Chapter 3: The Man from a Forgotten Past
Thanks for your patience guys, here's chapter three.
"… I'm gonna be going with my uncle to Anima, wanna come with?"
Those words still echoed through his mind, nearly two days after she said them, as Jaune and the rest of what used to be team JNPR, arrived in Vale. They'd meet Ruby and Qrow later at an Inn. She said they were looking for someone, someone important…
Blake Belladonna.
As they walked down a broken street, they looked on as reconstruction teams tried to rebuild the shattered buildings. Jaune drew a heavy sigh, seeing what he considered his home in ruins. Nora put her hand on his shoulder. Jaune closed his eyes as memories of Pyrrha, both good and bad, flooded his mind. "Pyrrha's gone," he said to himself, "I wish I could bring her back, but I have to move on."
She stood on a rooftop, overlooking the harbor, and the ship docked below. She took a deep breath as she recalled where she'd been these past few weeks. Hiding out from cheap motels to culverts, all over Vale; almost in constant fear of being caught by the White Fang, or worse, that they had found her friends…
She shuddered at the thought of what Adam might do –what he said he would do– to her friends because of what she did. But she reminded herself why she ran: so they wouldn't get hurt anymore because of her. She couldn't handle that any longer.
A crow landed on the other side of the roof Blake was on. She paid it no mind, until she heard his gravelly voice. "So," he said, "you've finally decided to leave." Blake whipped around, drawing Gambol Shroud at the ready, and stared at the man before her. Qrow held up his hand in a calming gesture. "Miss Belladonna, please," he said, "we only want to talk." She stayed at the ready, but debated whether to stay or not, thinking, "We?" what does he mean "we?"
Then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw a few drifting rose petals. Oh no…
Qrow continued, turning toward Vale, "You pulled Yang, unconscious but alive, out of a burning building while wounded yourself; But, when you got patched up, you high-tailed it out of there. She wasn't too happy about that." Blake flinched at that, right as Qrow turned back to her. He saw her flinch, and decided to go ahead and ask, "I can't speak for her, or her sister, that won't fix this; but there's someone who could patch things up, and it'd be very helpful if you came with and helped persuade him."
She shook her head, "I-I can't. I don't want to get anyone hurt."
Ruby finally chimed in, "Blake, please." Blake turned and looked at her as she continued, "come with us to Anima, for Yang's sake." Blake took a step back from them, every rational voice in her head screaming for her to get out of there. "This is crazy! Who in Anima would help us?" Qrow sighed and said, "The man Ozpin referred to as The Ace of Spades, a man almost as old as the professor himself."
"He's got a contraption that regrows arms," Ruby finished, to her uncle's slight annoyance. Blake's eyes widened at that, and she looked at Ruby like she'd gone insane.
A tense moment passed… then another, as they just stood there waiting for an answer. Blake closed her eyes, and finally gave one, "fine, on one condition: after we get him, and fix Yang's arm, I'm heading to Menagerie."
It wasn't much of an "inn". Outside of its name, it was simply a motel; but it was the only "inn" not destroyed, full, or being used as a makeshift hospital. Schrader's Inn was a large, sixty unit motel of three stories, L-shaped, with parking in front and around the back. It wasn't a high-priced place, nothing fancy, no swimming pool. A small diner was hosted across the lot.
Jaune, Ren, and Nora sat at the back of that diner. Ren and Jaune sat in the booth across from each other, quietly enjoying their meals, a chicken salad and cheeseburger with fries respectively. Nora was noisily enjoying, on the verge of the obnoxious, her super stack of pancakes. Then, out of the blue, two people sat in their booth. Jaune looked up and saw a red-caped girl sitting next to him. He looked across the table and saw the bow-topped Blake Belladonna. He smiled at her, saying, "glad to see you aboard." He turned back to Ruby and asked, "So, where's your uncle?"
"He's getting our rooms, over at the –err, motel," she said, looking in confusion at the naming of the establishment. A waitress moseyed over and asked, "can I get you two young 'uns anything?" Ruby replied, "I'll have what he's having," pointing a thumb at Jaune. In response, Jaune lifted his head. "Um, can I have a –tuna sandwich?" Blake asked cautiously. "Sure hun'," the waitress replied, "I'll get you your orders right away." she walked off, leaving the band of friends… alone.
Qrow walked into the diner, and saw the group huddled in the rearmost booth. He stepped up to the counter and ordered a cheesesteak sandwich, and told the waitress he'd be sitting in the back booth. He sat right next to Ruby, to her surprise. "Well," he said, "I'm sure you've got a lot of questions, probably the biggest is 'who is the Ace of spades?'" They gave the affirmative. He sighed, saying, "Well then, how well do you know your fairy tales?" That caught them off guard. "What do fairy tales have to do with anything?!" said Blake. Qrow looked at her and answered, "Because not all legends and fairy tales are fiction."
He looked at each face there, before he said, "How well do you know the Legend of the Four Wolves?" Jaune winced as he heard that, remembering who told him one of her favorite stories. "You mean the four warriors who once protected a village from an entire horde of Grimm?" he asked, "It was one of Pyrrha's favorite stories, the one that made her want to become a Huntress." Ruby put her hand on his shoulder.
Qrow looked on, saying, "Now what if I told you that they're not all gone, one's still up n' breathing." Ren looked back at Qrow and said, "The Ace of Spades." Qrow nodded. "Most of the story is all but forgotten, however; if you want the full tale you'll have to ask him," he said, "still, do you know where they came from?" They all looked at each other for an answer, not finding one. The waitress came over bringing Qrow's sandwich. He took a bite, chewed and swallowed, then waited for an answer. Blake spoke up, "They just appeared out of nowhere," a pause, "The legend never said where they came from."
"They were travelers," Qrow answered, "I can't say from where, I never found out." Qrow looked out the window at the muted night sky. "More than likely, a place farther than we could Imagine."
Blake awoke with the dawn, starting out of her sleep. She got up and splashed her face as Qrow and Ruby slept. She looked up into the mirror, starring at a face she barely recognized. She closed her eyes and vowed to herself that she wouldn't run from the White Fang anymore.
A soft knock on the door startled her, and she crept over to see who it was. The blond, disheveled hair, tired eyes, and black sweatshirt under white armor defined the figure on the other side. She opened the door and briskly stepped out, closing the door behind her. "Oh," he said in surprise, "I'm sorry I woke you."
"I was awake already," she dismissed. Turning to him, she asked, "what are you doing up?"
"Couldn't really sleep," he said, leaving out the reason why, "you?" She didn't answer. They stayed there in silence, leaning against the guardrail of the third story. "Hey," he finally said, "we're going to get your partner's arm back… somehow."
"Just getting her arm back isn't going to make things right," she snapped. He was taken aback at that for a moment. She sighed, "Things have changed now, we lost so much…" Jaune closed his eyes, thinking of Pyrrha. "I lost Pyrrha at Beacon," he admitted, "right after she-" He stopped, trying not to choke up. She looked over at him, slight surprise in her eyes. She didn't know what to say.
She stood there in an awkward silence, holding herself in the chilly morning air. "Well," Jaune said as he broke the silence, "here comes the sun, at least we still have that." She gave a small smile at that, and his persistent optimism. They both stood there watching the sunrise… together.
Almost an hour later, she turned to him and said, "We better get back inside, you don't want to catch cold." Jaune nodded, adding a mumbled, "Yeah, your right." They moved toward their respective rooms, when Blake stopped, putting her hand on his shoulder. He looked back at her, meeting her eye-to-eye. "Thanks for the moment," she said, then let him go.
A/N: Thank you guys for your support, taking time to read my stuff, and Those who commented:
some bum: yes, there was a reference or two in there, and here's more content right now.
This Guy: Thanks, I'm glad you think so. I appreciate the support.
Emiliano733: Bear Faunus... Hmm... Your idea is not without merit, but not for this story. I already have a backstory set up for my OC, and if I change him to a faunus it would destroy the character itself, i.e not be the same. P.S.: ...uh, beg pardon? if you are referring to my bit in the first chapter about Monty, let me explain: (no, there is too much. Let me sum up,) That was only my say on the matter, I paid my respects, and now I've moved on. Simple.
sorry this is late, I'm busy over here right now so I don't have a set schedule. my bad.
