Chapter 44 - Antlerism & Absurdity
Jaune had seen and done many things, in the four lifetimes (eighteen or so years) he'd been alive.
He still remembered feeling the weight of his actions, of expectation, of history, as he'd stepped off the Bullhead and first stared at the statue of the Huntsman and Huntress in front of Beacon.
He still remembered the utter confusion that had been Initiation, when Ozpin had simply flung them into a Grimm-infested forest without much warning, and he'd ended up pinned to a tree (which had still beat breaking his neck from the fall, so thanks Pyr!).
He still remembered the chaos that had been the Breach and the attack on Amity Colosseum, as well as finding Ozpin's and Pyrrha's weird pod thing underneath Beacon.
He still remembered dying as the tower fell, fighting that damn fire bitch and her pet Grimm Dragon, and then waking up in another crumbling tower, under attack by another dragon.
He still remembered meeting Yang of Bravil (and finding out other realities existed), and killing that first dragon.
He still remembered accidentally almost starting a vampiric apocalypse, and stopping it with Yang and Serana.
He still remembered dueling the World-Eater in single combat, and almost getting ripped in half.
He still remembered waking up and meeting a Ruby Rose who was older than him.
He still remembered getting roped into helping write a book.
He still remembered the battles with the Enclave, and watching Liberty Prime's March to the Jefferson Memorial.
He still remembered Adams AFB.
He still remembered waking up to find aliens fighting a cowboy, a soldier, and a swordsman.
He still remembered Nipton (and how could he not? It hadn't even been a week!) and the crucified convicts.
He'd definitely experienced more than the average Huntsman, let alone the average person, and knew that Ruby and his team would never believe even a fraction of his stories.
But this?
"Who is Antler? WHO IS ANTLER?!" Captain Davison, the ten-foot-tall Nightkin shouted, roaring into Jaune's face, before turning to the bleached cow skull on the table. "Antler, they ask about you! What do I tell them? All right. All right... Yes, yes, of course. Who Antler is, not important to you. Antler wants that you deal with me."
"... very well, if Antler insists." Jason Bright, the glowing ghoul who'd been originally occupying the REPCONN test site, calmly answered, looking back and forth between the giant Super Mutant and the skull. "So, what can I do to help you, so that your own flock may go forth in peace, with no further blood shed between us?"
"Oh, god, it's going to be one of these days, isn't it..." Courier Six groaned, rubbing her temples with her fingers, wondering why she'd listened to Jaune's idea of trying to talk things out between the ghouls and the Nightkin.
Jaune just looked between the overly-muscled and barely-restrained group of giants on one side, and the robed mummified-looking people on the other, and sighed as he noted the giant clubs, swords, and guns on the former's side, and the odd metallic and plastic weapons on the latter's side.
This had to be one of the weirdest things he'd gotten himself into.
Their initial arrival into Novac had been relatively uneventful and quiet, which should have been more than odd enough to tip him off that something was wrong.
But he'd been too pre-occupied with wondering why Courier Six kept giving him odd looks when she thought he wasn't looking, and entertaining the odd questions she'd begun asking about him ("Do you happen to know Latin?"), and so had simply chosen to be happy with the relative peacefulness.
They'd even managed to find someone who'd met the Great Khans they'd been after, a sniper named Manny Vargas, and he'd agreed to tell them where they'd gone... on one condition: help the town by checking out the nearby REPCONN test site, as there'd been some noises and disturbances coming from it in the past few nights.
Jaune and Pyrrha had agreed, thinking it would be a simple reconnaissance mission.
In retrospect, Jaune really should have learned from his adventures with Ruby Ironwood to find James.
Things were never that simple or easy.
They'd arrived at the REPCONN test site to find the overly-muscled purple mutants laying siege to the beleaguered robed mummies.
Courier Six's instinctive reaction had been to declare "Job done", turn around, and head back to Novac, to tell them that Ghouls and Super Mutants were fighting over the site, get the info on the Great Khans, and wish them good luck and goodbye.
Unfortunately, a stealthed mutant had snuck up on them, and Jaune had automatically raised his weapons in a defensive position as his instincts and Aura suddenly screamed at him, blocking a blow from an invisible super sledge as a shimmer in the air suddenly tried to turn him into a pancake.
That block had earned him another flurry of blows, before he'd cut the unseen weapon in half, and thusly accidentally earned the respect of the giant purple mutants.
They'd been promptly brought before their leader, a Nightkin named Davison, who'd quickly nodded at a cow's skull before telling them that "Antler wants you to talk to the ghouls, tell them to stay out of the basement".
Courier Six had almost reflexively told him to fuck off, but had remembered that they were in the middle of the mutant horde just in time.
And so, after Jaune had let loose a long-suffering sigh, he'd gone to the intercom, and arranged what could charitably be called a "peace conference"...
"Are you sure we can't just share the building?" Jason Bright suggested. "My flock are almost done preparing for our Great Journey."
"I cannot allow." Davison shook his head. "My kin are... not right in head like I am. They might attack you on sight. Ghouls too. They crazy."
"Are you sure you're any better?" Courier Six murmured incredulously.
Jaune wanted to groan into his hand and weep at the utter lack of tact the Courier was displaying.
Unfortunately, Davison heard her too, though fortunately he didn't seem to find it insulting, instead defending himself: "I am in command of my faculties! In command of my troops! Antler guides me in all things! As I in turn guide my kin!"
Pyrrha looked at the sun-bleached brahmin skull sitting lifelessly on the table, before looking at Jaune's pleading expression.
She managed to hold her tongue, but it was a close thing.
"Okay, look, Mr. Davison." Jaune cut in, before things could devolve any further. "Why did... Antler bring you and your... kin, to this place?"
"Right!" Davison said, his train of thought successfully derailed. "A piece of paper. Shipment invoice. Hundreds of Stealth Boys, sent here a long time ago..."
"I can assure you, we know nothing of such a shipment..." Jason Bright tried to convince him.
"LIAR! Antler say that the shipment was sent here!" Davison was having none of it.
"Please, why would I lie?" Jason tried to reason with the schizophrenic Super Mutant. "Stealth Boys are unnecessary on our Great Journey..."
"Look, this is going nowhere." Pyrrha impatiently cut in. "Can either of you be convinced to leave this site for a few days?"
"The longer my flock delays our Great Journey, the more that may be lost to madness, or the barbarity of the Wasteland." Jason Bright firmly stated.
"Antler wants Nightkin to have them." Davison fervently answered. "My kin grow impatient. Hard to control attacking."
As if to underscore his point, the Nightkin began hefting their weapons threateningly.
"What if we helped you look for this shipment of... Stealth Boys, was it?" Jaune suggested hastily, not wanting the battle to resume (especially not while he was in the middle of it all).
"Truly? You would go that far for us?" Jason Bright was moved by his apparent selflessness. "The Creator must have guided you to us in our hour of need!"
"Hmmm... what's that, Antler?" Davison cocked his head towards the skull. "You sure? ... good point. You smart, Antler.
"Antler agrees to your term, human... but only one of you can go looking for it."
"What?" Courier Six spat.
"Why?" Jaune asked.
"Hostage! Make sure you don't run away!" Davison cheerfully answered. "Also, no way one puny human could steal hundreds of Stealth Boys!"
"Then I'll stay behind." Jaune immediately volunteered.
"Antler says good." Davison nodded.
"What the fuck are you doing, Arc?!" Courier Six hissed, gripping his arm hard as she yanked his head down to her mouth. "Are you out of your goddamn mind?"
"Look, Six, I don't even know what a Stealth Boy is, or what it looks like." Jaune admitted, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. "You're our best chance of resolving this peacefully."
"But..." Courier Six chewed her lip nervously. "... how do you know I won't just run away? How can you be sure that I'll find it?"
"I trust you, Courier." Jaune shrugged and smiled as he gave an honest reply.
Sure, she was crass, foul-mouthed, and kept eating his food, but she'd still agreed to help Goodsprings, and tried to help that crippled Powder Ganger. And he'd noticed her looking out for him, subtly giving him advice, educating him on the local situation as they'd passed each landmark, and entertaining all of his questions.
Pyrrha blinked, and looked at Jaune Arc.
The damned idiot was telling the truth.
Someone was actually trusting her with something that wasn't a job.
"I won't fail you, Arc." Pyrrha swore, clenching her fist, before turning to Jason Bright. "Tell me how to get to the basement."
"Sure, just take a left..." Jason Bright pulled away and began explaining, as Jaune simply watched on, bemused.
He hadn't been expecting the Courier to be that serious about his words, and had no idea how to handle it.
Then he turned away from her and blinked.
Right, there was still the army of increasingly-impatient Nightkin.
"... anyone got a pack of cards?" Jaune asked nervously. "... maybe a board game or something?"
Davison grunted in response.
Jaune gulped.
-LAND OF DARKNESS, REMNANT-
"Will you stop running?!" Pyrrha huffed angrily.
"Will you stop chasing me?!" The blonde in front of her shot back, as she continued fleeing. "Jaune wouldn't like it if I hurt his friends, so will you just leave me alone already!"
"Once again, how did you save Jaune?" Ruby asked, appearing next to Yang in a red blur, rose petals fluttering in her wake. "And why do you look so much like my sister?!"
"I don't even know who you are!" Yang snapped back, before Shouting: "WULD!"
The ground she'd been originally standing on turned into a crater, as the Last Dragonborn was suddenly propelled forward, and Yang Xiao-Long landed behind her, preparing another round.
"Yang! Don't!" Ruby quickly shouted. "She doesn't have Aura!"
"What do you mean, she doesn't have Aura?!" Yang Xiao-Long shouted back. "Why would a person without Aura even be here?!"
"Because I'm not from here, bitch!" The Last Dragonborn snapped back, before she suddenly felt a tugging sensation, as a black glow appeared around her breastplate.
Then suddenly she was lifted into the air by her armor.
She looked back to see the red-headed Amazonian holding her hand out, and glared at her, seeing the black glow around her hand as well.
Semblances.
Given how she'd reacted when she'd asked about Jaune, Yang figured that the person holding her in place was probably Jaune's partner, who he'd described as being able to control metal at will.
She prepared to Shout, either to blow her away so that she could escape (they had Aura; they'd be fine from a single Unrelenting Force Shout), or to Become Ethereal, so that she could escape.
Before she could, however, the red-cloaked ravenette suddenly appeared in front of her, pleading with her: "Please, wait! We mean you no harm!"
Yang just glared at her, and jerked her head to her metal-armed doppelganger.
"Yang..." Ruby groaned, looking back at her sister.
There was a tense silence, as Pyrrha approached Yang, still holding her in place, while Yang used the chance to catch her breath, in case she needed to Shout.
Then Yang Xiao-Long huffed and folded her arms, though she never relaxed, and never took her glare off of her barbaric doppelganger.
"Thanks, Yang." Ruby said, before realizing the problem. "Uh, my sister Yang, that is, not you..."
"Just let me down already." Yang rolled her eyes, ignoring the inane chattering from the ravenette, as she instead looked at the person she suspected was Jaune's partner.
Pyrrha lowered her slowly, cautiously, but didn't release her Semblance's grip on her armor.
Yang took a moment to study the redhead, before sighing.
"So... you're Jaune's partner, the one who unlocked his Aura?" Yang asked, fixing her with a glare.
Pyrrha's jaw dropped.
"How did you... did he..."
"He told me about you, and said your Semblance was controlling metal." Yang explained, before rapping her knuckles on her armor. "It wasn't hard to put two and two together, though he also said your sword turned into a throwing spear too."
Pyrrha studied the blonde barbarian in front of her, weighing her words.
While Milo was well-known, not many people knew that her Semblance was Polarity.
Most of all, though, it was a closely-guarded Team JNPR secret, that that their leader had started Initiation with his Aura still locked.
She didn't know why the Yang Xiao-Long of Bravil in front of her looked so much like Yang Xiao-Long of Team RWBY, or where she'd come from, or what her relationship with Jaune was...
But she did know Jaune, from after he'd started Beacon.
Which meant that Jaune really was still alive.
Tears began welling up in her eyes, as her mind slowly came to the realization.
"Wait, what does she mean, you unlocked his Aura, Pyrrha?" Ruby cut in.
"And why the fuck do you look like me?" Yang Xiao-Long added aggressively.
"Where... where is Jaune now?" Pyrrha pressed on, ignoring the two siblings. "And what did you mean when you said earlier that he was alive for now?"
The Last Dragonborn looked around at the trio, and slowly began: "... are you aware of the existence of other dimensions?"
Ruby, Pyrrha, and Yang Xiao-Long blinked.
"What."
"The."
-REPCONN TEST SITE, MOJAVE WASTELAND-
"Fuck." Pyrrha swore under her breath, as she sprinted back to the front of the test site, clutching a note desperately in her hand.
Sure, she'd tried her best, she'd done everything she could.
It still didn't change the fact that she'd failed.
Again.
When someone was relying on her.
It really wasn't her fault; the shipment of Stealth Boys had been returned, after it had been accidentally sent here!
She'd even grabbed the official document showing that they'd been sent back!
She just hoped that it would be enough.
The Nightkin didn't strike her as the kind who practiced petty things like mercy or understanding or restraint, though.
But still, she hoped and prayed, that it would be enough to keep Arc alive.
As she burst out of the REPCONN building, she found Arc surrounded by Nightkin, engaged in melee with one of them.
Before she could have a heart attack, though, she quickly noticed something.
The Nightkin and ghouls were cheering.
And Jaune was grinning.
Even as she watched, he deftly blocked the Nightkin's massive blade, before stepping to the side and smashing it with the flat of his blade as he tilted his shield.
As the overbalanced Nightkin fell forward, Jaune spun around and kicked him in the chin, before pointing his blade at him.
The crowd went wild, and Jaune's grin widened, as he offered the Nightkin a hand.
A series of simple spars, with absolutely no stakes... he couldn't help but be reminded of Beacon.
Though the Nightkin he was facing weren't exactly Huntsmen or Huntresses-in-training, they more than made up for their lack of Aura with their natural strength, and experience and skill.
So he'd take the victories, small as they were, and say that he'd finally won a spar.
Pyrrha just watched, mouth hanging open.
She'd met, worked with, and fought Super Mutants before.
She knew all of the Super Mutants on the West Coast were about 120 years old, at least.
To have survived in the Wasteland for that long meant that they were strong, tough, and experienced.
It was generally agreed upon that only a Brotherhood of Steel Paladin in power armor, or a Veteran Ranger, could face one in melee and survive.
And yet, here was Arc, the fucking puppy that had basically adopted her, handily beating one in single combat, seemingly without any effort!
And where the hell had he gotten that shield?!
... right, she'd seen him pull out his scabbard and turn it into a shield, hadn't she? When the Nightkin had first ambushed her?
... to be fair, she'd been a bit occupied with the Super Mutant army to really care, until now.
"Not bad, not-so-puny human." Davison congratulated Jaune, slapping him hard on the back. "You not so soft like other puny humans! Antler says you make good Nightkin!"
"Uh, thanks?" Jaune had no idea if it was an innocent compliment, or if Davison might be told to do something to him, and so he tried to be as non-committal as he could be with his answer. Then he noticed the Courier, and shouted: "Hey, look, the Courier's back!"
"Human." Davison nodded to Pyrrha, as she stepped forward uneasily in the face of all the stares pointed at her. "Did you find shipment?"
Pyrrha gulped. Moment of truth.
"Sorry, but I've got some bad news for you." Pyrrha began slowly, watching the Nightkin cautiously. "There is no stockpile of Stealth Boys in this building."
"What?!" Davison thundered, and Jaune, Jason, and the ghouls all tried to take furtive steps back. "Liar! The invoice said Stealth Boys here! Antler read it out loud to me!"
"I'm telling the truth!" Pyrrha explained desperately, holding out the note. "The Stealth Boys were sent here by mistake, then sent back!"
"But invoice note said Stealth Boys were here! Why can't that note be true?" Davison argued, even as he snatched up the note, and scanned through it with his eyes. Then he cocked his head to the skull.
"What, Antler?" Davison asked the skull. "... but human could be lying! Stealing the Stealth Boys for itself!"
"..."
"Oh, Antler... you trust so easy..." Davison finally conceded, before turning back to Pyrrha. "Your lucky day, human. Antler believe you. Nightkin will follow the new note to find Stealth Boys. Better be there."
"You know, if you're looking for a new place..." Jason Bright tentatively offered, as the Nightkin army began grumbling and holstering their equipment. "I hear there's a town full of Mutants and Nightkin called Jacobstown..."
"We know." Davison answered, and none could read his expression. "Came from there. Couldn't stand being seen. The others' minds began to go strange, to go crazy. But then I heard Antler calling, and followed his voice. Since then, everything's been going really well!"
"... good luck with getting the shipment, Davison." Jaune said sincerely. "Where will you go next?"
"Maybe, after we find shipment, the others go back to normal, and Antler will lead us back to Jacobstown." Davison replied, and Jaune wondered if he was imagining the trace of wistfulness in his tone. "Or maybe he lead us to more Stealth Boys. Either way, we follow Antler! Goodbye, ghouls, humans."
The ghouls, Pyrrha, and Jaune watched, as the Nightkin departed from the area, none daring to breathe in case something went wrong.
"Praise the Creator that ended well." Jason Bright finally said, relaxing, after a few minutes had passed. "And bless you, both of you, for saving my flock and our chance at salvation. There is no way we can thank you enough, wanderers; your arrival was a blessing. We will always remember you."
"Yeah, well, I'm just glad that turned out okay." Jaune replied, before laughing, more out of relief than any sense of humor. "Honestly, I thought my heart was going to stop, when the Courier said the shipment wasn't there."
"Not fucking funny, Arc." Pyrrha huffed, crossing her arms. She'd been really worried, and now he was just laughing it off?! Did he have any idea how scared she'd been when-
Pyrrha's mind froze.
She'd been scared?
Worried?
For Arc? The naive kid with a mysterious past, a lot more knowledge than he should have, and who could apparently go toe-to-toe with Super Mutants?
What, because he'd stuck around her, because he was a clueless dolt who somehow didn't have any clue who she was?
Because he'd trusted her?
... oh, God, she had to finish the job and cut him loose as soon as possible, didn't she?
Before she started to get used to his company.
Before he found out who she was.
"Anyway, Jason, I guess you'll be continuing on to your, uh... "Great Journey", now that they're gone?" Jaune turned to Bright, unaware of the Courier's growing unease. "What is this "Great Journey", anyway?"
"The Creator has promised to my flock a new land: a place of safety and healing... a paradise in the Far Beyond." Jason explained. "I have glimpsed it only in visions, wanderer, but what I have seen is truly miraculous; a place of light and healing, and I know in my soul that my flock will be safe there. We had just finished our preparations, and were boarding our rockets to make our Great Journey, when the Nightkin appeared."
Jaune and the Courier blinked, as they registered a specific word.
""Rockets?""
"Yes." Jason Bright nodded. "The rockets here will convey us to our promised land in the Far Beyond. Vision upon vision has confirmed it."
Jaune and Pyrrha followed his finger up as it pointed above the horizon.
-YANGTZE MEMORIAL, MOJAVE WASTELAND-
"You're late, Sentinel Ironwood." The blonde figure spoke sternly, glaring at the approaching red-hooded ravenette.
"Nice to meet you too, Sarah." Ruby said cheerfully, as she ran up to the rendezvous point.
"I told you, it's Elder Lyons while we're on official business." Sarah shot back in exasperation.
"But I'm technically not here on official business." Ruby shot back with a smirk. "You're here on official business. I'm here on personal business."
"Yeah, yeah." Sarah just sighed, knowing it was a losing battle.
Honestly, even now, 4 years after she'd met Ironwood, she still had no idea how the hell Arc had been able to handle Ruby as well as he had.
Ruby Rose Ironwood, the idealistic and impulsive terror, the human nuclear reactor; a near-limitless amount of energy, radiating positivity and hope all around her, and when she went critical...
And her best friend in the Brotherhood of Steel, for better or for worse.
"So, did you find out more about your family?" Sarah asked, deciding to drop the formalities for a bit.
"Yup. The Doctor in the town knew my parents." Ruby chirped. "Sadly, he couldn't tell me more about any extended family, but he did point me in the direction of Vault 21, in New Vegas."
"That's good to hear." Sarah smiled, before her tone changed. "And do you remember what I told you, when you asked me to take you along on this expedition?"
"Uh, no power armor in public?" Ruby didn't miss it, though she was confused by the change. "Because the NCR was at war with the Enclave and the Brotherhood, and anyone who can wear power armor would automatically draw suspicion?"
Sarah nodded, before adding: "Besides that."
"Uh, no drawing attention to ourselves at all, just in case?"
"Yes." Sarah said drily. "So, what's this I'm hearing from the NCR radios about a swordsman that miraculously healed a crippled convict who had his legs smashed by the Legion?"
Ruby blinked.
"That... wasn't me." Ruby answered. "I've only been in Goodsprings so far."
"Come on, how many people in the Wasteland use swords?" Sarah pointed out.
"Quite a few, ever since the tales of the Lone Wanderer started spreading." Ruby defended. "Heck, even Goodsprings had a wandering swordsman who defended the town from dynamite-throwing escaped convicts!"
"... okay, fair point." Sarah conceded. "But how many of them can also apparently heal such grievous wounds so quickly?"
"..."
"Look, Ruby, I'm not going to tell you to stop doing whatever you've doing." Sarah began. "After all, it's not like you'd listen even if I told you to, since it's exactly what he would have done, but just... be more careful, alright?"
"Okay, but I'm telling you, it wasn't me." Ruby emphasized once more.
Sarah took a moment to study Ruby's face, knowing Ruby couldn't lie to save her life.
Nope, she was actually telling the truth.
"Shit." Sarah cursed. "I guess there's another sword-using doctor wandering the Mojave, then. Well, as long as you don't show your fancy sword of yours, I guess we can push any suspicions onto him..."
Sarah noticed Ruby looking away shiftily.
"Ironwood..."
"It was just a quick peek, no harm done!" Ruby quickly said. "I'm sure Doc Mitchell won't say anything!"
Sarah just covered her face with a hand, and massaged the bridge of her nose.
"Well, even if he did, I guess nobody would believe him anyway..." Sarah finally allowed. "After all, at this point Arondight's pretty much a Wasteland myth, like you are. There's got to be dozens of rumors about it flying across the continent every other day."
"I still can't believe Excalibur got vaporized..." Ruby murmured, remembering how the dragonbone blade had cut through almost anything. "By the way, why do the other guys keep calling it Excalibur, anyway?"
"No reason." Sarah said curtly, fighting to keep her expression as neutral as possible.
She'd worked hard to make sure Ruby never heard the rumors that had continued to spread, or that they kept calling him the Pendragon, the Once-And-Future King.
At least she'd managed to get them to stop calling him "King Arthur", though, before poor Squire Arthur Maxson could develop even more of an inferiority complex.
And thank God Vault 101, Big Town, Little Lamplight, and the Republic of Dave kept voting against renaming the Citadel or the Capital Wasteland "Camelot".
Unfortunately, she hadn't been able to stop them from calling their new airship the "Prydwen", though.
"Anyway, still no luck figuring out how the make the blade frozen?" Sarah hastily changed the subject.
"Oh, I know how to make the blade frozen." Ruby replied easily. "Problem is, switching between frost and fire tends to make the blade brittle from the temperature shock. I can't even imagine keeping the blade both frozen and flaming at the same time, let alone making walls of ice sturdy enough to support a man's weight. If only I had still had the original..."
"Well, Arc told you what his blade was made out of." Sarah said. "Just got to go find yourself a dragon first..."
Ruby smiled sadly, as she remembered the month and a half she'd spent travelling with her first and best friend.
"You know, sometimes I can't help but hope..." Ruby quietly admitted. "That that weird thing kicked in again, where he was sent to another reality after he died in this one. Maybe, even right now, he's somewhere out there, being the hero he always wanted to be..."
"..." Sarah smiled too, as she imagined it. Then she shook her head, and jokingly retorted: "I still can't believe there's other realities out there, let alone ones where dragons and vampires exist, or one where humans have evolved soul force-fields."
And they knew he was human. The blood test had come back 100% homo sapiens.
"Do you think, if he's still wondering around the multiverse... that he might ever come back?" Ruby asked softly, stroking her locket once more.
"That would have to mean he died in another reality again, though, since that's the only way we know he jumps dimensions." Sarah pointed out. "And unless he's fighting another orbital nuclear barrage, I just can't see anything killing him."
"It's Jaune." Ruby stated with confidence, and the two shared a laugh. "Anyway, any luck tracking down the local chapter of the Brotherhood?"
"No luck so far." Sarah frowned. "The Texan Chapter also haven't had any contact with the Western Elders in centuries. I've got the Pride intercepting the radio waves, listening for any broadcasts, and I was planning on looking for some Pre-War maps, see if I can find any old government bunkers, like how we found Site R..."
"I'll keep a ear out while in Vegas, see if I can pick up any rumors too." Ruby promised. "By the way... you never did say what would happen, if the Western Elders ruled in favor of the Outcasts and not us..."
"The Western Elders are free to make any decision." Sarah grinned ferociously, remembering an ancient quote. "Enforcing it will also be up to them."
-REPCONN TEST SITE, MOJAVE WASTELAND-
Jason Bright looked out at his of hundreds of ghouls in space suits, and shed a tear as he gave thanks the Creator once more.
If not for the timely assistance of the two wanderers, more of his followers might have been denied their chance at Paradise, in the Far Beyond.
And now the pair had even agreed to help Chris launch the rockets!
Truly, it could only have been the Creator who had brought such people to REPCONN at such a time.
He cleared his throat, and as the ghouls around him stopped what they were doing, he began: "Gather, all. May the Creator guide my words and help me speak true...
"The almighty Creator has seen fit to answer our prayers. The time has come for us to board the rockets and begin the Great Journey.
"Though it may seem that all humans despise us, the Creator has seen fit to instruct us differently. The Journey ahead would have been impossible if not for the intercession of three human friends, two new, the other a long-abiding companion.
"To our new friends, we say thanks, and promise never to forget how they cleared from our path the Nightkin who sought to stay our Journey.
"And to Chris, we owe more than thanks. Chris, you have made this Great Journey a reality. From this moment forward, you will be remembered as the Saint of the Great Journey. We shall never forget you. I ask that you give us your blessing, Chris, as we bestow ours upon you."
Chris Haversam, newly-canonized Saint of the Great Journey, the former Vault Engineer who'd once believed he was a ghoul when he'd began balding, couldn't control his tear ducts, as he heard the sheer gratitude in Jason Bright's voice. Not for the first time, he wished he could join them... but as a human, the radiation would kill him in minutes.
Instead, from his position in the control room, he pressed his hand against the thick glass, and quietly answered: "Good luck with your Great Journey, Jason. And thank you, too, for everything..."
"Seekers, board the rockets, take your seats!" Jason Bright finished, waving his hands towards the rockets. "The Great Journey awaits! To the promised land we go! To the Far Beyond!"
Chris watched as the last of the ghouls boarded their rockets, before activating the intercom to the viewing platform: "They're ready. It's time."
Up in the viewing tower, Jaune and Pyrrha heard Chris's message, and looked down at the lever.
"You know... nobody's ever going to believe this." Jaune spoke up first.
"What, that we stopped a war between religious Nightkin who were following a skull and religious ghouls?" Pyrrha asked. "Or that we're about to launch rockets full of said religious ghouls to the moon? I still can't believe that crackpot No-Bark Noonan was actually right..."
"Half-right." Jaune corrected. "I'm pretty sure their Great Journey doesn't involve painting the moon pink and drawing a "Lenin" face on it, whatever that is."
Courier Six snorted and quickly covered her mouth, hiding her smile and laugh, once again reminding Jaune painfully of his partner.
"So, Arc, want to do the honors?" Six offered.
"Well then, don't mind if I do." Jaune grinned back, and pulled the lever.
Strings suddenly began blaring from speakers, forcing the two to cover their ears, as the giant dome in the test site slowly opened up.
The strings suddenly doubled in intensity, as the launch platform with three rockets were raised into the now-open dome.
There was a low rumbling sound, as the rockets fired up their thrusters.
As the orchestral piece progressed to brass and winds and horns began triumphantly sounding, the rockets took off, shooting up into the sky.
Jaune and Pyrrha stood there silently, watching the rapidly-shrinking rockets as they slowly disappeared into the sky.
Against all odds, Pyrrha found herself hoping that they'd find their paradise, their "Far Beyond"... that they'd find peace, like how she'd once found it in the Divide.
Jaune, for his part, resolved to ask Elliott and Sally to track their progress, and make sure they got to their destination safely. He really should get a Scroll or something so they could communicate...
"Well, let's go, Arc." Pyrrha said, punching him lightly in the shoulder. "We've wasted enough time here."
Jaune just rolled his eyes at the Courier, but he still made his way to exit, though he did retort: "Hey, it wasn't that bad..."
"Pretty sure it was." Pyrrha answered drily.
"... alright, fair enough." Jaune conceded, rubbing the back of his head. "But can you really tell me it wasn't worth it? Didn't it feel good to help someone?"
Pyrrha's foot froze, as she thought about it.
Honestly, she could have ended her involvement and went back to Novac, as soon as the Nightkin had left. She'd done more than could reasonably be expected, and definitely more than Manny Vargas had asked for. Nobody would have complained if she'd returned to her job. And it wasn't like the ghouls were offering her any hard caps.
She hadn't worked pro bono, gone above and beyond expectations, ever since the Divide had been destroyed.
And yet...
A gentle smile crept up on her face, as she looked back up at the rockets' exhaust trails.
There was a feeling in her chest, that she hadn't felt for a long time.
It wasn't a bad one, though.
"Yeah, it was pretty cool." Pyrrha murmured, folding her arms beneath her chest.
Jaune looked back at her, and noticed her twinkling emerald eyes as she warmly gazed up.
A flash of a memory, of a girl looking up at the idiot who'd been pinned to a tree, asking if he'd had any spots left on his team.
His eyes widened.
It couldn't be, right?
"Come on, Arc." Courier Six bumped her shoulder against his lightly, and he stumbled slightly. "We need to figure out how to actually report all of this to Novac."
"Oh, man..." Jaune groaned as he made to follow her, the idea of trying to explain just what had happened here horrifying him enough to occupy his thoughts. "Uh, not it?"
"Not fucking happening, Arc." Courier Six called back, refusing to let him push all the explaining onto her.
Jaune didn't need to see the grin to know it was there, to picture it on her face. He could hear it from her voice just fine.
Author's Note: ... this chapter's honestly more for my sake than anything else, because I just realized I've got quite a few plot points I'm juggling at the same time, and I really need a place where I can place most of the plot threads I've left dangling. Why do I do this to myself...
The entire REPCONN quest is fucking canon, I swear. No, I am not making this up. There is an actual quest involving helping a group of religious ghouls (the Bright Brotherhood, who follow Jason Bright) who are being attacked by a group of religious Nightkin (elite Super Mutants who use Stealth Boys) called "Antlerites", because they worship a bleached brahmin (two-headed cow) skull called Antler... because there's a misunderstanding and the Antlerites just want the Stealth Boys that are supposed to be in the REPCONN test site (which they aren't).
And once you make the Antlerites leave, you then help the religious ghouls fix up the rockets so that they can escape to the one place that hasn't been corrupted by capitalism: SPACE!
Oops, sorry, wrong franchise. I mean, escape all the violence and barbarism of the Wasteland by escaping to the Far Beyond (which is probably the moon, and almost definitely space). And yes, Ride of the Valkyries blares when you launch the rockets. No, I am not making that up. I figure the buildings designers did that on purpose, making Ride of the Valkyries play whenever there's a launch, because why the fuck not.
How ghouls can survive on the moon is honestly beyond me, but then again the GECK can apparently terraform even bits of the moon (if they've been pre-conditioned first), so maybe Jason Bright has one. Or maybe this is just one of those weird things about the Fallout Universe. After all, there was canonically a significant historical event that occurred in the Sea of Tranquility involving the United States Armed Forces, resulting in soldiers fighting and dying. Also, in a cut Old World Blues ending, the Think-Thank "systematically brain-scrubbed and rebuilt (Caesar's Legion) so that all the inhabitants believed they were in ancient Rome... on the moon." No, I am not making that up either.
Also, every time I wrote about the "Great Journey", I felt the weirdest temptation to start pulling in quotes from the Prophet of Truth. To resist it, I had Jason Bright stop calling the Nightkin "demons".
And no, the Super Mutants and ghouls aren't tipping Jaune off yet, that he's still in the Fallout-verse. The Master's Super Mutants (in that he made them all before his death in 2162) are very different from the Vault 87 FEV Super Mutants, namely lacking most of the physical deformities or loss of mental faculties (relatively speaking) that characterize the Capital Wastelands Super Mutants, and he never actually encountered non-feral ghouls in the Capital Wasteland (nor does the Capital Wasteland have a monopoly on zombies). But he's certainly starting to grow suspicious, though he probably thinks he's in a different version of Fallout, rather than being in the same universe in a different time period and location.
And hoped you enjoyed the little Remnant tease. Pyrrha now has definite proof that Jaune's alive. and DovahYang's got some explaining to do. For this arc, I probably won't use it to punctuate climactic moments, but just drop snippets here and there, just like I will with the Ironwood-Lyons subplot.
And yeah, hope you liked the sneak peek into life in the Capital Wasteland (which has most definitely not been renamed "Camelot" yet). Life there's improved to the point that the Brotherhood of Steel can think about mega-projects like the Prydwen, and the various settlements are slowly communicating and coordinating into something resembling a regional government. The main difference between this and what eventually happens in Fallout 4 is that Sarah Lyons doesn't die in combat after becoming Elder, leading to the Lyons' Doctrine being reinforced rather than abandoned. That and an earlier purge of Vault 87 and the FEV vats within also meant that the Vault 87 Super Mutants were wiped out much sooner, while Ruby's continued presence in the Capital Wasteland (and the Wasteland Survival Guide) has also definitely helped the settlements and the inhabitants with their growth. And since the Lyons Doctrine is still being followed, and Sarah Lyons is still Elder, Arthur Maxson isn't about to annex the Capital Wasteland for the whole Brotherhood of Steel.
