Author's Headnote: Did you Miss me? Anyways, here's this!
RWBY: Festival of Blood: Back to Belladonna
Jaune Arc:
Aura Status: 100%
Semblance: Aura Boosting
Weapons: Crocea Mors
Licensing: Trainee Huntsman (Haven Academy)
Party Relations:
- Violet Jasper: Still wary about him
- Nora Valkyrie: Excited that she managed leave the roads
- Yang Xiao Long: Arm grown back, capable fighter once more
- Lie Ren: Is no longer stressed, but he is hiding something
End of Major character status report
Haven Academy, April 2, Monday, 6:00 AM, JVNYR Guest Dorm
After waking up, being the first to wake up being that one can't get much sleep on hard floor. He puts the lights on, which tends to trigger reactions from his groggy teammates. Specifically, just Nora and Yang were the ones complaining Violet had gotten up and claimed the bathroom before everyone else.
"Uuugh..." Yang uttered.
"I'm stiiill Tired." Nora complained.
"Well, we once again have classes to Attend, so we can't sleep as long as we like." Jaune retorted.
"It's literally the final week, they won't care if we're late!" Nora complained.
"And do you want us to repeat the first year? Besides, unlike the other students, we have to take exams!"
"AAAAAAAAUGH! Why did you have to bring that up?" Nora complained.
"And given the circumstances we've messed one and a half semesters of exams, we're going to be taking more exams lasting the whole week. If we fail, we need to retake them. And if you show up late, you get points reducted. So, it's best to show up as soon as possible." Jaune stated.
Nora reluctantly got up from bed. Yang did as well. It seems the events here are going to be a bore... he also wonders what Blake is doing right now. No doubt for sure that Blake's going to repeat the first year, not like she's gonna be interested in being a huntress given her injury.
Character Change: Jaune Arc - Blake Belladonna
The Belladonna Villa, April 2, Monday, 9:00 AM, Blake's Room
Knock Knock Knock
"Go away!" An unmotivated Blake said.
"It's the doctor, I'm here about your leg." the voice said.
Blake remained silent. The door opened anyway. Like mentioned, it was a doctor, a faunas wearing a White Fang symbol on him. In which then recited a reaction from Blake.
"Go away." Blake threatened, her ears went flat and away, like how a cat does when they're angry.
"I was expecting that reaction when Ilia told me about you, Blake." the doctor said.
"Ilia sent you here? For what?" Blake demanded.
"To check up on your leg. I need to see if it's healed."
"Only the knee is damaged.
"Ah, I see... the cast was put on the entire leg to avoid further damaging the knee. Must have been severe if a knee brace wasn't enough."
"So... you're going to cut my leg off and replace it with a metal leg?"
"No no, I was told to heal you as fast as I could... but first, the process is going to be slow, and I don't want you to struggle so I'm just gonna..." the doctor said, injecting a fluid inside Blake's systems.
After that, she felt everything fading into black.
Several hours later... she woke up again, the doctor was gone. She licked her teeth to check something. Nope, she was not turned into a vampire. That would be incredibly awkward and ironic given the situation she's in. Though, she does feel invigorated. Furthermore, what she does notice is that the cast on her leg is gone. She presses on her knee, and for some reason it's fixed. Somehow, she's managed to have her leg healed miraculously. How? She doesn't know!
She starts to feel better, as she gets up... well, her leg is a bit weak from unuse, being that it's a bit weaker than her left leg right now. Meaning she's gonna have to go through some special training to get her right leg back in proper shape.
But she feels like she can do something with her life other than just lounge around and waste resources. Ruby would have wanted her to enjoy life. However, enjoying can wait, for now she needs to get back in shape. Sure, she hasn't gained weight... but actually, she's LOST weight. As in... she's underweight, which means she needs to build her body up.
The Belladonna Villa, April 2, Monday, 8:04 PM, Living Room
Blake decided to head out. Figured she can go somewhere to regain her shape. Though, her mother did stop her.
"Kitten, where do you think you're going?" her mother asked.
"I'm gonna get back in shape!" Blake responded.
"At this hour? Sure, you have huntress training, but you're unarmed. Plus, your leg recently healed up thanks to the doctor Ilia sent. I think you're going to need a couple of days for it to relax first."
"Alright, I guess staying in the house for a couple more days won't hurt, that's what I've been doing."
"You're not fighting back?"
"No, I'm not fighting back. Last thing I need is to be in argument with my parents. Besides, I want to spend as much time as I can before I leave in the summer."
"Where would you go? Not like Beacon's gonna be restored in less than a year in the state I've heard it's in right now."
"I plan on applying to Atlas. Well, after I get a new bow."
"Why Atlas? The staff there hate faunas."
"There are faunas students, and most of them are layed back. So It can't be that bad. Besides, I plan on being a huntress, and I'd figured Atlas would be the safest place to learn right now."
"I suppose that's fair..."
"Don't worry mom, I'll come visit you and dad whenever I can..."
"Thanks..."
Village of Menagerie, April 3, Monday, 3:00 PM, White Fang Shrine
For no reason, Blake decided to train near the shrine the White Fang hang around with. She started with some light leg training Although her right leg is weakened, so is her left leg from her more sedentary lifestyle the injury forced onto her.
The White Fang aren't around, so she's free to use this area to get back in shape. They aren't even a religious organization anyway, not sure what would the shrine be for... but knowing the White Fang, it would something malicious, so she can't stay here long. Not to mention, Blake's currently unarmed.
But she's just happy she's able to exercise. Working on getting her body back to shape will be a long road, but she's going to get there. Building weight to increase her muscle mass, though not too much weight. She needs to make sure she's in a good shape.
The legs are the first step then to work her way up from there. Needs to work every single part of her body. She starts with some kick-boxing and some makeshift workouts dedicated to strengthening the legs. She works out until she's sore all over and then decides to head back, until she runs into Ilia...
"Oh, hey... Blake... what are you doing here?" Ilia asked.
"I was exercising. I need to make up for all my time I had let my muscles weakened." Blake stated.
"But why here?"
"Figured you don't use this place often so it could be safe to work out around here."
"Fair enough... just don't break anything."
"Don't worry, I'm not here to cause any trouble for the White Fang. I'm just rebuilding my strength, and then getting on the first ship to Solitas."
"You're going to attend Atlas?"
"That place is least likely to end up like Beacon, so I can focus on education. Besides, I can just get another bow."
"So... you're just going to lie to yourself?"
"Being a faunas isn't really a big part of my identity."
"Humans won't see it that way."
"That's what the bow is for."
"So... you're just gonna run off again?"
"Don't worry, I'll come back and visit."
"What if the village is abandoned?"
"People here are a strong bunch, they're gonna pull through a supply crisis."
"You really think that?"
"Of course, these people came here on their own. They're not going to have to go back from all they went through."
"Didn't you just lie on your bed and brood for 2 months?"
"Ya... but then I realized after some time that Ruby wouldn't want that for me."
"Whose Ruby?"
"My girlfriend. Well... late girlfriend."
"Oh..."
"Anyways, I'm heading back to relax and wash off. Maybe I'll see you tomorrow, Ilia."
"Okay... see you around then..."
Village of Menagerie, April 4, Tuesday, 12:00 PM, Aquatics District
Blake was at the bar, eating some high-protein and high-carb food to get herself ready for her next day of exercise. She needs all the energy she can to prepare herself for what's to come. However, given circumstances, she's only having one serving a day. But she feels like that's enough for her. Though, it seems Ilia has come down to visit her...
"Hey..." Ilia said, sitting down next to Blake.
"Checking up on me?" Blake asked.
"Ya... just worried about my friend."
"I never thanked you for sending over the doctor. How did he heal my leg?"
"Oh, he said that your leg managed to heal up on it's own. Said that your aura heals wounds faster than average."
"Well... I wouldn't have known that on my own..."
"Ya... you wouldn't. So... how's your leg?"
"Still weak. I'm getting myself back in fighting shape."
"For what?"
"I still want to be a huntress. I want to protect the innocent."
"Why not rejoin the White Fang?"
"From what I've seen, they're more fond of slaughtering the innocent, even if they are faunas."
"Can you two discuss politics elsewhere? You're making the other patrons nervous." the bartender requested
"Oh. Sorry." Blake apologized.
She then wolfed down all of her food and paid the bartender again for dealing with her trouble. After that, she went to exercise for the day again.
Village of Menagerie, April 5, Wednesday, 3:00 PM, Wilderness Outskirts
Though the rest of the island is uninhabitable desert, the outskirts to it is undisturbed, and close enough to the village so there isn't much grimm to worry about. In addition, the conditions make combat exercise viable. She managed to acquire a makeshift wooden stick in place of her weapon. She does this train her muscle memory to get her skills up to beat, whilst also building up her muscles again.
She starts by recalling her combat moves she remembers she can pull off at an instant. Some basic attacks, there and there. However, she can't really re-enact all of them since the makeshift weapon doesn't double as a gun, so she has to make do with the stuff she can do. The stick feels average weight... though, by the end of her regiment, it should feel light. After re-enacting her basic combat skills, she goes on to some regular exercise to further build up her muscles. She needs to get hersef ready for the next school year. Because no doubt she's repeating the first year when she enrolls at Atlas.
So... she needs to train herself harder to make up for all the lost time. That, and she's gonna learn to wear armored kneeguards during combat. She's not gonna spend more time wearing a cast. So maybe Pyrrha and Jaune was right about wearing armor. Though, in her case it'd be only the knees. She doesn't want to slow down her movement completely. She's an agile fighter, so too much weight would make it hard to move.
She continues to train for the day and then heads back when the sun goes down. She doesn't want to risk getting caught in a vampire attack like Ruby did. Which would make her life much harder, being have to suck blood to keep herself intact. Fortunately, this is not what fate has in store for Blake. Not that she'd know anyway. Though, she does see Ilia again... is she following Blake or something?
"Hey Blake!" Ilia announced her presence.
"Are you... following me?" Blake asked.
"Is it wrong to be worried about a friend?"
"Yes... but you showed up without announcing for three days in a row..."
"Hey, I announce my presence."
"But for three days... you ditch your post to talk to me..."
"Look, I'm worried your leg may break again. I felt hurt when I heard you were too depressed to even get out of bed."
"I see... look, I'll come for you next time. You don't have to worry about me. You're a great friend, but right now you're making me uncomfortable."
"Okay, okay... I guess I'll leave you alone."
Village of Menagerie, April 6, Thursday, 8:00 PM, Beach
The beach at Menagerie. Though, only the aquatics actually swim here, and only for pleasure. So, the shores are vacant save for one sould looking at the sunset. That soul is Blake Belladonna. She was thinking about Ruby. The times they've had together. But, she knows for sure that the vision Emerald gave her of Ruby is a possibility. But should that happen. Blake won't hesitate to kill her, because when that happens... Ruby would have broken her promise. Besides, chances are a monster like that wouldn't be Ruby anymore. She wouldn't kill for pleasure. Hell, the thought of killing makes her queasy.
The sunset does calm her. She came here instead of straight home to recollect. She enjoyed her moments at Beacon and with team RWBY. Chances are, given the news on the kingdom. New moments won't come. She wiped a tear away from her eye.
"No, I didn't come here to cry." Blake said. "I just wish we could have spent more time together..."
After she said that, a couple of White Fang mooks came over. Blake can overhear their conversation.
"Man, am I glad I'm not in Mistral." One of them said.
"How come?" the other asked.
"You know that Nostferatu legend in Vale, right?"
"The one about the girl shaped grimm hunting us down, right?"
Blake's ears peaked in interest. They're talking about Ruby. But why would they talk about her? Shouldn't she be dead? She has to be dead...
"Ya, there's some sightings that it moved to Anima, hunting down our cells there." the first mook said.
"Isn't that where Sienna Kahn is? Do you think the grimm's trying to wipe us out?" the second one asked.
"And look here, there's another saying that grimm is inside the girl, possessing her or something. Some survivors at Mt. Glenn say that the grimm controls her."
"You're saying that the grimm is hiding inside a girl, does she know about it?"
"Well, there's a corellation that almost all of the Nostferatu attacks in Vale happened to be members of the White Fang."
"Even the ones disguised as sewer workers?"
"Damn, guess grimm aren't just mindless beasts. Must hate the White Fang or something."
"Guess it could be the girl. They say she's a huntress."
"And the huntress is heading to Mistral?"
"Nostferatu attacks corelate with the direction, they've also attacked some of Arris' boys."
"And another thing that's on my mind for something..."
"Ya?"
"You know that new Mercenary?"
"no?"
"There's this saying that there's some Mercenary that killed a student huntress and took her scythe."
"W-what?" Blake shouted.
"Can I help you?" One of the mooks asked.
"Do you know who that is? That's the traitor!" the other mook said.
"Yes, but we're off duty, no need to poke the bear."
"Fair point."
"Did you say... Mercenary that killed a student huntress?" Blake asked.
"Ya...?" one of the mooks said.
"And that she had a scythe?"
"Ya...?"
Blake came here to relax and gaze... but now... she's anything but calm. As far as she's aware, she's more berserk than Yang. However, she doesn't lounge out at the White Fang mooks. She instead goes back to training. She's going over drive. She's gonna go find that mercenary and make her pay. And she's going to take Ilia with her.
Character Change: Blake Belladonna - Jaune Arc
Haven Academy, April 7, Friday, 5:00 PM, History Classroom (Post Exams)
And just like that, Exams are done... in which then Jaune got up from the class room and stretched.
The classroom appeared to resemble something similar to Beacon's... except it's made of different wood. Well, two woods. The first one being the walls and floors matching the rest of the academy, the seating and tables use a red wood, however. Jaune doesn't know much about wood so he doesn't know what kind of tree they came from. But that didn't matter, he's just glad that he gets to the chance to advance to the second year. Mr. Branwen must have been very persuasive with the headmaster at Haven.
"So, what do you think we're going to go for the break?" Yang asked.
"Likely investigate the Moon Dragon Yakuza. I think they're behind what happened." Jaune stated.
"Oh ya, we're gonna have to discuss that back on the dorm..."
"I wish there was more room for beds..."
"You're just saying that because you have to sleep on the floor."
"That, and Nora keeps stepping on me!"
"Then maybe you shouldn't sleep on the floor!" Nora added.
"And this is why I want a larger dorm." Jaune repeated.
"They don't have larger dorms." Sun added, appearing out of nowhere.
"GAH!" Jaune gasped, then fell down. Everyone else laughed.
However, he did get a text from Mr. Branwen.
'Meet me at your dorm.' He texted.
"Let's head straight back." Jaune stated.
Haven Academy, April 7, Friday, 6:00 PM, JVNYR Dorm
After opening the dorm, he sees Mr. Branwen with a fifteen-year-old kid, younger than Ruby was when she entered Beacon. Tanned skinned and freckled, along with wavy brown hair.
"Uh... who's this?" Jaune asked.
"Your former headmaster." Mr. Branwen responded.
"Uncle Qrow, are you high?" Yang asked.
"No, I'm perfectly sober... for now." Mr. Branwen stated.
"For now?" Nora asked. "Can I have some?"
"No. You're too young for booze." Mr. Branwen retorted.
"Yang does have a point... he's just a teenager." Ren commented.
"Eh, don't worry. Come on, kid. Let him in..." Mr. Branwen said.
"Uhh... okay... I guess..." the child said. Before he started glowing green and his eyes changed colors.
"I'm surprised Ms. Rose isn't with you all." the child? Spoke.
And just like that, Yang started to charge at the child with full rage. Only for the child (maybe?) to counter her punch and throw her across the dorm.
"Worry not, Oscar is perfectly fine. He can push me back at any time. My current predicament is not identical to Ruby's grimm by any means." the child? Spoke.
"Sorry, just kind of acted on reflex." Yang said.
"Now I'm afraid my current form is registered as a student here at Haven, much to Qrow's predicament." Ozpin stated.
"So, it really is you?" Jaune asked.
"Yes, I am your former headmaster. Though it appears you have more people than beds already. So, I assume someone sleeps on the floor."
"Ya, Jauney here does." Nora announced.
"Then Mr. Arc will be resting inside the bathroom, and Ms. Valkyrie will take his place on the floor. Oscar will be resting in Nora's former bed." Ozpin said.
"And what do you mean by Ruby not being with us?" Violet asked.
"I've actually planned ahead for scenarios exactly like this. Being in my current predicament, you have to plan for every possible outcome ahead of time. So, I figured Ms. Rose would be with all of you."
"She went missing. People assume she's dead along with Penny and Cinder. Though, there were sightings of Cinder's remains and Metal scraps, likely coming from Penny. However, there is no physical evidence of Ruby's death."
"Not even a skeleton?"
"No."
"A skeleton?" Jaune asked.
"When a vampire is killed by any means other than sunlight, every part of their body burns into ash except the skeleton. However, the incident of both of their deaths happened after the sun had set." Violet stated.
"This is not an expected outcome. I'd figured for the survival of a minimum of two out of three combatants in that scenario. Most likely being Ms. Rose and Cinder. The latter being one of Salem's minions. Though, given the context, I'd figured that it was Ms. Rose that killed her. And knowing Ms. Rose, she'd run away after the realization of her actions." Ozpin said.
"Why would she run away after killing Cinder?" Violet asked.
"Ruby is quite a moralist and an optimist. She has a strict morale code she abides by. One of which is to never take a life. I know this because she tends to bring it up every time we don't fight grimm." Yang stated.
"So... she ran away because she felt guilty?" Jaune asked. "Wow..."
"It's very likely that Ms. Rose will not be aiding us. It seems we cannot rely on her from this moment onward. Now if you excuse me..." Ozpin said. With his bodies' green glow fading away. After that, the boy's body then collapsed.
"I'm never gonna get used to that." Oscar complained.
"Neither will we." Ren added.
Author's Footnote: And here's where the chapter will end. Yep, April's over and I'm back to updating. By the way, I've started another story. "RWBN: A RWBY AU." It's basically a Rule 63 Ruby fanfic, but I've decided to change some aspects of the story over. But that doesn't mean I'm gonna abandon this or Ruby of Cerberus. No no, I'm gonna finish those, damnit! Glad to see you guys enjoy my work! And Blake will be heading back to the main story. Worry not, the people of Menagerie will not be harmed.