit of that mighty imagination of yours to get a better name for your gun, by the way."

"Hey! Headhunter is a good name." May's indignant tone earned a scoff.

"Might as well have named my sword 'sharp stick,' or 'cutter of things.' Or if we're going the cliche route, named it Muramasa! And I'm not even Mistralian!" May upped the ante with another flipped bird. A very childish part of Jaune was tempted to put rings on them. "Seriously, at least name it something cool, like Leadray or Decapitating Strike!"

"Fuck no! And what are with those names? Leadray? Sounds like something you'd eat and choke on like a moron. And Decapitating Strike is just a generic attack name. Headhunter is cool, it applies to the rifle and the axe!" To demonstrate, May had switched Headhunter to axe form. "And your weapon fucking sucks too! At least I have mecha-shift. Meanwhile, you're just larping around Remnant like a moron with a sharp piece of metal and no brains!"

"Yea, and how many times has Headhunter jammed from sand?"

"..." May blushed, he had her there.

"See! SEE! And do you think this sword can jam?"

"I'll jam that fucking toothpick up your-"

The sound of a stampede drew their attention as they saw a small pack of desert hogs running towards them. Oh, did he say desert hogs? Jaune meant Boarbatusks, they were boarbatusks. Probably drawn in by the argument. Wait, fuck, they were boarbatusks! The hog Grimm began to rapidly spin as they approached the duo, who realized the situation they were being thrust into fairly quickly. Both May and Jaune rolled out of the way, though Jaune had to use his boost to get a little extra distance. But the wind created by that blew a bit of sand into May's face, causing her to raspberry and rub her eyes, dropping Headhunter for a second.

"FUCK YOU!" May offered both flipped birds once more before switching Headhunter to rifle configuration.

"Up yours as well!" Jaune automatically replied as he pulled out Crocea Mors. By then, the Boarbatusks had slammed into the umbrella, shattering it entirely. "DAMNIT!" After that, the Boarbatusks rolled on past and began to circle them. The two of them backed up, slowly, as the circle grew smaller and smaller.

"Your armor is uncomfortable to lean on." May muttered as their backs were forced together. "Anyways, I need you to flip them. Don't worry about anything else, alright?"

"Yea, yea, let's see you put your money where your mouth is." And then, the Boarbatusks charged. They charged from different directions, leaving no place safe. Jaune scowled and kneeled down, pointing his shield skywards. "HOP UP!" May, to her credit, didn't hesitate as she stepped up onto the plate and prepared to jump. With Jaune providing help in the form of catapaulting her, she lept high into the air and pointed Headhunter downwards.

Meanwhile, on the floor, Jaune had a different issue. Four boarbatusks in four directions, all rolling towards him. And he needed to flip them all.

"Here we go." Utilizing Calm Waters to make sure he didn't mess anything up, Jaune whipped out his flare gun and shot at one of the Boarbatusks, angling it so the charging hog was thrown off course. Meanwhile, he chucked Crocea Mors at another to do the same thing. Then, he threw his grappling hook with all his might (and the help of gravity dust jets), giving it enough momentum to knock another one off course. Now that he wasn't under threat from multiple target, Jaune angled his shield so the only one still on course could hop on it like a ramp.

And then he angled it up and up more and more, until it went flying upwards. With an armored foot, he kicked one of the off course ones, using his armor to amplify the kick enough so that it could match and best the momentum of the rolling Boarbatusk. It was sent flying. For the third, Jaune used his magnetic arm guard to retrieve Crocea Mors. He gripped onto it with his right hand before swinging at the third Boarbatusk as if he was hitting a golf ball. While he didn't cause it to completely halt, that wasn't the intention. Instead, the rolling boar spun on top of Crocea Mors and was launched in the air. Finally, Jaune dropped his sword and turned to the fourth and final Boarbatusk. He kneeled and put on one of his gauntlets before pulling back his arm. And right as it was about to charge at him, he unleashed an uppercut on the rolling hog. The gravity dust in his gauntlets gave him the necessary kick to send it flying upwards.

And while Jaune proved he was no slouch, May was showing her chops in the sky. Even though Jaune had launched them into the air and slowed down their momentum, all of the Boarbatusks were still spinning very rapidly in the air. But that didn't matter to May. She shot one, two, and three with ease. And just to one up Jaune, she loaded a gravity dust shot in and fired it, launching her downwards towards the fourth target, and switched Headhunter into axe mode.

And as she landed on the floor, she used it to cleave the flying pig in two.

With heavy breathing, the two junior hunters had finished the fight. Jaune was now retrieving his grappling hook while May was reloading Headhunter. All the while, they muttered.

"You did good." Jaune was the first to speak.

"You too."

"Nah, the shooting was better. I know someone who could probably do what I did in a fraction of the time."

"A robot is better at aiming."

"So, you're as good as a robot, that's a compliment. Robots can also fight the Leviathan."

Beat.

"Can you just fucking take the COMPLIMENT!?" Somehow, the two of them had made it into a competition again.

"Not until you take YOURS!" Fortunately for both of them, they had used so much air dealing with the hogs that their argument was cut short so they could both take a breath.

"I guess I did alright." Jaune gave in, sheepishly scratching the back of his head.

"And I wasn't too bad at aiming." May did as well, tugging a bit too hard on her beanie.

"Alright, let's get back to-" Jaune turned to stare at the patch of sand where the umbrella used to be. "Brothers damn it."

"Well, shit, what do we do?"

"Well, we can't sleep during the day anymore." Or else they'd overheat and die. Their ice dust packs only worked as long as they were conscious. Jaune was pretty sure there weren't any trees or convenient houses nearby to sleep under. And the both of them were dressed very heavily, so if they tried taking a nap, they'd be baked very quickly. "I guess we'll just have to walk with the sun out." Jaune sighed, he got the umbrella to avoid that! "Or I guess we could take shifts. One of us sleeps while the other walks."

"Hell no, you'd probably do something weird."

"Oh please, a hole in the sand is more attractive. Plus, being a nomad doesn't mean that I treat everything like its my private space." Jaune rolled his eyes, even though a very vocal part of him was screaming at him. Jaune rolled his eyes at the internal criticism, it seemed like May just brought out the worst in him.

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean? I'm plenty pretty." Where was this going? Why? Is she just going to argue with him for the sake of arguing? Yea, ok, actually, that makes sense.

"Yea? Sure you are." Jaune decided to go where it hurts. He learned this trick when mom insisted that she was totally cool and hip.

"Like you're any better, pretty boy. You say you're an adventurer? Why are you as pale as snow? And your mop looks like its mamde up of golden retriever asshairs."

"Look whose talking about snow, discount snowboarder. Oh, sorry, is it sandboarding? I forgot that you can only afford to slide down nature's kitty litter."

"I'll have you know that sandboarding is equally, if not better than snowboarding."

"Sure it is."

"Ok, you know what, you win, that looks way better than snowboarding." Jaune and May were taking a break after they found a wooden board by a range of steep dunes.

"See! Glad to know that you aren't totally helpless." May smiled smugly as she flipped around on the impromptu sandboard. She had just demonstrated to Jaune the wonders of sandboarding, having climbed the dune before going at high speeds down it using the board. "Now, you try!"

"Really? C'mon, we still have places to be."

"Just do it! This is really fun!" May, for once, wasn't cursing him out or insulting him in any way. In fact, she was just smiling, earnestly excited to see someone else share in the wonderful hobby of sandboarding. Impressed by this rapid onset of character development, Jaune gave a beleaguered sigh and took the board.

"Fine." And so, he took the wooden thing and carried himself up the dune, only falling once. When he reached the peak, it really did feel like he was on top of the world. Nothing for a good while was taller than the dune, no mountains, no skyscrapers, nothing. It was just him, the open land, and the sky. But what goes up most come down, so Jaune set the sandboard down, hopped on it, and leaned forward.

The sandboard tipped over, and he fell. He then proceeded to continue to fall down the dune, a lot. He began rolling as the sounds of metal hitting metal, Jaune grunting, and the soft thuds of a very unamused Valean hitting the sand rang through the air.

As soon as he reached the bottom, face down, of course, he let out a long sigh, and immediately got up after he started choking on sand.

"HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAH!" May had given up on trying to hold it in. She was bent over, laughing at him. She was crying tears of pure bliss which came out faster every time she snuck a look at Jaune shaking the sand out of his hair and armor.

"Yea, yea, laugh it up." Jaune was emptying his shoes of the sand, again. Seriously, this was getting annoying.

"S-s-s-sorry, thi-this is just so good. I wish I got video of that." Thank Brothers she didn't. He had enough embarrasshing stuff on record. "A-alright, let me show you how to do it."

"Eh, so that wasn't a ploy to embarrass me?"

"Nah, I just thought you knew, probably shouldn't have." A sly smirk was on her face as she climbed up the dune, collecting the midway stuck board as she went. Jaune sighed and climbed it once more, meeting her at the peak.

"So, what did I do wrong?"

"Well, what did you do?" Now that they were on top of the dune, wind blew past them. Both Jaune and May's hair dynamically fluttered with the breeze.

"What did I? Oh, well, I leaned forward." May raised an eyebrow, that was it? "Uh, yea?"

"Jeez, blonde and dumb, what a stereotype. At least you're cute."

"What was that I heard?"

"Nothing!" A blush formed once more before she cleared her throat. "Nothing, nothing. Let me explain it to you this way. Sandboarding is not like driving a car. Sandboarding is the art of becoming one with the dunes through using the board. You glide on the grain and use the wind as your road, even without sails. Like riding the waves, you keep your balance carefully and trust in nature."

"So it's an aura thing?"

"I mean if you want to be boring about it, yea." She hopped onto the board, though she didn't lean forward. "You want to let your aura flow naturally into the board. You're not reinforcing it, you're digging roots. Those keep you on it, but they also let you control it better. Doing that also gets the board to slide better, which lets you move faster for longer periods of times." Jaune entered Calm Waters to sense what May's aura was doing. And, indeed, her aura was flowing into the board. But instead of flowing like water into a jar or paint onto a surface, it had slowly seeped into it like growing roots. Growing roots that held the board to her feet.

"Huh, that's actually pretty simple." And now he felt dumb.

"Yea! And then you can do cool tricks, like this!" She did a few flips and kicks on the board, satisfaction and pride evident in her smile.

"You know, you actually are pretty cute." Jaune said, not really thinking about it. It was just hormones and loneliness running high, he supposed.

"What?"

"Nothing." Thankfully, he was whispering. "Now, let me try." Maybe compensating a bit much for making that comment, Jaune shoved May off of the board and took it himself. With a bit of effort, he let his aura seep into the board, just like how May did it. And then, he leaned forward.

And boy, did it feel way better than it looked. He felt all the sand clinging to his hair practically fly off as he gained momentum down the dune. Even without a frame of reference, Jaune could tell the aura made a difference as he kept on going, even when the ground plateaued.

And then, he noticed Sand Sharks, usually some very dangerous Grimm, coming by. So, he threw his grappling hook, using the jets on it to adjust the aim, and wrapped it around the sand shark's fin. From there, it was easy sailing as he rode the sandshark into the sands, his hair blown back with the wind.

Meanwhile, May was at the top of the dune, watching with her scope.

"Motherfucker." She sighed, he really got into it, didn't he? Whatever. She loaded some gravity dust rounds before tossing the Headhunter onto the dune and hopping onto it to use as a board. Using her feet and aura, she began going downwards. Occasionally, she'd boost her momentum by firing Headhunter, using her feet to pull the bolt back with every shot. Even though Jaune was being carried by the very fast sand shark, May was adept at sandboarding and was able to slowly close the distance.

Eventually, she hopped up, put Headhunter back in her hands, and sat down on the board. It was luckily wide and long enough for her to do so.

"Oh, hey May!" Jaune was still on an adrenaline high and didn't notice the girl grumbling.

"Were you going to leave me alone?"

"Huh? Nah, just wanted to try something cool. Not every day you can do this!"

"There's a reason why, you know." Jaune nodded, clearly listening. "Because they don't like it."

"Wha-" Jaune learned exactly what she meant when the sand shark lept up, carrying the board with it. Jaune's technique was too weak to properly hold on and May wasn't even trying. The grappling hook slipped off of the shark's fin, leaving them in the air as the sand shark dived back into the grain. And then, gravity did its thing, and they fell.

CRACK!

The board broke when they met the ground.

"Well. Uh, oops?" May facepalmed.

"Are you still angry?" It was night now. Jaune was cooking some soup, though he had to find a pot to make it in. Turns out his ability to supplement the internal energies of dust with his aura made things like water dust effectively infinite spouts of fresh water. And that meant all he needed to carry around for rations were some boullion cubes. So, now, besides the jerky and flare gun, he carried the little wrapped up blocks of beef essence.

"No." Well that was convincing. May was sitting across the fire and was pouting, deliberately avoiding his glare. "I'm just a bit annoyed that I barely even got to use the sandboard before some idiot-" She placed a whole lot of emphasis on that word. "-decided to break it."

"I didn't break it!" May gave him a hard look. "Ok, fine, I broke it. But didn't you ride Headhunter? Can't you just do that?"

"It's not the same. Headhunter is too thin. It feels like I'm riding on a rail. With that board, I didn't have to worry as much about balance." She sighed. "Whatever." And now Jaune felt like the asshole. Which, to be entirely fair, he was.

"It was fun while it lasted. Where did you learn to do that, anyways?"

"And yet another reminder you're from Vale." May rolled her one visible eye. "All Vacuan combat schools teach sandboarding and sandskating. Mostly because, if you don't have a bullhead or car, it works well enough. Anyways, Shade's combat class is in this large colusseum with artificial dunes that I sometimes use to board on."

"Huh, neat."

"Yea. I've been wondering, what do you guys have in Beacon?"

"Eh?"

"Beacon, you know, the academy in Vale? Did you go to Haven or something? Atlas? Please tell me you didn't go to Atlas."

"Oh, heh." Jaune nervously chuckled, this was bound to come up, wasn't it? "Yea, I didn't go to an academy." May simply stared at him with her eye, scanning him, searching for a lie. All she found was embarrassment, humor, and truth. "Never even went to combat school!" He nervously coughed that little bit up while he was at it.

May sighed. "Whatever, not like that stuff matters much here. All people care about is if you're strong enough to crack Grimm bone or are smart enough to find an easier way to do it." May then took a cupful of the soup and sipped it. The beefy solution made her jaw shake from the quality. After she swallowed it, she was stunned into silence. "Where did you get this stuff?"

"Mistral." That was a funny story. He defended a small village from a Grimm attack and, for his efforts, an old couple who owned a small restraunt gave him a bunch of those cubes. At first, he was hesitant, he was being given a lot of them, but then he tasted the things.

"Ah, man they make some good stuff." May took seconds, as did Jaune. "Seriously, do you know how many empty instant noodle cups I see in the dorm building trash? There's this girl in our year that makes a killing selling the stuff to the other teams. It helps that the food is absolute shit and the city is too far away to bother with."

"Mhmmm, I remember when mom tried staging an intervention for Coral, because she had a deadline and was cooped up in her room and only eating instant noodles. Man, that was funny. Glad it worked, Coral needed more sleep." May's eye widened.

"You have siblings?

"Seven." That got nothing more than a raised eyebrow.

"You sure your parents ain't Vacuans?" Jaune only took five seconds to get the joke, where upon he choked on his soup and was sent into a coughing fit.

"ACK! Don't say stuff like that. Ughhhh." Jaune massaged the sides of his head as he excised the very thought from his head. "Anyways, five older siblings, two younger. All sisters."

"Now that sounds like hell." May laughed. "I got older brothers. And they were also the worst." Jaune chuckled, the statement triggered some latent memories. Younger memories, smaller memories, cozy memories. Simply memories.

"Here ye here ye. Have they ever dragged you into some weird stuff for no reason?" Jaune raised his cup mockingly, as did May. "For example, one of my sisters forced me to go to a concert in Vale with her." To be fair, he went mostly because all of Sable's friends were busy, and she was a bit bummed that she'd be alone.

"Oh, yea, I know the pain. One of my big bros always brought me along with him for groceries. Mostly because he needed someone to carry the bags while he flirted with the cashier. And he did it in the weirdest way possible."

"Really?"

"Yea! He like always left a tip and said some really cheesy one liner. I swear, that girl made more money off of him than she did from the job. I think the only reason she didn't say anything was professionalism and the fact he gave those tips."

"Oh jeez, that reminds me of how my sister got together with her wife." May rose an eyebrow, curious. "Like, Saphron was really insistent that she figure out if Terra, she's my sis' wife, liked her or not. And she didn't even think to ask like a normal person! So, she comes up with a dozen stupid schemes to try and sus out if her affections were mutual. She even tried to get Coral to write a book for her to give to Terra as like a proxy love test! God, I am so glad that Terra wasn't oblivious. She figured out what was up after the third scheme. And they've been together ever since."

"Nothing could be as bad as the time my second oldest brother, August, tried to get a date to the dance. He thought he was being so romantic when he sent this one girl some anonymous letters. I think what killed it was when he put it in her bag. And the letters made him sound more like a stalker! Worst part is, he made me write them!" May sighed. "That was a whole mess to explain to the girl."

And far into the night, the two of them continued to share stories. Stories of their friends, their families, of little things that happened to them so long ago that seemed so big back then. It was a nice reprieve from the relentless sun and sands for the two teens. And all the while, they drank cup after cup of the heavenly soup stock.

After a while, they had finished the soup. And the fire was dying down. Their laughter abated, leaving them in silence and waning light.

"Alright, that was fun." Jaune smiled honestly as he stretched, ready to go to sleep. "I'll turn over for the night, do whatever." And so he did. And just like before, he felt May staring at the back of his head. This time, he didn't comment on it. May simply sat there, reflecting on the night they just had. As if compelled, she spoke.

"Just so you know, I still think you're a creepy idiot." May's words were harsh, but Jaune didn't feel any heat or force in them.

"I know."

"Good, just wanted to say that." And so, she turned over as well.

"This is definitely a destroyed caravan." Jaune's statement earned a rolled eye.

"No duh."

"Just wanted to say it." It had been a few days and, just as he had said, the two of them had found a wrecked caravan. Caravans in Vacuo took on all forms. Some were still carried by camels, others took the more expensive route and used motor vehicles. This one was a modern one, with a truck carrying a mobile cart home behind it. The truck carried all essential supplies and goods, while the cart held the people. This one in particular held one mobile home.

It seemed like it was thrown off the road, given how the truck was sideways in the grain. The turrets on the top of the truck were clean, no recent firing. No shells nearby.

"Hit by an Stemu Train, looks like." What.

"A, Stemu Train?"

"Yea, they're these annoying Grimm. They're discount ostriches that run as fast as a steamtrain and hit just as hard." Jaune simply stared at her. "Vacuo once went to war with them." The stare grew more bewildered. "We lost."

"Why do people still live in Vacuo?" Jaune was legitimately confused.

"Hey! We only lost the war because the budget given to fight the Stemu Trains was embezzled by the overseer of the project, so the troops were only given spears." Jaune gave an unimpressed look. "Oh yea, well we stick around cause Vacuo's our home, nothing more, nothing less."

"Whatever." Jaune rolled his eyes. "Now, let's see." He began to enter Calm Waters to scout out for Grimm in the area.

"There's no Grimm, I checked."

"What?" That was fast! "Do you know Calm Waters?"

"That Atlesian crap? Of course not, I just don't rely on meditation to know the obvious. It's a destroyed caravan. And while I know Grimm love to stick around corpses, I'm pretty sure this place would be far more wrecked if they did. So c'mon, let's get to scavenging." Jaune sighed, but acquiesed the point. No point in wasting good materials. He'd make sure to bury the dead, if he found any, as compensation. So, the two of them checked the truck first. They hopped up onto the unburied side of it and saw a broken window. Through it, a corpse was seen, slumped over. The smell was mind numbingly awful, making May retch and Jaune simply scrunch up his nose.

The door was locked, so Jaune used Crocea Mors as an impromptu crowbar and jammed it open.

"You loot, I bury?"

"It's called scavenging."

"Same difference." So, Jaune pulled out the corpse of the truck driver and did an autopsy. It was rotting, but it hadn't fully decayed. Jaune gave it about a day or so for age. It seemed like a Nevermore struck his side, hitting a vital organ and causing intense bleeding. The Nevermore broke two ribs as well. So, Jaune surmised the attack wasn't done during a sandstorm, or else the Nevermore wouldn't have been able to start its attack far enough to gain enough momentum. Either that, or Grimm didn't see at all and instead used negativity as a sort of location system.

But that put into question how Beringels used the environment to their advantage. Did everday objects harbor negativity? If they did, did Beringels only throw the ones that held it? Is negativity quantifiable? Would Beringels choose to chuck a tearstained shirt over a boulder? Would they choose a bloodstained boulder over a factory made explosive? Could they even use bombs? Maybe negativity wasn't a thing that seeped in from personal touch, but perhaps perception? Did they naturally gravitate to using the most dangerous object, using humanity's fear towards that object as a guide?

Did that mean a Beringel would throw video games?

Those were thoughts in Jaune's head, thoughts that were, in the end, quite meaningless. Still was more fun than thinking about the dead body in his hands.

"Alright, let's see who you are." Jaune patted the man's pockets and eventually found an ID card. He was one Amiro Rashid, whose residence and place of birth were listed as caravan. Jaune noticed he had been avoiding looking at the dead man in the eye, so he did so, gaze creeping upwards until he was eye to eye with him.

"Who were you?" Jaune wondered, it was really the question he constantly tried to answer for reasons he didn't know. Regardless, Jaune moved on to figuring out what burial method to use.

Jaune's mind was sorting through the burial practices of Vacuo, trying to figure something out.

"He's an Animist, so burning the body is fine." May was suddenly right behind him, one eye lazily peering at him.

"Yeesh! Don't walk up to me like that." Jaune's spine had shivered from the shock.

"I told ya I was done, ya didn't answer. But yea, he's an Animist. See those tattoos on the bottom of his chin? Right there." Jaune looked closely and found that, indeed, there were some tattoos where May pointed. "Burn the body, put this in the flame." She held out a small charm. "That sends it to the Furfather's garden." Jaune blinked, looking at her. "What?"

"Nothing, nothing. Just a bit surprised you know that." Jaune got to work preparing Amiro's burial.

"Tch, don't you know the saying?" Evidently, he didn't. "Snipers are the undertakers for their teams. They always die last, you know. So they have to know how to bury those who come before. At least, that's what grandpa told me." To that, Jaune couldn't find anything witty to say. He simply nodded. "Oh yea, I found some stuff in the truck. Like maps and shit."

"..." Jaune had a realization.

"Yea, I remembered as well. We had no clue where the hell we were going." Yea, the two of them had just been aimlessly wandering the Vacuan desert. And while that was fun, though Jaune would never admit it to May lest he give her ammunition, it also wasn't at all productive. "It's not a complete map, just one of the local area. So we still don't have a clue where Shade is." And Vacuo was notorious for having few CCT mini towers, the only reliable area to get a connection was Vacuo itself. And if they were there, they really didn't need a map. But, before Jaune could sigh, May brought something else up. "But, there's a town on this road. If we get there, we can resupply and then get directions."

"Alright then, let's finish all of this up first." May nodded in agreement. "Did you find anything else?"

"Oh, of course. Some lien-" Which they were going to take. Grave robbing may have been taboo if it weren't for the fact that literally burying valuable materials was a privilege nobody outside of the cities could afford. "-some jerky-" Ah, the nomadic staple. "-ridiculously high proof alcohol-" That seemed remarkably unsafe. "-a romance novel-" Jaune wouldn't judge, everyone needed something to keep them busy. "-And two boxes worth of CD dramas." Jaune wouldn't- wait, what type? "Mistrali CD Dramas. The ones that are just webnovels being read by voice actors." Oh, wow, nevermind, Jaune would judge.

"Hand me the booze?" May did so. He poured the alcohol onto Amiro's body and the charm before lighting it with a spark from his gloves. Now that Amiro was being improvisationally cremated, Jaune and May moved onto the truck's main storage. "Alright, we're only taking food and dust. I don't think either of us want to carry ten carpets through the desert."

"Really? A magic carpet ride sounds nice." Now that Jaune thought about it, that didn't sound improbable, considering literally everything he had seen. A magic carpet was actually one of the less insane things.

Anyways, they walked over to the back of the truck to see it already forced open. May pulled out a flashlight so they could see into the back properly, where upon they were greeted with a large and chaotic storage room. It was turned sideways with much of the goods ransacked. All that was left were some upturned tables and chairs, and a few crates left by whatever attacked it.

"Man, looted clean. Well, except for the salt." Jaune opened a crate to find it filled with salt, just salt.

"Yea, unlooted caravans don't stay untouched for long. Especially if they're on the road. Though, they probably were on foot or just didn't have the room, or something, since they left the salt. It is pretty valuable."

"Really?"

"Yea, have to salt our meat and fruits or else they'll rot in the sun. Almost everything that isn't fresh around here is salted."

"Huh." Jaune chuckled. "That explains why you're always so salty." For the pun, May chucked an empty jar at his head. "Anyways, find any dust? Or, like, anything?"

"Nope, picked clean. But I did find a small hidden stash of bullets. .300 high quality rifle grade." She said it with a smile.

"Another reason I don't use mechashift, there are like, five thousand calibers for guns and I can't be bothered with that. Plus, half of them are redundant anyways." May looked at him with a contempt filled scowl.

"Heathen." She clung to the clips of ammo. "You just can't enjoy the fine things in life."

"Really? I tried using some shotgun ammo in my flare gun and had to spend an hour fussing over whether or not to get 16 gauge or 20 gauge. I had to pay for extra time with the CCT in order to look up more information! And when I shot them, I couldn't tell the freaking difference!" May's scowl turned into a full blown cringe with every word.

"Wow, I didn't think I'd find someone even stupider-"

"Not a word."

"Yes it is! For f-whatever, we'll search it up later. Anyways, I didn't think I'd find someone even dumber than team NDGO but, hey, here we are!" May sighed. "Who knew that not only are your clothes medieval, so are your views on firearms."

"Hey! I have my flare gun."

"That thing!? That's basically an ancient Mistrali firework for how advanced it is. Meanwhile, Headhunter actually uses things like standardized parts and bullets. Much easier than shooting overglorified torches." May was getting real smug, it seemed.

"And how much does that cost?"

"..." May avoided eye contact. "2000 lie-"

"Plus maintenance."

"I hate you."

"Yea, yea. Alright, let's get to the other carts, alright?" They had basically finished up with searching the truck already, with their argument the only reason for them to stay. With that, they left the truck's storage and went towards the unsunken cart. It was a small trailer, with built in bunk beds bolted to the walls. There wasn't much space otherwise.

One, two, three, four beds. One for the driver, who died, and three for the other merchants. The question was: Where were the bodies?

"Find anything?" Jaune had no luck on his end.

"Again, no, picked clean." Even the blankets and pillows were gone, with only mattresses left. "Unless-"

"Unless what?"

"Hmmm." May suddenly switched to Headhunter's axe configuration before hacking apart one of the beds, revealing hollow space. Hollow space that held a safe, a combination one.

"Great, so, do your magic powers also have a combination?"

"Put your hand on the dial." Jaune did so. "Right, right, right, right, right." Jaune followed her instructions. "Stop!" Jaune did so. "Left, left, left, stop!" Jaune did as told. "Right, right, right, stop!" And with that, they heard a click.

"Ok, what?" May raised an eyebrow. "How did you know that? Do you actually have magic?" Cause it wouldn't be the first time, Jaune didn't say.

"No, it's a semblance, dumbass." She pointed at her one visible eye. "X-ray, it lets me see through things. I saw through the shell to see the combination lock's insides to get the code. It also helps me see through sandstorms and stuff." She hummed a bit before deciding to add a bit more. "And since I started sniping, it evolved a bit. Now the weak points of structures are marked with big X's. That's why I rarely take more than one shot to kill a Grimm."

"Like that auric art thing? Sorry, I forgot the name."

"No! Not like that, I don't need to turn it on or anything, I just, see it."

"And what does weak point mean, exactly?" Jaune paused. "Also, you can see through specific materials? Like, can you only look through my armor?"

"..." Jaune actually noticed a scope spinning into place in her iris as her semblance activated. "I am so glad a boy doesn't have this one."

"Yea, yea, anyways, let me open the safe, did you look at what was inside it?"

"No, just the insides of the mechanism." So, with that, Jaune pulled on the handle to reveal, an earring holding a piece of glass. Jaune didn't see the significance, but May gasped.

"What?"

"Don't you know what that is!?" May's eye(s?) were wide, disbelieving. Jaune cautiously shook his head. "That is a Pure Fulgrite Shard." Jaune raised an eyebrow. "Do you know what Fulgurism is?" Jaune predictably shook his head. "Well, it's an old faith, I don't think anyone practices it anymore, but it used to dominate Vacuo. It was a religion dedicated to Uriel, the Dune Mother, the Lady of the Oasis, the Sultan of the Sands, the Sun Girl, Uriel." Jaune nodded. "Anyways, she was a prophet who travelled Vacuo, preaching love and peaceful coexistence between all the tribes. To that end, as a display of her power, she summoned lightning from the heavens to pierce the sands. 9 bolts hit the dunes. Now, that's not too unusual, but these weren't your typical fulgrite bolts. Usually, they're all cloudy and shit because the sand isn't clean enough, but these? These were crystal clear right from the beginning. The shards became holy relics, twenty of them are in the national museum! These are big deals!"

"Huh. These sound expensive."

"Yea, they are." Her enthusiasm died down for a moment. "I dunno, I always thought it was a waste to just sell pretty stuff like that."

"Yea, lien isn't really something I care for either." Jaune spoke absentmindedly, until he realized what May said. "Wait, do you want to-" May was looking away, a bit bashful at the admittedly very selfish request. "-Ah fuck it, there are hundreds of the things, go ahead." Jaune tossed the Fulgrite shard over to May, who caught it faster than he expected and lept in the air over and over, bouncing with joy.

"Yesyesyesyesyesyes!" She pumped her fist a couple more times before immediately putting on the Fulgrite Shard earring. "Ah, alright." She had an honest smile on her face.

Now that the matter of the safe was finished, Jaune was beginning to wonder about the whereabouts of the residents of the caravan.

"Hmmm, where are the bodies?"

"Huh?"

"The bodies of the rest of the three caravaneers, they have to be somewhere. And I need to bury them."

"Oh yea, alright, I'll just search for bones." Her eyes scanned the area, zipping round and round until it locked onto a target. "Found something." She turned off her semblance, letting out a held breath. "Alright, let's go." And with that, they walked a short distance until they found what they were looking for. Predictably, their moods dropped quite a bit at the sight of dead bodies.

Like the one of the driver, the bodies were still relatively fresh. One, two, three, and four. Three corpses. Three caravaneers dead, tied up, a few bullet holes in legs and arms along with uniform cuts on their thighs. The cuts were too even and too uniform to be anything other than torture. And as for the man? He was face first in the sand, two holes in his heart. A few feet away, two shells matching the caliber of his wound were buried in the sand. Othe shells were scattered about the area, clear marks of a close ranged gunfight. As for the dead man, a bloodstained saber was stuck in the grain next to him, and a silver armband was on his right arm.

"Fucking Crown." May snarled, kicking the corpse with the armband. Jaune went to stop her, but she held out an arm. "Let me have this, Jaune." The vitriol in her voice stopped him in his tracks.

"... Alright." Jaune shrugged, there was real . "Why did you do that anyways?"

"He's a Crownsman, you know 'em?" Jaune shook his head. "Tch, typical." While there was always heat in her words when they argued, this was the first time Jaune heard such hatred fill her voice. "The Crown are insurrectionists that want to place monarchs back on the throne. So, to do that, they're pillaging the dunesides, looting goods and selling them to fuel their operation. Fucking bastards killed a lot of good people." Once more, she kicked the corpse, this time with a lot more force. Meanwhile, Jaune had began cremating the other three caravaneers.

"Got anything to say, pretty boy?"

Jaune sighed, this was a delicate situation if he ever heard one. "I'm still giving him a burial, you know."

"Asshole doesn't deserve it." May was kicking the body more, heat filling her body as she put more and more force into her leg. She actually had to use her aura to protect herself from bruising her toes.

"It's not a matter of deserving. It's a matter of doing the right thing." She continued kicking the corpse, with each hit doing nothing to abate her anger. It only made it worse. "Ok, stop." Jaune lightly put his hand on May's shoulder and, to his surprise, she did. "Look, it's clear this isn't helping. What good will kicking a corpse do to stop the Crown, hmm?" Jaune sighed, he really didn't have the time for this. But beyond irritation at time wasted, he was worried. "Are you going to answer?"

Jaune leaned forward to see tears leaking from May's eyes. Both of them. From her right, clear tears flowed freely, from her left, blood did.

"Woah!" Jaune jumped back a bit at the sight of blood. Jaune was hesitant to, given how she desperately tried to keep that part of her face under the beanie, but ended up taking it off to see what was wrong.

And what he found made him tear up a bit. The upper left side of her face had been scarred. It was burnt and cut, skin replaced by sallow burn wounds and large scars from Grimm. Despite that, her eye was still there, still functional. It blinked with some effort, but it couldn't produce tears. All it could do was bleed.

"..." Jaune instinctively poured aura into her, trying so desperately to reach her. Despite his best wishes, his aura could not heal long settled scars. It could merely alleviate the pain for a brief moment.

And so, taking care to cremate the Crownsman's body, he carried May to a campfire away from the wreckage.

Jaune and May both didn't know what to say each other the next day. Neither of them wanted to broach the topic. And since neither of them wanted to, neither of them did. Neither of them said anything, even as they approached a small town. Jaune only muttered a bit about how it was built around an oasis before they continued on. Jaune really did not want to push May here. It was abundantly clear that she had a lot of baggage that, honestly, seemed like it was better to be left alone.

But something in him desperately wanted to reach out, to let her know that her troubles didn't have to soley be hers. His noble side kept on acting up and his pragmatism could offer no excuse for his inaction. So, all he really needed was the right moment to bring it up.

But now was not that moment, at least that's what he felt.

"..." Jaune looked towards May, who was standing at a no wall bookstore. "What are you looking at?"

May was flipping through the pages, until she eventually found it. She held the book for Jaune to see.

"Told ya." Jaune looked at the book, but didn't see anything. "Look at he second page's S words." Jaune did so. Stun, Stupid- For the love of gods, was this really what this was about?

"I swear, it's not a word." Jaune crossed his arms and dug in, if this was how the bridge would be mended, at least for now, then why not?

"Yes. It. Is. It's in the dictionary!"

"That dictionary is wrong. See! It was made twenty years ago, it's outdated."

"Words don't suddenly become outdated. Language isn't a laptop!" May sighed. "Look, hey, you! Yea, you! Is stupider a word!?"

"Uh, I think so!?" The random stranger seemed a bit confused.

"See!" May turned back towards Jaune, while the stranger merely shrugged and went on with his business. Better to not ask. "I bet you twenty lien that anyone I ask will say the same thing."

"Then they're all wrong!" Jaune, at this point, wasn't even arguing for the sake of being right. At this point, it was just to bicker with May. This may have-ok, this was definitely them just skirting around the issues at hand, but both of them craved those earlier arguments they had. They were meaningless, often very profane, but they were also silly and fun. And beyond that, they were casual and comfortable dynamics.

"Really? Who made you textbook tyrant, huh? Did you pull a coup on the Council of Language?"

"Yea! And guess what the first order of business was? Declaring that stupider is not a word!" May rolled her eye and flipped him off.

"If you're just going to be yelling, screw off!" The bookstore owner yelled at them and waved his fist, earning sheepish apologies from both Jaune and May.

"Pansy." Jaune muttered, childishly trying to get the last word.

"Huh!? Look whose talking, twink."

"Twink? I'm 100% muscle, don't be jealous." Jaune flexed his arms, though it was covered by his armor. May scanned him up and down, skepticism blatant.

"Sure you are, dude, sure you are." Now she was the one using that tactic, oh how the tables turned. "Anyways, let's head over there." She pointed to an open wall bar with a few people sitting around, drinking under the shade. Jaune raised an eyebrow, did she just want a drink? Was that even legal in Vacuo? Oh, who was he kidding, everything was legal in Vacuo. "I'm not looking to get plastered, do I look like Nebula?" Jaune's raised eyebrow turned into a squint. "I'll tell you later, maybe. Whatever. You go to bars to get directions, that's just how it is."

"Sure, whatever."

"Hey, do you doubt my wisdom? Who here has lived in Vacuo all their life?"

"And who here looks like they crashed from a bullhead heading to Atlas?" May rolled her eyes and didn't say anything more as they walked into the joint, occasionally jabbing at the other. Eventually, they reached the dark oak bar. The bartender in question, a short balding Vacuan, looked up at them. Or really, looked up at Jaune and at eye level with May. "So, do you know where Shade is?"

"Idiot!" May flicked Jaune in the side of the head before turning to face the bartender. "Two ice teas, please."

"Sure." The bartender pulled out two glasses full of ice and began pouring ice tea from a pitcher with one hand. With his other, he rubber his chin. "Anyways, Shade is Northwest, follow the Buk road until it forks with the Zul branch. Got that?" The two of them weren't listening because they both tried to speed drink the iced tea, downing it with one extended sip. That failed, obviously. May choked while Jaune had brainfreeze.

After the bartender helpfully gave them the directions once more, Jaune and May took a seat in the establishment to properly enjoy their tea.

"Hey, I noticed something." Breaking the silence, Jaune decided to bring up something that was brewing up in his head. May raised an eyebrow. "Why did only the driver die of a Nevermore?"

"Huh?"

"Well, think about it. Weaker Grimm usually travel in packs, so why would there only be one nevermore?"

"They shot the rest?"

"But then why were there no shells from the turrets or anywhere else?" To that, May had nothing. "And those Stemu Trains you mentioned? Why didn't they kill any of the caravaneers? Why were they all untouched, except for clear marks of torture?" May was silent. "Where's the gun that shot the dead Crownsman? Where are the guns of the other caravaneers?" May didn't have any answers, but she did have something to say.

"So, what does it look like?"

"It looks like the caravan was hit by a small group of Grimm. A nevermore killed the driver while Stemu Trains slammed the truck. Then, the Grimm were either killed by the Crown or left for some reason. Following that, the Crown engaged the remaining residents. A small scale firefight ensued, resulting in the tying up of the remaining residents. Then, the Crownsmen tortured them for some reason, but then the caravaneers died. The Crownsmen then looted whatever they could take from the wreckage and left."

"Uhuh?"

"But where are the shells for the Grimm? We only have implications for a small scale firefight between two parties. If the caravaneers engaged the Grimm in close combat, then they should be very injured by them. If the Crownsmen did, then we should see shells! As far as it seems, no bullet was fired at a Grimm." May's eyes widened. "I may sound crazy, but I think something was controlling the Grimm." Jaune whispered. And beyond his observations, he had personal experience with magical artifacts. And something to control the Grimm, which were as far as he knew, magic, was not too out there.

May raised an eyebrow, but evidently, did not rebuke his claim. She mulled over it, swirling what little ice tea she had in her cup for a moment. "You make a good argument, you know. But why are you telling me this?"

"Cause I'm going to find out whether or not its true. Either way, I'm hunting down those Crownsmen." Jaune put a hand on the hilt of Crocea Mors. He wasn't always one to hunt down criminals, but this? This was big. If someone could control the Grimm, the implications were huge. It effectively meant that they would have control over the largest, one of the most dangerous, and the cheapest army on Remnant.

May, to that, smiled. It was a different smile this time, it was sharp, cruel, and excited. "Well, then I'm coming along." Headhunter, in its axe form, was slung across her back.

"Don't you have a team?"

"Eh, really, as long as we pass our final exam, it doesn't matter. That's just how it is in Shade." That sounded rather hands off. But, whatever, it was probably cheaper. "Anyways, if you're hunting them, I'm coming along."

"Bu-"

"I'm coming along, alright? You're not getting rid of me that easily." Jaune looked into her eye and saw determination. But not only that, he also saw a plea. He really was a sucker for softer eyes, wasn't he? So, putting his hands up, he acquiesed, to which May pumped her fist. "Yea! You won't regret it, bro."

"Sure I won't." Jaune rolled his eyes, but his pragmatic side knew it was the best choice. On his missions to chase bandits, he usually went alone. That meant he had to constantly look over his back as well as frequently fight stacked and prolonged battles. Having someone to watch his back wouldn't hurt, if he was being honest. At the very least, May's sniping ability would make dealing with enemy gunners a lot easier. With their drinks done, Jaune got up, stretching. "Alright, let's get going."

"Eh, already? Where to?"

"Shopping. Because my aura is at 45% and won't charge because I have to keep up the ice dust in my armor. So we're getting cloaks."

"We? You mean you're getting a cloak. Plus, I think you having a low aura is just a skill issue, get hit less."

"Try saying that when you don't have a sniper rifle."

"That's a you problem, ya know. Whose laughing now?" May's smile was smug once more as Jaune facepalmed.

"Plus, it'd look way cooler if two hunters, oh sorry, one hunter and a huntress in training-" May bristled. "-wearing desert cloaks."

"Excuse me? I am not covering my beautiful body with burlap." Jaune rolled his eyes. "If you want to look like a hobo knight, go ahead."

As they argued, they had gotten up and were walking aimlessly, looking for a clothing store. And despite the increasingly heated and off topic bickering, Jaune was glad he had a companion, even if it was for a short while.

In the end, they both got burlap cloaks. While May instantly decided on peppermint red for hers, Jaune was torn between a light grey burlap cloak and normal brown. In the end, he decided to grab the light grey burlap cloak. May gave him an odd look, asking him if he was ready to yell out their arrival in every town square, but didn't say anything else because he was paying. He didn't know what the deal was, sure, it stood out, but white and white-like colors held the least heat. And that was really the only reason he wore it.

On top of that, they grabbed some short range walkie talkies with extra long lasting batteries for use in the deserts, in case they needed to split up. Anyways, after their small shopping trip, Jaune stopped in the middle of the street, coming to a realization.

"Alright, we have a problem." Jaune decided to take the initiative in their hunt for the Crownsmen.

"What?"

"We have no leads."

"..." There was a pause as Jaune avoided May's piercing glare. Did they both really commit to this without any idea as to where they were heading? "Yea, that's a problem alright."

"But! But! The Crownsmen may have come by here. This was the closest town to the caravan wreckage. Maybe they sold their plundered-"

"Who says plundered?" Jaune decided to ignore that one.

"-goods here. They probably didn't need everything they took and carrying valuables longer than needed is just an unnecessary risk." To that, May simply ndoded.

"Alright then, so we ask around shops?"

"What, there isn't like a pawn shop or something?" She stared at him. "No? Alright then." And so, they went into the town's flea market. It was jam packed with people and stalls selling all sorts of goods. Dusters offered competing deals on crystals to discerning eyes, groceres yelled out offerings for fruits and veggies, butchers sold jerky and fresh meat cooled in ice boxes, and even kids sold little trinkets and doodads on mats. All the while, people navigated the dense sea made up of their neighbors, lien in pocket and goods in a bag by their side.

Without much of a fuss, they walked into the crowd. And while many wore robes and silk garb, not many wore cloaks like theirs. It made them stand out. Strangers gave them a wide berth, at least it was wide considering how little space there was in the crowd.

Eventually, they made it to a merchant selling oil, jars and jars full of oil. Quite fittingly, his hair was slicked back with grease, his hands shining as he waved them around. "Oil! Oil! Get your oil! It'll make anything taste good! One lien per jar! Twenty lien per pithos! Get your oil from me!" The two cloaked strangers approached the stand, he was the only table that didn't have people already haggling. "Come to by some oil, strangers!?"

"See any Crownsmen lately?" Jaune insisted that he speak first, he was relatively confident in his information gathering abilities.

"Oil! OIL! GET YOUR OIL!" The oil merchant merely ignored them.

"Hello?" Jaune tilted his head.

"Oil of all sorts in here! Get it now for a good price!"

May sighed, she had partially been expecting this. She pulled Jaune aside, tugging at his arm to force his ear to her mouth. "You aren't speaking their language." She could vaguely hear a confused noise from him. "You're asking for something. With merchants, you need to haggle. Haggle for better prices, haggle for a deal, and especially haggle when you need something they don't usually sell.

"How?" May stared at her, unsure if he was pulling her leg or not. "Seriously, how?"

May sighed. "Just watch." She walked over to a merchant, a duster, and looked him up and down. He was an old mole faunus man with worn and dirt stained claws, likely one from the local tribes, selling dust in order to make money to afford things for the tribe. He wore loose garb that exposed plenty of skin, as well as sandals. As for demeanour? He was a seasoned one, didn't flinch when she slammed her hand on the table, merely put his own in order to stop it from shaking.

"What's this garbage? You call that dust?" Jaune really wanted to reprimand May, but she did ask him to watch. And at least she wasn't getting violent, so, he'd stick by and watch.

"Is there anything wrong? I've had these checked, 95% pure dust crystals, the element is clear in the color." A few more wrinkles appeared on his forehead as he opened his eyes to stare down May in turn.

"My problem is the shape, I mean, look at this uneven crap! I'd cut myself on these things. And the dust?" She pointed at the small basket full of sand-like dust, though it was a bit rough. More like gravel, but it didn't really matter that much to Jaune. "That looks like my magical cat's litter!"

"You may smooth or grind those on your own time."

"Why should I pay same price for this stuff? That guy has better cuts and grinds." May pointed to a seperate dust merchant who was peddling his wares. To be fair, there was always a market for dust. It was just a question of whether or not one can get the supply. In Vale, most stores were actually owned by or had exclusive contracts with the SDC, because the region wasn't as rich in dust as it was rich in agriculture ready soil, so they only had one source.

The mole faunus stared at May for a second. His glance turned to Jaune, who cringed and try to convey his deepest sympathies. "May I offer a deal?"

"Hmmm, I'll buy two crystals for normal price, if and only if you tell me who sold you these." She pointed to two crystals that were remarkably more evenly cut than the others. And Jaune could tell they were vehicle grade dust crystals.

"Deal." May handed over the lien, while the faunus handed over the crystals along with information. "Yesterday afternoon, there were four men and a woman. I don't remember much about them, but they were selling plenty of goods in the market. Caravan goods, but they didn't seem like a caravan. Drove in a jeep. Won't complain, I got these for remarkably cheap."

"Anything else on them?"

"They went to the Boras Hotel, ask there."

"Alright, will do." May nodded and walked off with the two crystals before turning to Jaune. "See, that's the Zedong way of haggling!"

"You just insulted him a bunch until he gave up!"

"It worked!" May pouted, it did!

"Only because he wanted you to screw off." Jaune rolled his eyes, this couldn't be standard. "Whatever, we have a new lead. Now, let's get going." Eventually, they found the Boras Hotel. It was a sizable place, sandbrick walls holding two floors and about twenty rooms. The interior wasn't anything to sneeze at either. Lamps illuminated the area with an orange glow, while carpets covered rough floor. Behind the front desk was a young man, definitely in his early teens, a bit scrawny, but definitely practiced.

"Hello, welcome to the Boras Hotel, how may I help you?" He almost waved with his right arm, but he felt a roaring pain it it if his wince was any hint, and instead waved with his left. "We have three rooms avaliable tonight at low prices."

"We're looking for information, kid." May put her arm on the countertop, making him visibly uncomfortable. Jaune winced, but let her do her business. She seemed to know what she was doing, after all.

"O-on what?" To his credit, he wasn't cowed by May's show of flippant disrespect.

"Someone says that five people, four men, one woman, came here. Do you know anything?"

"I-I'm sorry ma'am, but we don't give out information on people."

"C'mon, nothing?" Since insults really wouldn't work, it didn't seem like the place needed extra business, May went straight to offers. "Look, kid, we can make it worth your while."

"U-uh, what?"

"We got plenty to offer, lien, services, you name it. We just need info."

"M-ma'am, I'm going to have to ask you to leave?" Before May could say anything else, Jaune interjected.

"We're hunting after some Crownsmen who attacked and ransacked a caravan." And those words were a turning point. At the mention of the Crown, the boy winced instinctively.

"R-really?" Jaune nodded, an earnest look in his eyes. The boy, despite skepticism saying otherwise, decided to trust in this stranger. "W-well, if that's the case, I know a bit. J-just, don't tell anyone it was me, alright?"

"Alright, Arc's word."

"T-thanks. There were four men and a woman, yes. They all had weapons, which isn't too strange. Four of them could've passed for normal caravaneers, they had guns: revolvers and shotguns. But the woman was definitely a huntress. I only remember that she had a chainmail crop top, wielded two sais, and had a white streak in her hair. There was also this odd bone charm necklace she wore that she was super touchy about." Jaune nodded, taking in all the information.

"And where did they head?"

"I d-didn't hear much, but I had to refuel their cars, and the GPS was set to Tomango." Jaune looked at May, who shrugged. "It's a small outpost belonging to the Oktun tribe. Its by some small mountains and surrounds this large deposit of ice dust that creates a huge iceburg that provides the place with water. It's north of here." Jaune nodded and took down a few notes. "W-was that helpful?"

"Very, thank you for telling us all of that."

"N-no problem! Glad to be of service." The hotel boy meant it. In a large population of Vacuo, resent against the Crown was present, mostly in the rural areas. In the kingdom walls, it was much easier to support the 2nd coming of the 'golden era' when the organization behind it didn't do much to you or anyone you knew. To the villages and towns on the edges? They were the unwilling donors to the Crown's cause and hated them for it.

And with that, they walked off.

"Ok, you can say it." Jaune raised an eyebrow, say what? "I was wrong, your way worked better."

"Mhmmm, not really." Now it was May's turn to raise an eyebrow. "Haggling works against merchants, but sometimes, you just gotta go for the just part of them. Plus, I was pretty sure if I mentioned they were Crownsmen, he would've been convinced." At least, going off of May's distaste for them.

"Jeez, what wisdom bug bit you? I was half sure you would've taken the opportunity to gloat."

"Nah. Anyways, let's go head out and find those Crownsmen."

"Yea."

Sandstorms sucked. Tens of thousands of tons of blazing hot sands were blown up by powerful winds and thrown into their faces. Directions became guesses, landmarks disappeared, and the words of others become mere whispers against the howl of the sky. Despite that, both Jaune and May struggled against the storm, walking slowly northward.

May said something that Jaune couldn't hear.

"What!?"

"I SEE GRIMM!"

"HOW!?"

"SEMBLANCE!"

"OH!" With that said, Jaune and May stopped moving and pulled out their weapons. Fighting in a sandstorm was a losing battle, especially against Grimm. While the Grimm were as blind as they, they had the adavantage of sensing negativity, which the duo were radiating. And Jaune couldn't even use Calm Waters, because the sandstorm made it impossible to sense anything other than the movement of sand. May scanned the area, she could start firing, but then Jaune would be totally blind to what they were facing.

"Three Creeps, one large Deathstalker, a stampede of Razorwings, and a small storm of Ravagers." May said once, before remembering Jaune couldn't hear it. She reiterated, yelling this time.

"ALRIGHT!" Jaune used Wolf Gaze to amplify his auric projection. If the Grimm were going to target someone, they'd target him. Meanwhile, Headhunter went off towards the Ravagers. They were a big threat, their sonic booms could blast them from afar and their claws were ridiculously sharp. From there, the Razorwings were the second largest threat due to numbers and speed, then there was the Deathstalker, and finally the Creeps.

He was pretty sure that the reason why so many were coming after them was because they were the only source of negativity in miles. Or it was just a normal tactic to ambush during sandstorms. It could be on purpose, or they might just be extra active during sandstorms because of the mood they put people in. Regardless of reason, the outcome was the same: They would stand their ground.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Jaune simply stood, occasionally moving as per May's direction to face the Grimm head on, while she fired at the incoming Ravagers. May had switched her bullets to fire dust and aimed for the wings. That way, their method of flight would be destroyed. It was also easier than trying to hit their heads.

Then Jaune heard his instincts shiver and rolled away just as a Creep jumped up, trying to ambush him but failing to. Creeps were fodder, even more so than Beowolves and Ursa, but they weren't to be underestimated. Creeps were fast, burrowers, and their headbuts had the force of a bullhead crash. They were just as deadly as any other Grimm. Jaune aimed for the mouth, slashing Crocea Mors through the Creep's jaw as it tried for another headbut. He managed to cleave the creep in half width wise, with both halves hitting the floor, turning into black dust.

Meanwhile, May needed to switch up her game. The Ravagers got wise to the fire dust and were using their sonic booms to destroy the bullets in a firey blaze before they could hit their wings. Plus, she was running out of fire dust bullets. She ran through her inventory before settling on something the Ravagers probably wouldn't think to counter.

"JAUNE!" He couldn't hear her. Jaune had engaged with the other two Creeps by then and had moved away. All the other Grimm were coming towards him as well. "JA-whatever." She pulled out the walkie talkie and activated it before yelling, "JAUNE!" into it.

"Y-yea!?" His voice was staticky, but it could be heard, luckily. The walkie talkie was on him, so he was able to hear it.

"Put your shield upwards and tilt it towards your right." Jaune didn't hesitate to do so, even as his foot slammed into a Razorwing so hard he punted it into the sands. Immediately after he did that, May fired a gravity dust bullet at his shield.

It hit and immediately bounced off of it, heading upwards at even faster velocities, and nailing a Ravager right in the head where she saw an X.

"What was that!?"

"I'll explain later." She fired a few more times, adjusting her aim as Jaune rotated to slash more and more Grimm with Crocea Mors. His armor and semblance made the damage to his aura mere chips in the stone, but it still hurt quite a bit. The armor dulled the impact, but he still felt the force of a several ton Grimm slamming into him at medal winning speeds.

Between slashes, he fired custom Dustcloud flares, which fired granular dust instead of low grade crystals. That was mostly for the sake of hitting anything while he was half blind while also not firing at May. The Razorwings were temporarily halted as a cloud of ice dust froze the first few in line to beat his ass while a Creep was shocked to death by a lightning dust blast. The third creep met its end from Crocea Mors.

Now, he had to deal with the Razorwings. May was dealing with the Ravagers, still firing at his shield. Because of that, he couldn't use it. He just had to rely on his armor and his aura. On top of everything he was overheating, he had stopped pouring aura into the ice dust in his armor, he had to keep every advantage. Even if he didn't, the exertion would've required him to put more aura into the ice dust in order to keep healthy temperatures. And that would've been a drain on his aura in a battle of attrition against a tireless enemy.

He felt he was at 75%, which was actually pretty good considering he'd been tanking hits for a good handful of minutes from a small horde of Grimm.

But that number would probably be going down soon, because the Deathstalker was coming. He didn't need superpowers to tell that, because he could see its shining stinger coming closer and closer, inching forward in the sands. He had to deal with the Razorwings soon because while the Deathstalker was slower, at least slower than the Razorwing stampede, they hit hard.

Suddenly, Jaune tossed Crocea Mors into the air. And like a cowboy from a western, he quickdrawed his flare gun. A cloud of flame erupted from the barrel before he swiftly holstered the piece and grabbed Crocea Mors. He dipped it into the fire, and began swinging. He slashed rapidly with a blade swallowed by flame, purging the darkness with reckless and half blind blows. A 1% loss of aura to a Razorwing was nothing if he could deal with them fast enough so he could entirely focus on the Deathstalker, who could destroy 20% of his aura with a single slam. He'd probably pull down his shield in time, which would dull the impact considerably, but that would mean the Ravagers would be given room to breath, which was a problem in of itself.

Meanwhile, May was having problems of her own. She had run out of richochet bullets, so she told Jaune that he could put his shield down, right in time for him to block a thrust from the Deathstalker. Her dust rounds were out, the shrieks of the Ravagers weren't strong enough to destroy a normal bullet, but it wasn't the same for the more brittle dust rounds. The thing is, she hadn't really been conserving ammo. She was used to firing at will, the only consideration being wind speed and a moving target.

So, she had a clip of 9 normal bullets to kill 20 Ravagers. Her semblance would make it easy to kill each individual one, but the problem was evident with basic math.

"God damnit." May sighed, but came up with a plan quickly. Jaune was quite the distance away, drawing the most immediate threats to her: the Deathstalker and the Razorwings, away from where she was perched. Meanwhile, she was dealing with the things that Jaune just didn't have the tools to deal with: the Ravagers. But the Ravagers were still coming to Jaune.

So, she'd just make them come to her.

She thought of simple stuff, trying to get herself angry. She tried ruminating on how dumb Jaune was, but found no real negativity to be found. Her siblings? Nope. NDGO? Some, but not enough. She knew where this was going, she knew what she needed to think about.

All the Grimm immediately turned. Jaune had lowered Wolf Gaze, having already garnered the focus of the Grimm. Keeping it up would just be a drain on his aura. But suddenly, they paused, giving Jaune the opportuntiy to cut down a few more Razorwings. They turned towards a different direction, one where Jaune was very sure May was at.

Then, the Grimm started moving towards that direction.

"Oh no." Jaune's eyes widened as he broke out into a dash, jets from his armor kicking up more sand to add to the storm as he cut down Grimm after Grimm, hoping to thin or divert the horde. Eventually, it was just down to him and the Deathstalker.

But then he saw the faintest of shadows in the sky, Ravagers. Those accursed bats flew through the storm, towards May. Bullets were shot, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Ravagers fell, two fell for each bullet, lines drawn to pierce through multiple at a time. There was a pause, only three Ravagers left, and no bullets were shot. And then, the screaching began. Jaune winced, his footing as he blocked and stabbed the Deathstalker shaking a bit.

Ravager sreaming was horrible. It was like hearing a child die. And the sheer unpleasantness of the sound was only made worse by the unpleasantness of being hit by the sonic boom that came with it. The Ravagers unleashed boom after boom and for a second, Jaune's spirits took a strike.

BANG!

All three Ravagers were hit, just as they were lining up to hit Jaune instead. Each skull was blown apart by the impact of a high caliber rifle shot.

Jaune smiled, May was alive. Injured? Definitely, but if he finished up this fight, then he could get to her in time.

And Jaune had many ways to finish fights.

"So, you're saying that those bullets are made with a gravity dust jacket so they deflect on the first impact." After the fight, Jaune reached May, who had her Aura shattered by the impact of several sonic screeches and had been bleeding quite heavily, and pumped her full of his aura in order to expedite her recovery. Regardless of his help, she had passed out after firing the killing blow, so Jaune carried her through the sandstorm until it died down, where upon he set up camp. She woke up to an unarmored Jaune preparing a meal, this time with a slightly larger variety of preserved foods.

"Yep. Made 'em myself. Made it cause people in cover are annoying. Though, I have to be careful with them. Accidentally shot myself in the chest with it once." Jaune put a hand on his chin and thought on it for a moment.

"Are you sure you didn't watch too many westerns? Or that one game made by that guy in Mistral-"

"Shuddup!" May pouted, mostly because Jaune was right. If she couldn't have a revolver, she sure as hell would imitate the ricochet shooting of the famed cowboys. Things were cooling down now, the only sounds were of the fire crackling and the two of them eating their meal; It was still soup, but this time it had little chunks floating in it. Eventually, May took the first step. "Hey, Jaune?"

"Yea?" Jaune was trying to chew a particularly tough piece of jerky.

"I've been thinking a bit." May avoided his gaze, eyes focusing on the sands. "Do you mind if I show you something?"

"Sure." With that, May took off her Beanie. Some light red hair poked upwards with the cloth, but that wasn't the main star of the show: It was the burns and scars on the left side of her face. Jaune, having already seen it, merely raised an eyebrow. "Yea, what about it?"

"I-I, I got the burns twelve years ago-"

"You don't need to tell me."

"I'm telling you anyways." Jaune nodded, might as well let her. "Twelve years ago, in my home village, the Crown raided us. I lived with my grandfather with my brothers. My mother and father died fighting in a civil war. The last thing they left me was a Fulgrite earring. At the time, I didn't know its history, but it was just as, if not more important to me. We didn't know of its worth, so I continued to wear it. Word spread and eventually, the Crown came. They needed money, so they burned our home. They killed my grandpa when he tried to make a last stand to let us run. We couldn't make it out in time. It was torn from my ear as the left side of my face was scarred from the fire. My brothers saved me from there." Her breathing was even, she spoke clinically, this was long accepted.

"Alright." And Jaune couldn't say anything else. May appreciated the ambivalence, she just needed someone to listen.

"I hate the Crown. I hate the Crownsmen. And I want to become a huntress so I can chase them down one by one. I want to find their heirs to the throne and blow a hole through their heads." Vitriol filled her voice once more, lifelong resentment brought to the fore as a scowl formed on her face. "I want to kill them, that's it. Then, I'll go back home and protect it, sniping any other movement like the Crown from my perch."

"But you wouldn't want that, would you?" Jaune shook his head. "You'd probably say that I should just let go, that for my own good, I I should let go of this obsession." Jaune shrugged. "But I can't just let go of this hate. Headhunter was a present from my grandpa. It uses parts from his old rifle and axe combo. And whenever I oil its barrel I just-I just remember him. I remember his kind words and his advice. I remember the feeling of him adjusting my aim so I can properly nail a hole through the flower of a cactus. I remember him cooking for us all despite the fact he only had one arm. I remember his stories of the past." Now the tears came out. Emotion choked her voice.

"The scars are from later, when I was training. I was facing a junior Ravager under my trainer's tuition and, I just had a panic attack. I heard grandpa scream at me to run and I just, shut down. And I paid the price." May withdrew further, curling up and wrapping her legs with her arms. "Then I started wearing this thing. It helps." A pause. "Go on, you can say it, it's an ugly mark of shame. I've already heard it from team NDGO."

... "A year or so ago, me and my teacher were on the 56th road in Vale-"

"W-"

"Just listen."

Jaune was many things. He was stubborn, he was blonde, he was fairly tall, and he was very stupid. He'd agree with all those points, especially the last one. There were several reasons why that was true. Reason number one? He left home without any aura or a plan. Reason number two? He didn't even take a bullhead or train. Reason number three? He didn't run the hell away after his first day with Raiden.

"Hey, brat, see that thing?" They were on top of a tall hill overseeing a small ruined truck caravan stuck in a ditch. It had been there for a while, given the vines and moss growing off of it.

"U-u-uh, y-yea?" Jaune sighed, what was teacher going to throw at him this time?"

"I think there's some booze in it, Cheapsteak's Brew Whiskey, go get me some." Jaune simply stared at Raiden for a moment. The man made a lost of weird requests, like for Jaune to run all the way to the next village over, grab a cigarette (not a pack, just a single one) and then bring it back, but this was especially odd. Mostly because he always made those requests in villages and towns, not in the wild. There wasn't much to request, really.

"Why do you know this?"

"My semblance." Really? "Yes, really. It evolved or some shit, allowing me to sense where booze is. Now get it for me." Jaune put up his hands, what Raiden wanted, he got. He wasn't even a drinker or a smoker. One puff or sip was enough for him to be done with each vice, throwing the rest of Jaune's hard work down the drain afterwards. Jaune was 100% sure that Raiden was just messing with him.

And sadly enough, Raiden was Jaune's only hope for any real training. Sure, he hadn't taught Jaune how to wield his sword properly, or his shield, or anything, really. All Raiden did to Jaune was make him run and punch him. Seriously! And he did so for really weird reasons. One time, Raiden excused the random assault as a ghost placing a 'punch me' note on his face. Another time, it was because Jaune showed Raiden a nice haircut he was thinking of getting. He didn't get what was wrong with it! Raiden just kept on muttering banana head over and over again. He began to expect it, hell, he was being hit so hard that he was pretty sure his body was getting used to being slammed. One time, Jaune was decked in the face so hard that he was sure that he'd gotten a concussion, but he managed to walk off the hit in seconds.

"What the hell are you staring out into the sky for? Go get my beer."

"I thought it was whisk-"

"I know what I said."

Jaune sighed and shrugged. Jaune was many things, but so was Raiden. And currently, Raiden was powerful enough to make Jaune do stupid shit like this. So, he walked down the oddly shiny hill.

And slipped immediately on the pre-oiled grass. He slipped so hard that he began to tumble down the hill, all the way into the ditch. He fell into it, landing on his back with a thud.

"OW! OW! BROTHERS! MY BA-ack is fine?" Jaune got up. Ignoring the searing pain, he could actually move it without much trouble. "Wow, alright then." Jaune shrugged, getting punched in the face did wonders. Meanwhile, on the hill, Raiden was wondering if Jaune had figured out how Aura worked yet. After a moments thinking, he shrugged, he could learn the theoreticals later.

Meanwhile, Jaune observed the ditch he was in. It was basically a small and thin ravine, with only a handful of feet between the too steep to walk stone walls and the steel walls of the capsized truck.

"N-now, where's my-" Jaune noticed that Crocea Mors was, in fact, not on his belt. Huh, that's weird. Oh, it must've fallen off when he was taking a tumble. Well, that's just what he gets for not listening to Raiden when he said to make the knot extra tight. Now, what was with that soft sound? Had something else fallen?

"Mhaaaa~" Jaune turned back to see the inside of a Beowolf's jaw. In retrospect, Jaune would learn that this was an adolescent Beowolf. Not a kid one, this one had its bone armor, but it wasn't as strong, large, tough, or fast as its more grown up counterparts. Though it was still immensely stronger, larger, tougher, and faster than Jaune.

"WWWHWHWAT!?" Jaune leapt backwards out of fear, avoiding a nastsy bite that would've taken off his face. From there, he landed on the stone floor with a thud and scooted backwards. Every scoot backwards, the Beowolf would strike where he used to be. Its claws dug into the stone and cleaved it apart, going way deeper than when Jaune tried hitting a rock with Crocea Mors.

Eventually, he crawled under the truck, getting to the other side. But that didn't stop the Beowolf, no, it merely cleaved through the thin steel walls of the truck to get to him. Jaune screeched in fear, running as fast as his legs could carry him, looking for somewhere to escape to.

His feet, for some reason, carried him into one of the truck carts. The truck caravans were essentially trackless trains, which meant that they carried large chains of cargo. The rooves, or the flipped equivalent, were filled with enough holes to let light into the cargo container. More holes were created when the Beowolf tore through a wall, small steel shrapnel flying out, one cutting Jaune's cheek.

Eventually, he reached the end of the line.

Faced with certain death in the form of a ten foot beheamoth of monstrous muscle and fur, Jaune did the only thing he could: Curse. He cursed Raiden, he cursed this Grimm, he cursed whatever asshole made the Grimm, and he cursed at whoever drove a truck in here. But more importantly, he cursed at himself. He cursed at himself for leaving, for doing something so blatantly stupid. He cursed himself for staying, for continuing to chase such a risky occupation so late. He cursed himself for believing he could have a chance.

But idle hands do the devil's work. And his idle hands were shaking with rage. It grabbed the first thing it could, something on the wall behind him, and struck at the Beowolf.

What he used as a blunt instrument was, in fact, a man's skeleton. The skeleton broke on impact, leaving only a backpack and a gun. Jaune ducked to avoid another claw from the Beowolf and grabbed the gun, trying to unload on the thing.

It was both empty and too rusted to be of use.

Jaune sighed and threw the gun with all of his might at the Beowolf. The somewhat heavy metal object thrown at high speeds actually hit the Beowolf's skull armor and actually made a crack in it. Unfortunately, Jaune was then hit by one of the claws of the Beowolves and was slammed through the steel wall, hitting the stone of the ravine's insides.

"GAHH!" Jaune coughed out blood from the impact. Several cuts formed on his body, cuts that he didn't notice were healing themselves at a rapid rate. He grabbed the ripped bag and shook it as the Beowolf approached its doomed pray. He chucked whatever he could find. A bottle met the floor, spilling oil or something like it everywhere, causing the Beowolf to slip. That gave Jaune enough time to try and pull out a three part spear, which he charge at the Beowolf with.

The old wood snapped. There was silence for a moment. Before the Beowolf could try for another slash, Jaune decided to trust in his strength (which, at the time, he thought was fairly better than average) and punch the Beowolf in the gut.

He cracked his knuckles, spraining them.

"OW!" This really was a humiliation marathon, wasn't it?

He was slammed once more, his armor doing its best to protect its wearer. But with this impact, he fell to the floor and the metal snapped, flinging off of Jaune, thankfully not cutting into him. Jaune rapidly ran through the bag's contents, searching for anything, anything that would save him.

Jaune saw a glimmer, it was plastic, or was it metal? Who cared, the Beowolf was approaching. He had less than a second, no time like the present. He made a split second decision, turned to the side, and pulled the trigger.

And just as a Beowolf claw slashed through his chest, causing blood to splatter, Jaune had shot the Beowolf in the head with a flare from a somewhat rusting flare gun. And the flare, at high speeds and heat, tore through the Beowolf's head, boiling the blood and baking the flesh.

Both fell to the floor, both fell into a slumber.

Raiden, from his place hidden at the top of the ravine, smiled. He was a bit unrefined, but his student had passed his first test. He was now done with physical conditioning. Now, he could finally learn.

"..."

Jaune had finished his story. May, evident from her quite neutral face, didn't know what to think. Jaune was nervous, did he screw up? May sighed and spoke first. "Why did you tell me any of that?"

Oh, she just didn't get it. "Well, my point is, that you really don't have anything to worry about. You blinked in the face of trauma, nobody can blame you for that. Meanwhile, I got these-" Jaune lifted his hoodie from the hem, revealing musculature and scars. In particular, he pointed to the largest ones: The ones of a Beowolf that tore through his entire front, "-I was stupid." May blinked before turning away, hiding the fact that she had been staring and had zoned out for a sec. "Seriously! I punched a Beowolf! I'm not even a brawler or had gauntlets or anything."

"Jeez, so you were always this stupid." To that, Jaune could only chuckle.

"Yep! It was also where I met this thing." Jaune pulled out his flare gun, a smile forming on his lip. "She's a beaut, ain't she? Been with me for months-" Darling would later pout, jokingly acting jealous about Jaune's relation to a flare gun, and thus sending him on a premature midlife (well, actually, Jaune was already in the midlife by hunter standards) crisis. "-fired countless flares. Fire, ice, lightning, water, plant, rock, you name it! I even made a dust flare! Working on smoke, don't exactly know what combination to try. Maybe I should just add some wood shavings."

"Jeez, you really like your flare gun."

"Yea, well duh! Besides Crocea Mors, she's been with me through thick and thin! Ol Reliable and Portable."

"That explains why you're with me."

Jaune couldn't come up with an answer to that, neither could May say anything, given how she was paralyzed with embarassment. After a moment, May decided to steer the conversation back on topic.

"Hey, Jaune?"

"Yea?"

"I want you to promise me something." Jaune nodded. "I want to take down the Crown. And I know a lot of what I feel is unhealthy. So please, stop me from doing something I'll regret." She was earnest in her plea. Beyond the fact that he was the only person who could do that because he was the only other person there, she did trust him enough to ask of him that favor. She trusted him enough to know that he'd say yes.

"Alright." Because he did.

"So, let me get this straight. Your team is made up of a Soapfoot master with buzz saws who can make things spin, an ex gang enforcer with a cattle prod who can generate electricity, and some random guy with claws that managed to beat all three of you up to become team leader because he's that good."

"Yep. I thought Brawnz was going to be some shitty bro, but he's actually pretty chill. Well, besides when he gets into a good fight. Then he gets a bit hot blooded, but that's more cute than anything. Trains regularly, exercises with us even if he already finished his rounds, stands up for us, and pays for drinks." A beat. "You know what? Probably the last bit that keeps us all happy."

"What the hell is Shade like?" Jaune wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead. He really should get a helmet, mostly so he can put ice dust in it to cool him down.

"It's your worst nightmare and greatest dream, rolled up into one." That was one hell of a descriptor. Anyways, the two of them had been approaching Tomango. While Jaune knew relatively little about Vacuo, due to documentation being a bit limited and researchers being hit by bandits, he knew enough about tribal relations. While there was the Vacuan council and all of its territories, there were also the members of the Great Western Sanus Federation, or the GWSF. Basically, literally every state that was part of 'Vacuo' was in the alliance.

And the only agreement of the alliance was that if a foreign country was to invade, they'd all put their grudges aside and coordinate a war effort to prevent a repeat of colonial subservience. Because the only thing two Vacuans hate more than each other was Atlas.

Anyways, beyond that agreement, the members were free to basically do whatever. Things like trade agreements between themselves and even conflicts were local matters that the GWSF did not cover. Shade covered them when it could, but the GWSF didn't. It meant that many tribes, Faunus and not, often had to bow down to a greater local power, usually a local warlord, sometimes the SDC, in order to be protected. Protected from bandits, from other warlords, and even from the Crown. According to May, the greatest enemy of the Crown wasn't the Vacuan council, it was the local warlords. Or, well, governors, as they liked to be called. They were often the targets of raids and other criminal plots. They were the ones that often spent the most time trying to stamp out the Crown. Anyways, to earn protection, they paid tribute.

Sometimes, that tribute was paid in lien. Sometimes, it was paid in resources. Regardless, the villages and small towns in question usually had to pay for this tribute through dust mining, salt collecting, or farming. And since farming enough crops to make a sizable profit was just not feasible in Vacuo, dust was what most villages sold. From what they heard upon further information gathering, the Oktun refused to touch the ice dust deposit that created the glacier. They instead resorted to different means of dust collecting. To be specific, there was actually an area of the dunes nearby the village, the sand of which had little dust crystals spread throughout it.

So as they walked up to Tomango, they saw countless faunus villagers sifting through the sand, occasionally finding a dust crystal.

Apparently, they had been doing it for centuries. And since it was on a border, breaking the deal of protection by trying to conquer the land directly in order to find the source would just invite every neighboring state to intervene 'on the tribes behalf.'

Anyways, beyond the 'colored hills' which they sifted crystals out of, the village wasn't very large, a good portion of it build around a small lone mountain, with the rest just square clay housing and shacks. A large iceburg about the size of the mountain was next to it. It provided fresh crop & drinking water and refreshing air for the people of the area.

The two cloaked strangers got a few odd looks as they walked into town, but none got in their way. They could see the one in the peppermint cloak holding a sniper rifle over her shoulder while the white cloaked knight had a sword on his hip. The sound of metal plates clinking rang out as they walked further and further, eyes shifting to greet every new face. They were looking for chainmail.

Unsurprisingly, they didn't find anyone wearing it.

They eventually made it to a small cafe that had pipes connecting to the glacier, serving as the source for the tap water. The resting workers stared at their cloaks, suspiscious. These wouldn't be the first bandits to assume that they were defenseless. And they wouldn't be the last.

But then Jaune flipped off his hood and flashed a diasarming smile towards the barista.

"Hey, sorry about the fuss. But we're huntsman-" Though that wasn't a guaruntee of anything, it did serve to assuage a lot of their fears. Most huntsmen were fairly upstanding. Or at the very least, they didn't resort to banditry. If they really wanted money, they could just get a high paying job in Vale or Mistral. "-and we're looking for someone."

"Eh?" The barista continued to wipe the countertop with a cold rag. "Who?"

"We don't know the name, but a woman. White streak in hair, sais, chainmail." The tribesmen within earshot cringed at once, hurt flashing across the barista's face in particular.

"Well, she drove off somewhere with her goons." Jaune looked towards May, who was fiddling with the detached scope of her rifle, and decided to continue the conversation.

"What did she do here?"

"She and her boys came around here early in the morning. After getting piss drunk, they began to harass the girls having their morning coffee. The girl you're talking about was creeping on one of the guys. So, we had to kick them out." The barista must've noticed the look of sympathy in Jaune's eyes. "Don't worry, they didn't do anything more. They were too drunk to even wield a pistol correctly."

"Alright, thank you for your time." Jaune nodded and walked out, with May clinging to his cloak as a guide.

Eventually, she tugged on it, making him turn around.

"I see it." Jaune waited for her to go on. "The jeep, its here. Other side of the mountain, I had to focus a lot, but I could see it."

"Really?" Jaune's eyes widened.

"I could also make out a cave structure."

"Anything else?"

"Grimm." That made Jaune's stomach lurch. "Tons and tons of Grimm. But their eyes, they were blue." And that confirmed all of Jaune's suspiscions. This was almost certainly magic, probably a recovered artifact. "We have to go. They can't be sticking around for anything good." Because while actively occupying Tomango was infeasible because of the manpower required to do so, that wasn't a problem for someone with an army of Grimm.

Instead of walking, Jaune found a large piece of sheet metal and sat on it. May gave a quizzical look, but complied when he asked for her to stand on the board. They both put their sandboarding skills to the test as they rootedo nto the sheet metal. Then, with his legs out on the sand, Jaune powered his greaves and focused the jets to a single direction.

A cloud of dust was left in their wake as they blasted off on the sheet metal, with Jaune steering and May shooting down any Grimm that came their way.

After half an hour, they had reached the entrance to a cave, where the jeep was parked. Jaune's danger sense was tingling, there were definitely Grimm in the area. Meanwhile, May's eyes were darting around, counting and taking note of particular threats. The Grimm were being stored in all wings of the cave system, but only one of them held the hideout of the Crownsmen. Luckily, her semblance made the labyrinthian layout a moot point.

Still, it would be better to kill all the Grimm present. It seemed like the only thing keeping them in check was whatever or whoever was controlling them. And breaking that control would mean a giant unstable horde of Grimm nearby a village.

While May did scouting, Jaune rested up, letting his very depleted aura recharge. He checked his equipment for the last time. Crocea Mors? Check. Shield? Check. Shield-shift functionality? Check. Flare gun? Check. Ammo? Check. Grappling hook? Check. Amor functionality? Check.

All was ready, they would begin their assault soon after.

The beginning of the assault was quick. They entered the first chamber, which was empty, likely to preserve the appearance of not being a stronghold. May could see three main paths that the caves went, with a few branches connecting all of them. And at the end was a cave that opened up to look over Tomango. In between them and that final point was Grimm.

Lots and lots of Grimm.

"Hmmm."

"Thinking something?" They had entered the first room, which was full of Sulfur Fish, and destroyed them all with the help of Jaune using a smaller version of Glacies Mors.

"The Grimm, I can see small chains extending from them towards the end cave." May put a hand to her chin, thinking. "They're blue, just like the eyes."

"I guess that's what's controlling them. Do they look like aura?"

"No, no, aura with my semblance looks more like fire or plasma or stuff. These chains look wispy, smokey. They're weird." Definitely magic then. Anyways, the Grimm sat docile in their rooms until one of them walked in. When that happened, they'd all spring into action and try to maul them.

The next room had tons of Vacuan Beowolves. Unlike their counterparts in colder and more humid areas, these Beowolves were incredibly thin. Their legs were bone thing, with black fur clinging onto half an inch of black flesh. In drastic contrast, their foreleg and claws were exponentially larger than their Valean, Atlesian, and Mistralian counterparts. They were also heavily armored, with their fingers being entirely plated in bone.

Jaune chuckled.

"Well, at least we aren't dealing with a Sand Wyrm." May gave him a deadpan look. "There's a Sand Wyrm, isn't there?" She nodded, earning a beleaguered sigh from Jaune. "Whatever."

The fight with the Vacuan Beowolves wasn't too bad. Nor was their fight with the Sand Wyrm, or the Creeps, or baby Deathstalkers, or the Geists, the Razorwings, or the other chambers of Sulfur Fish. It was just that it took time and strength to clear out the Grimm, chamber by chamber. In the end, they made it to the final chamber with Jaune only having 65% of his aura. May's was fine because he charged hers back up with his semblance. Anyways, May used her semblance to see where each of the five were.

The woman with the necklace was looking out the cave, probably planning how they'll use the Grimm. She also seemed to be nursing a hangover. The other four members were strewn about, also nursing hangovers. Getting a huntsman drunk enough for them to get a hangover was hard, but when it happened, it was a crash like no other.

So, they entered with a bang. Literally. Headhunter slammed the woman out of the cave, who indeed wore a chainmail croptop, while Jaune rapidly fired his flare gun at the other four Crownsmen. He had created a custom 'Vine Flare' made up of plant dust and some vine seeds. They'd rapidly grow and wrap around whatever they were shot at, acting as quick incapacitators.

The four Crownsmen had rifles and sabers. Apparently, according to May, the sabers were modeled after the ones that the imperial army wielded back in the days of Malik the Sunderer.

Anyways, what came as a surprise was when they heard a loud stomp and an accompanying gunshot. May was hit by surprise by a fire dust bullet that slammed her into a wall, stunning her for a moment. Jaune shot up his shield and tanked several other explosive rounds. When he put it down, he saw the woman, tossing away a pistol and pulling out two sais. Despite that, she merely looked down on the intruders.

"Well, look what we have here. Students playing hunter! Reminds me of my days at school. So, what does Mr. Medieval and Ms. Cyclops here want with me?"

"The necklace. Hand it over." Jaune pointed Crocea Mors at her, grip tight. But he wouldn't move either. May was still recovering from the shot. So, he had to do what he did best: stall.

"Oh, this thing?" With a sly smile, she pulled out the bone charm necklace. Jaune immediately shot at it with a flare, but she merely batted it away with one of her sais. "That's not very nice, you know." She put it back under her chainmail. And even if the flare hadn't been intercepted, it probably wouldn't have worked anyways. The charm was glowing with the woman's aura, it was protected. "And why? It's just a piece of jewelry. Why would yo-"

"It controls the Grimm."

"W-"

"We saw the Grimm in the cave. They had blue eyes. You were in here and weren't being attacked by them. It's not rocket science." Jaune gave a deadpan stare, was she really going to play dumb?

The woman sighed. "Whatever, well, I'm not handing it over."

"Why?"

"W-why? You know why! It controls the Grimm! With this thing, we could finally take over Vacuo! Hell, we could make the Grimm leave the dunes entirely! They could build, farm, and defend without any need for care themselves! They are the key to bringing Vacuo back into a golden age. It's the equalizer that will bring Atlas to heel." And there it was, the disdain for the kingdom to the north. "And if this test run goes well, we'll take over all of Vacuo within a month. Who needs an army of semblance users if we have this thing?" Her wide smile made Jaune's skin crawl. "No more jokes, no more unfair treaties, no more snobbery at the Vytal Festival. Vacuo will finally stop being the sick man of Remnant." Her words and smile grew more manic. "And it will come from this, Malik's will, Shademaster." She pointed at her chest, where the bone charm lay.

"Fucking-" May grumbled as she finally forced herself up, picking up Headhunter. She threw out the clip that was in it and loaded up one market with a 'G'. "-BASTARD!" And she fired backwards. The gravity dust bullet sent her flying towards the woman. Midair, she switched headhunter to axe configuration and swung, trying to take the woman's head.

And with a single sai, the woman blocked the strike. It almost seemed like a lazy deflect, one that Jaune was pretty sure would be insufficient, but it threw May off course.

Jaune shook himself from his spot and ran towards the fight, he couldn't just be standing around. He had to back May up.

May swung countless times at the woman, often overextending with each slash. She was obviously playing with May, only countering as she sized up the furious one eyed girl.

"Is that a Fulgrite Shard? How pretty! It reminds me of a raid that happened. It was quite a few years back. The lien we got from selling that one still funds us to this day, actually!" Those words only made May's slashes more forceful. Stone cracked and sparks flew. "Oh, did I strike a nerve?" She faux-bashfully put her other hand on her mouth. "Oop-!" The woman didn't realize that Jaune had joined the fight, only realizing when a grappling hook wrapped around her leg and pulled.

She fell to the floor and actually had to tank a hit from Headhunter, but then she spun upwards, somehow untangling herself and kicking May away.

"Now, that's not fair, ganging up on a girl like me. How about I even the odds?" And with a snap, they heard the fluttering of wings. And from the windows, Ravagers and Vacuan Nevermore, which mimicked Vultures in appearance, flew in. A black sea shining with blue eyes flooded into the cave, with electric arcs beginning to emenate from the woman's sais, both of which she took out.

"Now, let's fight for real!"

Jaune found himself in quite the pickle. While the woman was going after May, May had to deal with both the Grimm that were slashing towards her and the Crownswoman. And Jaune was pretty sure the Crownswoman could just outmaneuver him in order to attack May.

So, he did what he could, and amped up Wolf Gaze.

And nothing happened.

"Hmmm." Jaune sighed and instead dipped into Calm Waters. His sight was augmented as ripples clouded his vision. But beyond the ripples of motion and waves of aura, he could see magic. Wispy blue chains stuck out from all of the Grimm, chaining them to the woman wearing the necklace.

Two things came to Jaune's mind. First of all, when he went into Calm Waters, he was able to see the shape of things. Like how from observing the immediate ripples created by a rock, he could surmise its size, its weight, and its velocity. Sensing aura in Calm Waters was more like touching flames, except Aura didn't burn his hands. It was warm and wild and distinct. Meanwhile, magic was wispy, ethereal, and uncanny in how it felt. But regardless, he could see all of them, and they were real and physical things. They were just all invisible to the naked eye as well as intangible, at least normally.

So there really was a magic chain between the Crownswoman's necklace and the Grimm.

Second of all, magic could be touched by aura. The two were linked, somehow. Whatever the reason, magic reacted with aura.

So, putting one and two together, Jaune decided to try something out. He poured more aura than he usually did into Crocea Mors and raised it up high, trying for a standard slash. He was too far away from the Crownswoman for her to worry about the slash and barely paid it any mind.

Then, Crocea Mors struck air. And the shattering of glass could be heard. Blue turned to red and a few Ravagers began to attack their controlled bretheren, but they were swiftly overwhelmed.

Jaune's breaths were heavy from the effort, but he had done it. He focused his blade on the chain, focused his aura on the chain, and managed to cut the otherwise intangible link. He would later joke that he casted 'dispel' against the control magic that was being used on the Grimm.

That brought pause to the Crownswoman, whose eyes widened as she realized that the spell could be reversed.

She changed courses swiftly. She had been curb stomping May, but now she had someone more important to deal with.

"Shoot the chains with aura!" Jaune yelled out before he had to defend against the blistering offense that the Crownswoman and the swarm of blue eyed Grimm provided. May heard this and activated her semblance, seeing the chains once more. Trusting in Jaune's words, she turned Headhunter into its rifle form, aimed, and fired rapidly. Casing after casing fell onto the floor as blue eyes turned red. And while the Grimm mainly went after negativity, they also could sense the magic radiating off of their controlled bretheren and the chainmail wearing woman.

And also Jaune. He was unaware and would continue to be unaware that Darling's mere presence attracted a lot of Grimm to him.

Anyways, a third party was slowly thrown into the fray: The Grimm. And because of that third party, the Crownswoman had to dedicate many of her controlled Grimm to dealing with the uncontrolled ones and to harass May. And that left only her to fight Jaune. He fired cloud after cloud of dust, fire and ice flew towards the Crownswoman, except she split apart each easily with her sais.

Jaune adapted, he knew that slashes were out of the question and began to stab. He still needed to keep up his shield, because the Crownswoman combined her sais to form a combat staff, which meant that he no longer had the advantage of range. They fought a battle of attrition and, unknown to the Crownswoman, Jaune shone in those.

Meanwhile, May cleaved through Ravagers and Nevermore before swiftly firing another round, shattering another chain. Her aura infused bullets made easy work out of the ethereal bonds. But none of this mattered, because more and more aerial Grimm flew in to back up the Crownswoman. They had turned the tides for a moment, but if they didn't get a decisive win, it would all be for nothing.

So May's scope turned towards the Crownswoman's chest, where all the Blue chains went. A thin sheen of the Crownswoman's crimson aura enveloped it, but it could not contain the magic of the charm.

Focusing all of her anger, her rage, her frustration, her sorrow, and her soul into the last bullet in the clip, she pulled the trigger.

The bullet flew through Jaune's arm and the woman's sai, aiming straight for the chest. Instead of impacting the charm and being deflected because of the Crownswoman's aura, the bullet hit the magic of the charm.

The bones were just holding the glyphs and inscriptions, but the magic? That was something else, something that couldn't be bubbled up by aura, something that couldn't be protected. And May's bullet slammed into it and shattered it. The bullet, its physical form now abandoned for an entirely auric one, entered the origin point of the chains. It flew past the mana of ancient days like lightning and then hit the core glyphs of the talisman.

The glyphs broke. And as the heart of the charm's mechanisms was shot, everything else crumbled in turn. And as the ancient magic that held the charm together all seeped out in blue smoke, now defunct, the bone charm shattered and crumbled into dust.

Blue eyes turned red and the Crownswoman's eyes widened. Her aura was very low and she had just lost her only advantage. She got plenty of good hits on the knight, but she was nursing a hangover and his aura and stamina seemed endless.

She ran, trying to abandon her comrades. But Jaune's grappling hook wrapped around her leg and forced her to fall. The impact knocked her unconscious. From there, Jaune tied her up before he and May dealt with all the Grimm.

After it all, they were left with five members of the Crown, tied up and hidden in a cave. May looked down on the sleeping bodies, gripping Headhunter so hard her knuckles turned white.

"Do you want to kill them?" Jaune stood by May. While he was ready to intervene, his sword was in its sheath. No need for it.
"I still do. It's hard to get over the anger." But despite the sheer rage and hate in her eyes, she sighed. "But I know what you'll say."

"We can get information out of them if we capture them. Killing them would only serve to satiate your revenge boner."

May chuckled, that sounded like something she'd say. "Yea. I'll just mail them poisoned food when they're all in jail or something."

"Jeez, remind me to never get on your bad side." May chuckled and slugged Jaune in the shoulder as they gathered up all of their prisoners and got ready to deliver them to the authorities.

"This is definitely a bullhead port." Indeed it was. They had arrived at Vacuo that day, having been loaned a vehicle so they could deliver their prisoners with haste. They handed over the Crown agents earlier and were now at the bullhead dock, where May and Jaune would part.

"No duh." May rolled her eyes. "Are you sure you don't want to come? I'm sure you'd do perfect in Shade." May offered a cheeky smile. Jaune rolled his eyes.

"Yea, yea, sure I would. But then I'm pretty sure your team would kill me for stealing all of your time."

"Pfft, those guys? They'll probably murder me instead."

"Why?"

May rolled her eyes, whatever. "Anyways, this was actually pretty nice."

"... Yea, it was." Despite all the swearing, bickering, physical brawls, and many petty disagreements, traveling with May was great.

"I guess I'll see you?" May smiled hopefully towards the knight, who chuckled.

"Yea, maybe. If you see a sandstorm, check it out with your vision. Who knows, maybe you'll see me through the scope and sands." And with that, the Knight and Sniper departed.

Ok, ok, well, I know you guys might say that skateboarding is Reese's thing, that's why next chapter will be Jaune having to bust an underground skate fighting ring with her! ... What the fuck is this fic? Whatever, no way I'll actually write that, right? Right? ...

Btw, Soapfoot is based on Capoeira, which is a martial art from Brazil that is just, super cool. Check it out!

Anyways, whoopee romantic tension that will never ever be brought up again. Look, it just came naturally.

Also, the Grimm Necklace (which I took from the RWBY DND campaign) is just like, really fucking horrifying if you think about it for even a second. The Grimm are ostensibly what forced humanity behind the kingdom walls (well, right behind humanity's own collective incompetence). What makes Salem so powerful beyond her magic is the fact that she has access to an unlimited tireless army that is essentially a giant liquid swiss army knife. But, Jaune nipped this little threat in the bud before the Crown fully mastered control over it and could actually use it to take over Vacuo.

Alrighty, another chapter. Now:

1: Pilgrimage in Vacuo.

2: Siege in Vacuo.

3: A Spaghetti Western in Vacuo.

4: Semi-crack, Jaune delivers a pizza. The delivery is to the Grimmlands. The Midnight Castle, in specific.

5: Jaune meets a fellow wanderer and buys him a coffe to hear an old story.

Also, there's a good chance that before I finish the next chapter, I'll have written and posted the christmas one instead, so fair warning.