I'm seeing red all over, I think I popped a blood vessel!
Oh, wait, I'm in the Forever Fall Forest. *SLAP*
RWBY is a trademark of Rooster Teeth and the baby of Monty Oum.
All other referenced media is a trademark of their representative companies/Creators.
All I own is the laptop this is being written on.
Chapter 11: Forever Fall
To the living we owe respect, but to the dead we owe only the truth. ―Voltaire
...
...
...
*Click*
The first thing Jacob's ears picked up was the sound of whistling. Very familiar whistling.
...Oh God, I turned my phone on to Sabaton for my alarm, didn't I?
He was answered by the sound of power-metal guitar riffs.
Goddamnit.
He scrambled half-asleep to the nightstand, desperately reaching for his phone as it played the Swedish power band's ode to Audie Murphy.
A short man from Texas, a man of the wild,
Thrown into combat where bodies lie piled―
THWACK!
Jacob's hand groggily smacked the snooze button before he could wake up his neighbors.
"Crosses may grow on Anzio, but this soldier wants to sleep right now..."
He dared to pick up his phone to check the time. He could feel it wasn't as early as he used to get up for work, but...
6:30.
Considering classes didn't start until 9:00, he still had 2 and a half hours. "Well then... nevermind I guess," he said dejectedly.
"Thank God my sleep schedule is starting to become normal again." He rolled himself out of bed, already fairly alert as he tended to be. Even amongst a family that woke up fairly early he was always known as a morning person, even on days when he stayed up late the night before.
He checked his phone again as was habitual for him.
Only then did he notice it was Saturday.
No classes today.
His hand made impact with his face.
With an audible sigh he began his regimen for the morning. Looking at his makeshift calendar he had created he began to check up on his to-do for the day.
"Okay, what have I got for today... Okay, marksmanship practice at 12:00, study hall in the library from 2:00 'til 4:00―Thank God I actually have been doing actual studying for a change―and..."
His finger traced a line to Sunday.
The field trip to Forever Fall Forest was set for that day.
He let out a huff. Considering how much ire Jaune's situation with Cardin was causing him, Jacob was more than happy to see Forever Fall come to fruition.
Especially the notion of watching Cardin run screaming like a little girl.
Jacob chuckled darkly as he set about cleaning up. A shower and a quick trim-up of his facial hair, he was ready to hit the streets.
Leaving the dormitories he soon found himself on the path to the mess hall, about a solid 3 minute walk or so away at a leisurely pace. Above him the early morning sky was a mix of small, fluffy clouds dotting a deep blue sea of infiniteness. Looking up, Jacob couldn't help but remember the morning skies over his home; the city lazily sleeping in the shadow of the mountains as the sun crept upwards into the sky and brought a deep blue to the wild yonder. Heck, on some mornings he and his family would go outside onto the backyard patio and eat breakfast, usually having to do so on Saturdays with his accursed work schedule. He remembered how he would usually cook up his homemade diced potatoes while his dad would fry up some cube steaks and a batch of biscuits, while his little brother would lounge about and keep the family dogs preoccupied so they wouldn't get underfoot and his mom would get drinks and... and...
He didn't know when it started happening, but he began to notice his eyesight had begun to blur. He ran a hand across his eyes and found it wet with tears.
Every time his thoughts drifted to home, he was finding that he couldn't help but cry. Even if it was barely enough tears to even roll down his face, he felt like crying in public would bring undue attention to him.
Worse still had it been Cardin.
Muller knew right from the moment that Cardin and Jaune began hanging out that the story was continuing to advance as was canonical. By extension, he already had a good clue as to how things would go from here on... at least as far as he hoped. Jaune would be forced to make a choice between helping Cardin and throwing those... bees or whatever they were―wait, rapier wasps, that's what they were called―at Pyrrha or flipping him the metaphorical bird.
So long as canon adhered, Cardin would be leaving Forever Fall Forest humiliated beyond belief.
If canon adhered...
The very notion sent another pit into Jacob's stomach; if canon is thus far adhering accordingly, then what happens when the Battle of Beacon happens? If canon had thus far not deviated in any sense other than inserting him into situations, could he actually break canon when the time came?
Can I even save Pyrrha? Am I on a doomed mission?
By now Jacob had realized that he had diverted off-course, and had now begun wandering the Academy's gardens, not far from where Jaune and Ruby first had begun their friendship.
A fanboy part of his mind growled in response to the image.
Lancaster.
As much as he was all for Jaune finding happiness in the canonical timeline, the FNDM's willingness to jump right to Lancaster left a sour taste in his mouth. Though he was late to join, even he knew by now how many who were loyal to Arkos had jumped ship to join their rival.
With him, Arkos clung hard to him, like a mynock from Star Wars. Something about it felt far more endearing than the fan-pairing of Ruby and Jaune, even if it did have potential for some cute scenes between the two leaders. Lancaster―even if it took them 'til the absolute end of the series to make official―just felt forced to him.
Then again, the same could be said of Arkos as he had told himself time and time again in the past when observing Reddit ship wars.
But something about being here―in the flesh, in the world of Remnant―was making his old Matchmaker side roar to life again.
Jesus Christ, I need to get a hold of myself. If Lancaster becomes canonical in the series... so be it I guess. Shaking his head to get the psycho-fan part of him to be dormant again, he remembered that so long as his mission is accomplished that it will be of little to no current concern.
Goddamnit, the emotional investment I'm giving this all is borderline psychotic, he thought to himself with a palm strike to his head for punctuation.
He glanced over at the tower. The emerald and black walls of the tower gleamed in the morning sun, doing its damndest to mimic Frank Baum's Emerald City. Somewhere within the tower, Ozpin was no doubt just waking up, or perhaps he was already awake and ready for the day.
Somewhere within, some kind of MacGuffin Relic was floating about that Salem also had a great deal of interest in. I bet it's the cane.
And somewhere down below, hundreds of feet below the earth, was a comatose Amber.
...
...
Christ, I can't believe I'm doing this... but I need someone to talk to.
"...Goddamnit all, what the fuck was that damn passcode again?"
Muller stood before the elevator door several minutes later, scratching his head as he desperately tried to remember the passcode to the elevator for the lower levels.
"Okay, okay, if I remember correctly... it had something to do with Disneyland...?"
Much to his chagrin, the only thing he could remember was that it had something to do with one of the anniversary dates of Disneyland... or something in that range. For a guy who pretty much went once a year he knew perhaps too much to not call it an obsession all its own. Then again that logic could apply to his whole family, what with his dad's home theatre room decorated with ride posters from the parks.
"...I think it was the day before the... 59th anniversary?" His finger began to move for the keypad before he recoiled back in fear. What if it was a one-time only kind of deal? If he screwed up just once would Ozpin and Glynda would reduce his ass to grass?
"Damn it all, damn it all, what is it!?" he hissed to no one as he paced in front of the door. Fortuitously, it was inside the tower lobby and away from the prying eyes of the rest of the student body, giving him plenty of privacy to crack the code.
"Why now of all times does my memory go slack on me? Remember the date, remember the date, remember the date..."
Then something in his mind clicked.
The day after... Disneyland's... 58th.
July 17th―no, July 18th... 2013.
0...7...1...8...1...3.
He punched in the numbers slowly, making certain he hit the exact code. At the same time, something was whispering in his mind that it was familiar for another reason.
Something to do with an air date or something...
He hit the enter button.
BLING!
A green light.
"Hallelujah."
...
...
"...Hello?"
No answer.
"Alrighty then."
Jacob began walking down the long, dark, abyssal corridor leading to the Fall Maiden.
The walk was long... and quiet. The only sound to be made were the muffled footfalls from his hiking shoes.
"Jesus, it's creepy in here... being alone and whatnot..."
As he walked down the dark and menacing hallway of the Vault, Muller began pondering to himself.
All things considered, I shouldn't even be down here. Hell, all things considered I shouldn't even be in this world. Sure, I've been blessed with an actual Aura, my days practicing with the family firearms is starting to pay off, and my knowledge of the situation gives me an unprecedented level of control over things... but do I have the control? The power? Can I even do this? What happens if something deviates too far from canon and I'm no longer able to predict things out? What happens if canon adheres so much that it is impossible to change it? What happens then if I can't save Pyrrha?
After a solid minute and a half of walking―during which Jacob began to wonder if he technically was even under Beacon anymore―he reached the end of the corridor.
There before him was that same sight he had first been shown some weeks ago when he first arrived here. Amber remained in her stasis pod, or whatever they wanted to call it, teetering on the razor's edge of life and death. Now, with no one else here with him, he could hear the mechanical whirrs and hums of the machine desperately keepng her alive. The green glow of the room cast her in a sickly shade, accented only by the veiny, darkened patch resting on her left eye. It left her a pale visage of the Maiden he saw in the flashbacks of Beginning of the End. Yet, despite her sickly pallor, she seemed at peace, no doubt her comatose state preventing her from feeling any significant pain. no doubt if he could safely flip her on her stomach he would see the impact site of Cinder's arrow where it pierced her lower back.
Cinder...
He couldn't help but clench a hand in a fist of anger. But before he could begin calling her evermore-progressively worse slurs and curses―and he knew quite a few―he took a few deep breaths, aware that his newly-found anger was beginning to gather a mind of it's own.
He stared at her for what felt like hours, drinking in the bitter sight.
Damn, no wonder Qrow resorts to drinking if this feeling is not unfamiliar to him.
After what felt like even longer, he gathered up the courage to speak up.
"...Hi... Amber."
Silence.
"The name's Jacob... Jacob Muller..."
Still nothing. The peaceful look on her face never left.
"So... uhm... I guess I first owe you an apology for... lying about knowing you to Ozpin."
No response.
"I'll take your silence as forgiveness," he joked weakly. Look at me, he thought to himself, cracking wise to a comatose girl I've never actually met up until now.
"So... uhm... I suppose it's only prudent that I get an idea of who you are... problem is, there's no real way to, well, know you now. Sure, if I'd been plopped here by... whatever did this... a few years back in the timeline, maybe we could have met, maybe I could have done something... maybe I'd be even more ready for what's to come."
It was like talking to a tombstone. Part of him felt silly since there was no one to hear him―unless Ozpin had hidden cameras or something, which was not something he enjoyed the prospect of―but another part of him was happy that he could talk to someone freely about his situation, whether she was unconscious or not.
"Heh, it's a shame really, I would have loved to have been friends with a fire-conjuring demigoddess. Lord knows I surrounded myself with oddballs in high school... Anyway, I guess since you're... well, you know, not conscious, it's okay to―" He stopped, looking behind him out of fear of being spotted or being found out. "...I guess it's safe to talk to you since we're... alone and all."
Not creepy at all, Jacob.
He leaned back against the pillar opposite to Amber's pod, his arms crossed in contemplation. "So... where do I begin? Oh, how about with the fact I'm not from Remnant? Heheh, I think there must be a padded cell at the funny farm with my name on it in big bold letters," he joked morbidly. "But, in all seriousness... I'm not from any of the kingdoms, I'm not from a border-town, I'm not from some mobile gypsy-type tribe in the middle of Bumblefuck, Nowhere, I'm just... I'm not from here. This is not the planet I was born on."
No reply.
He scratched his head in awkward silence. "I, uh, I kinda hail from this planet called Earth―or Terra if you're a sci-fi geek―It's a lot like here but, well, we kinda... sorta... don't have Grimm, for starters."
Nothing. Not even a blink or a twitch.
Muller was starting to feel like he was legitimately losing his mind. Here he was, talking to a near-dead girl with demigod-tier superpowers in a secret vault beneath an academy on a planet that was technically fictional back home. A psychologist would be bankrolling off this level of nuttiness for a lifetime and a half.
"And, well, besides that, there's a lot of other significant changes between the two. I mean, if I went over them all we'd be here 'til next week. Granted it's not like you're..."
If she had been awake, he would have felt even more awful saying that last sentence. He uncomfortably shifted, tugging at the collar of his shirt.
"...If you were awake, you'd probably be calling for Ozpin to get this crazy person away from you ASAP. Personally I wouldn't blame you; talk of other worlds with human life on it and the like would definitely be in the crazy department. Hell, I still wake up the next day and wonder if this is all a dream or something... up until I look out the window and see Beacon Tower, obviously." He chuckled at his own foolishness.
Shifting back to his feet, he walked over to the comatose Maiden. Leaning in he could make out every detail of the blackened lines that crisscrossed her face from that strange bug-glove that Cinder wore when she attacked.
"I kinda have to wonder how long ago you arrived here. Weeks? Months? Were you attacked just before I arrived here or did I miss it by a couple of weeks?" He scratched his chin in curiosity. "So many questions, but no mouths from which I could truly get answers. What a pickle."
He looked down at her, a sense of remorse filling his heart; he had lied to Ozpin that he knew her and in turn had gained access to the Ozluminati with little difficulty―granted, was that to stay was beyond his comprehension―And yet in all reality he knew nothing about this girl he was supposed to be troubled about.
"I guess it gets pretty lonely in here... all on your own. I mean, certainly Glynda and Ozzie come down to check up on you, right, so you can't be completely alone, right?"
Silence.
"...I guess it wouldn't hurt to visit every once and awhile. I hope you don't mind me dropping by like this." He shrugged jestingly at the comatose girl, still earning him no response. "Anyway, I guess I should get going. Things to do, classes to take, people to see..." He started backing away towards the elevator, shooting her the pointer-finger pistols pose a la The Fonz. "But, uh, I promise I'll come back... keep you some company when I can."
Not a single word. Not even a whisper outside the mechanisms keeping her alive.
"Well... take care... Fall Maiden."
He looked at her peaceful face one last time before beginning the returning hike to the elevator.
He felt the tears begin to creep again as Heroes and Monsters played in his mind.
"I'm so sorry, Amber," he whispered to the abyss behind him.
No voice. No sound. Not even a whisper.
Just a blackened abyss highlighted in emerald green.
The doors to the elevator closed and Muller was alone once again.
It was late into the evening when Jacob finally returned to the dorms. Granted, his entire day had been spent either at the library, where his study patterns had finally manifested themselves 2 YEARS after he had graduated from high school, or at the gun range for marksmanship training.
Granted, with how often his family was at their local gun range, the latter was practically subconcious routine.
Tired from the long day of being on his feet or mentally running laps around this world's history―No way on God's green Earth Monty could have come up with all of this―he opted to commandeer the elevator for the ride up. For the second time in a day he was alone in an elevator with his thoughts.
"I think I kinda surprised them at the gun range with how well I shot with Titan," he sighed to himself, patting the Bersa he had arrived with. By now around half of the metallic blue finish to it had worn away, giving it a a blue and grey camo-like wear to the design. Paired with the gold finishes here and there, Muller had opted to name the Earth-borne firearm Titan after the moon of Jupiter, in which the Warhammer 40K universe had seen fit to make the monastery-home of the Grey Knights Chapter. His basic mentality was that since it had racked up about four or five Grimm kills within his first 48 hours in the world of Remnant, and since Grimm were―for lack of a better comparison―fairly equivalent to Daemons, to him it only made sense to name it in honor of the master Daemonhunters...the 6th Edition incident with the Sisters of Battle and very existence of Kaldor Draigo notwithstanding.
"Titan and Cadia. Heh I should be wearing a baseball cap that's either got the Imperial Aquila on it or a 'This Man Is a Warhammer Maniac' on it just to complete the ensemble."
the elevator pinged as he reached the freshman floor. Fortunately for him it was a short walk to his dorm from the lifts, just around the corner and a walk past RWBY and JNPR's dorms.
Right as he rounded the corner to their hallway, however, he nearly bumped into Jaune, looking downcast at his Scroll in his hand.
"Woah, careful there Jaune," he said to the Arc boy, "you're kinda in the walking path right there."
"Huh? Oh," Jaune quickly realized before stepping out of the way. "Sorry, I, uh, I got something I gotta go do real quick, tell my team I'll be there in a bit."
Jacob quickly put two-and-two together; the rapier wasps.
"Cardin sending you out on another errand, isn't he?" Jacob said as he crossed his arms and leaned into the wall directly in front of Jaune.
"What? No, no, nonono, I mean, whatever gave you... that... idea..."
Jacob had an urge to laugh at how merely cocking his left eyebrow was enough to kill Jaune's reply while it was still in his throat. "Jaune," he began, "You know you don't have to cower in his shadow. He's a bully, maybe, but bullies are mostly talk; Cardin's no exception."
"But... I mean, he knows about... you know."
"And... your point is?"
Jaune shuffled nervously. "What happens if I say no to him? What happens if he rats me out? I'll tell what will happen, I'll be on the first ride out of here courtesy of Professor Ozpin no doubt about it!"
"Don't be silly Jaune, Ozpin's not that heartless. Look, if he was, would he really have let your fake transcript slip past his radar, hmm? Hell, he let me in without so much as a lick of training under my belt, and yet he hasn't kicked me out! I doubt that the idea has even crossed his mind."
That seemed to cut through Jaune's hesitation for but a brief moment. Muller locked eyes with him, the look in those blue eyes of his telling Jacob that he was starting to break through the fear and hesitation. He pressed the attack.
"Look Jaune, you can either go through life as his whippin' boy," Jacob said with an intentional Southern drawl to emphasize his point, walking up to the younger man and putting a firm hand on his shoulder, "or you can go up to the bastard and tell him to pound sand down a rat hole."
The worried look in Jaune's eyes spoke volumes; He was too afraid of Cardin at the moment to even comprehend standing up to him.
"I'm sorry, Jacob, but... I gotta go." He shrugged Jacob's hand off his shoulder and jogged around the corner and out of sight, leaving Muller alone in the hall again.
A heavy sigh escaped Muller's mouth. "Idiot," he angrily muttered before turning and returning to his dorm.
Tomorrow was certainly going to be interesting.
A sea of crimson, miles and miles across and wide.
Above it all, a bright morning sky with the sun compounding the intensity.
"Sweet Jesus on rye, did I succumb to the Red Thirst while I wasn't paying attention?"
Even with Muller's sunglasses on to mute the colors and the brightness, the intense bright red of the Forever Fall Forest did not help his caffeine-deprivation migraine. While everyone else was busy taking in the sight of the beautiful forest trail, admiring the red-capped trees as they lightly shed some of their leaves in an encarmine rainfall, Muller was busy trying to shake the headache loose from his skull at the same time as he was attempting to catch up on said caffeine intake. Even if he did tend to leave his tea to brew for hours on end, currently it was far from enough to kill the headache quickly.
The group of Huntsmen-in-training for the field trip consisted of several teams, including JNPR, RWBY and sadly CRDL. Led by Glynda, the group had made it deep into the forest and off the beaten path, now it was but untapped wilderness with no doubt plenty of Grimm floating about with a hunger in the back of their mind. Muller had taken to the left edge of the group as a sort of rear guard of a kind beside Nora, whom had taken to attempting to cheer him up. Needless to say, since it was Nora it was working amazingly.
"Yes, students," began Glynda, "The forest of Forever Fall is indeed beautiful. But we are not here to sightsee. Professor Peach has asked all of you to collect samples from the trees deep inside this forest, and I'm here to make sure none of you die while doing so."
Ah yes, Professor Peach, Jacob sighed in bemusement mentally, damn-near a carbon copy of a certain Nintendo princess, with the advantage of probably being 60 IQ points ahead of that airhead. I wonder if that was intended by Monty or not...
The group came to a stop, followed by the sound of Jaune's grunts and groans as he brought up the rear, carrying the assortment of jars needed for their assignment today; collecting the red sap of the Forever Fall trees.
Now all we need are those two Ursai and we're in business, he continued in his mind.
"Each of you is to gather one jar's worth of red sap," Professor Goodwitch continued, "However, this forest is full of the creatures of Grimm, so be sure to stay by your teammates. As Mr. Muller here is our resident Lone Wolf, he will be accompanying me today. We will rendezvous back here by 4 o'clock. Have fun!"
That threw Jacob off. "Uh, wait, with you Professor?"
She threw him a look that subtextually said that he either do as she say or risk being sent home in a matchbox.
"Right, right, of course ma'am..."
Looking back behind him, he saw Cardin take off flying with Jaune's collar in hand and the rest of JNPR walking off on their own, albeit with Pyrrha lagging behind a bit with a forlorn look on her face.
Jacob sighed in dejection. Guess I'm not gonna see Jaune take a level in badass after all...
The two began their trek through the forest at a leisurely pace, Jacob strolling along on her left flank while she moved on forward. As they walked, he felt the slightest tinge of fear in his veins of being alone with the one teacher who could―and no doubt happily would―send him "flying ass-over-teakettle" has his grandma used to say. It would be a few hours 'till everyone was back together again, meaning that Muller would have to spend 4 or so hours alone with Glynda.
The word "eek" came to mind.
"So... Glynda," he began, trying to break the tension after 20 odd minutes of silence, "If I may be so bold as to address you―while we're alone, mind you―as a colleague in our... organization. I hope you don't mind."
She seemed to hesitate on the question before answering, "I suppose while the other students are elsewhere we are free to... discuss our position."
Muller couldn't help but chuckle. Double entendre detected, suppressing joke subroutine, he jokingly thought to himself in a robotic tone. "Fair enough. So tell me, did you know... Amber, before she became the Maiden?"
Once again there was a tone of hesitation to her body language; it was if she was still gauging whether or not he was a threat or not to the organization. By rights she should be, he debated in his mind, For all she knows I could be an agent of Salem in disguise much like Cinder will be, or perhaps a third party with a different agenda. Man, that would make things so cool.
After a tense second, she answered with a sigh. "Yes... I did actually. She was a student here at Beacon, ironically enough, best in her class in combat; why, even I sparred with her on occasion during her final year. Sweet girl, though she never did have that large of a circle of friends... What fortune for us when Ozpin requested that she be made the next Fall Maiden. Less people to be concerned about her, as it was..."
Muller was absorbing this like a sponge, the notes, the details, and especially the emotion. He had never heard Glynda Goodwitch talk like this before in the show; she was solemn and almost somber, as though it were a wound not yet fully healed.
"At first," she continued, "I was concerned that she wouldn't be ready for the revelation, goodness knows I wasn't when Ozpin first showed me the truth. Regardless she took to the task surprisingly well. Unfortunately we were pressed for time and... as much as Ozpin trained her... I guess there was someone out there who was more prepared."
The distant look in her eyes made Jacob uncomfortable; it was like listening in on a very personal conversation, one that he shouldn't really be hearing. How close were Amber and Glynda? Was it a teacher and protege-type thing? Sisterly bond? How far did it go? Granted, the smart thing would be to not pry in this situation, but Jacob was known to harbor a Pandoran curiosity; he never could leave well enough alone.
By now Muller had picked out a tree to begin sapping for the crimson nectar, setting up his gear and the like for the process. While he was from a part of America where maple trees and the like didn't necessarily grow very well, he was familiar with the basics of the task. Glynda took a seat on a large boulder a few feet away, sitting elegantly with her legs crossed and her back straight. Along with the distance in her eyes, she was beginning to wear the slightest bit of a frown. Now normally she had a small frown of some kind on her face, that was just the kind of person she was. But this time... this time it was a sad frown, the hard edge in her features having mysteriously vanished from sight. It was like looking at a completely different person. Jacob remembered how many amidst the FNDM believed that it was a form of coping mechanism, that her callous mood and strictness were her way of masking pain. After all, it was a fairly good chance that not all of her students would full lives in this line of work...
No doubt she had lost people in the past. However close, whatever relationship she had with them... well, it was not his place to ask.
Muller was starting to feel a bit nauseous at the sight of the crimson sap bleeding out of the tree.
"I... I actually didn't learn much about her during the time I met her. I mean I never really asked too much about her when we met... I just kinda was... y'know, in shock of it all. I mean she was always kind, she leant a hand to help to everyone," he somberly added as he remembered Emerald's deception, "but outside of that... I don't really know that much about her. Thank you... Professor."
He received a big sigh from her in return. "Please, Mr. Muller, while we're alone like this... call me Glynda. Or Ms. Goodwitch, if you prefer to remain formal."
He let a bemused smile slip. "'Miss' Goodwitch? I didn't figure you to be a solo act at all; Actually, I kinda wondered if you and Oz were an item. Or is it just pro―"
"It is JUST professional, Mr. Muller," she said with a hint of urgency in her voice.
He had to chuckle. "Fair enough, fair enough. Anyway, now how about we talk about something that won't give us butterflies in the stomach, eh?"
For the next hour the two spoke casually, learning what they could of the other as what were essentially co-workers. Granted, Muller was providing a sanitized version of himself so as to not arouse too much suspicion, but regardless of that he was still fairly open with her. For the most part he was leisurely about the subjects brought up, even with his continuous extraction. She on the other hand remained very composed and professional, though the edge in her tone and posture had relaxed as well.
"...and by some divine roll of the cosmic dice, I actually fixed her hip when I tripped her on accident!"
Glynda let out a bemused chuckle. "How on Remnant did you manage that?"
"Honestly, I have no idea! That's the part that I still waffle over to this day; how did her hitting the ground because I passed in her walking path manage to fix her hip? I dunno! And it'll always be a mystery as far as I'm concern―"
A loud roar in the distance cut his sentence in half. An ursine roar.
Showtime, Jaune.
"That sounded too close."
"I wholeheartedly agree," Goodwitch replied, the hardened exterior returning. Guess it was fun while it lasted.
"Get the rest of the students and high-tail it?"
A nod was all she responded with.
"Knowing this group's luck, we probably should follow the Ursa's roar." He took off at a sprint, the cardio he had been working on over the last 6 weeks now giving him a little more stamina in the long haul. Granted, he was still very much a short distance sprinter rather than an endurance runner.
Glynda was soon on his six, doing amazingly for being in high heels.
"Who do you wanna bet has found the Ursa first? My money's on Xiao Long!"
"We can bet later," Goodwitch replied, "They may be in trouble!"
She overtook him quickly, much to his astonishment. By now he was already losing that initial steam he had, heart hammering and lungs burning.
"Quickly, Mr. Muller, or we may be headed home with one less student!"
"I'm wasted... on cross-country! I'm a natural... sprinter; very dangerous... over short distances!" he shouted back through labored breaths. Even with 6 weeks of daily cardio to buff him up, he was still a far cry from being able to stay in the lead in a footrace for long. "Don't worry about me Glynda... just get to them!"
Without hesitation she took off like a bolt, and was soon deep in the forest.
Leaving him to fend of himself.
"In... hindsight... that was... a stupid move... on my part," he said to no one.
But his attention was soon stolen away by the sudden passing of Ruby, Weiss and Pyrrha across his path. He skidded to a halt. "Wait, wait, where are you going?!" he shouted to them.
"No time!" Ruby shouted.
"Jaune's in trouble, follow us!" quipped Pyrrha without so much as a single look behind her.
Muller was confused; "The Ursa roar was coming from that direction!" he pointed towards the direction of where Glynda went running.
Weiss turned around, a scowl lighting up her face. "That's not the Ursa after Jaune! Ugh, just follow us you dolt!"
"But... bu-but... Aargh!" Defeated, Jacob took off after them as fast as he could. By the time he caught up with them, Cardin and Jaune had engaged the creature.
And whoo-momma, it was a big beastie.
On all fours, it stood a solid 9 or so feet tall when the massive stalactite-like spines were not accounted for. Appearance-wise, it was definitely an Ursa; sloping back, squat face, stubby ears, the standard white bone-like plates of a creature of Grimm, the usual. But the big kicker was the size, massive spines and additional bony plates all across its body.
This thing was an Ursa Major. And a pretty big―and by extension old―one at that.
At first, Jacob was wanting to dive headlong into the fight.
But about that time two things went off in his head.
One: He remembered that Jaune's gotta be the one to save Winchester's sorry ass from Baloo over there, lest Cardin rat on Jaune and, well, there goes canon out the window.
Two: Something was wrong with him.
Seriously, something was wrong.
He looked down at his hand to notice he had started balling them tightly, to a point where they were almost white-knuckle at the moment. At the same time they were trembling like a leaf, like he'd tanked up on sugar earlier. Hie heart was racing, though not from the running; this was more like a panic attack than anything else.
What the fuck is wrong with me?!
Despite whatever the hell was going on with him, he returned his attention to the fight with the Ursa; Jaune had take a few swings at the beast, but it had sent him flying twice now. Looking over Pyrrha's shoulder at the Aura meter on her Scroll, Jacob could see Jaune was already dangerously low; another good swing and the beast would have him in a position to deliver a killing blow.
"Tank up, Jaune!" Jacob screamed, a slight waver in his voice. "Don't get too aggressive!"
He either didn't hear Jacob, or Jaune didn't want to listen to Jacob.
He lunged forward, bringing his sword up in an attempt at an overhead stab. His shield was low, however, giving the Ursa an opening to cleave Jaune's head from his shoulders.
Time slowed to a terrifying crawl.
Out of the corner of his eye, the canon continued to wind its gears forward; Pyrrha brought up her hand to reach out to Jaune, a black aura―not that kind of Aura―encircling her hand.
Jaune's shield briefly glowed the same color, before shifting just upwards to intercept the paw. The clawed paw made impact, but Jaune's shield spared him a premature trip to the morgue. Forced to take a knee and go to ground for but a brief second, Jaune caught a second wind...
...And promptly cleaved the Ursa Major's head off in one go.
The Ursa's torso topped to the ground with a thud and remained motionless before gradually beginning to dissipate into a black smoke. Jaune Arc stood triumphant―tired, sporting a black eye to be sure, but triumphant nonetheless―over the beast's body... and over a still-cowering Cardin Winchester.
"Uhh... what?" came the voice of Ruby from behind Jacob.
"How did you..."Weiss chimed in.
"Well," Pyrrha began to explain, "Ruby has her speed, you have your Glyphs, my Semblance is Polarity."
"You can control poles," Ruby said in awe.
God Alive, she is adorable, Jacob said in his mind. "Ruby, it means she can command magnetic fields," Jacob said with a bemused sigh.
"Magnets are cool too," was all she could reply with. It was enough to make Jacob openly chuckle, despite the previous jitters remaining in his hands.
All the while the mark on his arm from where the Ursa attacked him on that first day began to feel itchy.
"Wait," Weiss called out to Pyrrha as the Huntress began to walk away, "where are you going?"
"Yeah, we gotta tell them what happened!"
"We could," Pyrrha said with a coy smile, "Or perhaps we could keep it our little secret?"
A shared look between Weiss and Ruby said all they needed to before the two also began walking away.
"I think I'll second that," Jacob said with an exhausted sigh. "But first, I'm gonna stick around to watch this."
Jaune walked over to Cardin, the bullying bastard sitting there like a meek excuse of a man. Jaune―sporting a menacing glower now―offered Winchester a hand up. Surprisingly, Cardin took it with a look of both embarrassment and awe on his face; how the hell those two could come together as a facial emotion was beyond Jacob. A meek smile was sent Jaune's way via Cardin.
"Holy crap, Jaune!"
"Don't ever mess with my team―my friends―ever again." Jaune's face was a terrifying mix of righteous anger and furious vengeance all rolled into one scowl. "Got it?"
Cardin didn't even reply, though the look on his face spoke volumes of, Sorry, won't happen again, in Jacob's opinion. Jaune Arc walked away to catch up with his team, leaving Muller and the Winchester boy alone.
"Hey, Cardin!" Jacob called out, snapping Winchester out of his stunned stupor. "We should probably find Professor Goodwitch and get everyone out of here."
"Uh... yeah, sure," Cardin replied, the confusion and humiliation of his situation hitting him hard by the look of things. The two closed the distance between one another before they began to follow behind the group.
They walked in silence for a few minutes before Cardin spoke up. "Hey, you okay there?"
Jacob shot him a confused and defensive look. "I'm pretty sure I should be the one asking you that. Regardless, I'm fine; why do you ask?"
"You've been holding your arm ever since we started walking."
Muller was about to call him out on that craziness before realizing something: Cardin was right. He had been holding onto his left arm just where the Ursa bite was from Initiation Day. When he had started doing it he had no clue, but it was more than a little...concerning.
"...Let's just get back to Beacon. I've had enough of seeing blood red for a while."
It was late into the evening when the party arrived at Beacon, most too tired to think of anything else than food, showers and sleep. The sun was low in the sky, just at the right angle to give the evening blue sky a slight tinge of red along the horizon. Muller himself had been deep in thought on the flight back, sitting closer to Goodwitch out of some mental comfort. Amazingly, Cardin and the rest of Team CRDL had spread out somewhat unlike RWBY and JNPR, who were closely knit together.
The cutest image was that of Jaune and Pyrrha leaning against one another in sleep as they dozed off halfway into the flight.
A heartwarming reminder as it were of what Jacob was also training to protect.
After the teams had returned to their dorms―With Muller saying some encouraging and hopefully well-taken words to Cardin―Muller rounded out the crowd by being the last one to get into his dorm. Swiping his Scroll―on loan from the school―in front of the door, he took 3 steps into the room before deciding on a shower and a shot of espresso; After all, he, Jaune and Pyrrha had sparring practice tonight, and if he didn't get that shot he's be passing out on the side of the wall... or worse, over the side of the roofing.
All the while he pondered the significance of the tremors and palpitations he had when he encountered the Ursa. Something there caused him to start doing all of that, whatever it all was. It just didn't make sense; he didn't act like this with other Grimm, though granted Beowolves and Creeps were the only other Grimm species he had encountered thus far. His time working on a minor in psychology began to run through what he knew so as to see if it was something perhaps mentally with him.
All the while the wound itched ever so slightly enough to just be noticeable.
After the shower and a run by the mess hall for a quick bite, Jacob found himself meeting Jaune on top of the dorms, the scenic view glowing in the moonlight.
"Hey Jaune," he said as he closed the door behind him, "How you holding up?"
"Oh, uhm, pretty good. I, uh, I've been kinda rolling over what happened today in my head. It's quite a lot, actually."
"Heh, that's understandable; you suppressed your bully and KOed an Ursa Major all in one day," Jacob replied with a joshing punch to Jaune's shoulder. "That's one to write home about."
"Yeah, my sisters are gonna love hearing about today. Especially my oldest sister; she never thought I'd ever make it as a Huntsman."
"Older sister? I would have imagined you were the oldest." Jacob asked bluntly.
"Uh, no, she's eldest of all of us," Jaune replied. Muller felt a scowl spread across his face.
"What kind of older sibling does that to her younger sibling?! I mean, I would never stomp on my brother's dreams like that!"
"Well, it was never about whether or not I was good," Jaune continued, "Really she was always the protective big sis; She actually was vehemently-against me going. Too dangerous a line of work for me and all that."
"Oh... I see." Jacob's ire died in his throat as he processed this new intel; The show had yet to introduce the world to the 7 sisters of Jaune Arc, so in a sense he already had a bit of a leg up in the intel department. "What's her name, if you don't mind me asking?"
But before Jaune could answer, they both heard the door to the roof open. They turned to see Pyrrha joining them, redressed in her school uniform just as Jaune had.
"No Cardin tonight?" she asked hesitantly. "I thought you two were best buds?"
Jaune took a few steps in her direction, the two meeting up in the center of the rooftop. "Pyrrha... I'm sorry. I was a jerk! You were only trying to be nice, and... I had all this stupid macho stuff in my head-"
"Jaune," Pyrrha interrupted, "It's okay. Your team really misses their leader, you know," she added with an infectious smile that was soon joined by both Jacob's and Jaune's. "You should come down! Ren made pancakes! No syrup, though - you can thank Nora for that!" She turned around and began to walk back inside.
"Actually, you're safe from that nightmare: I never bring 'just enough', always 'more than enough' when it comes to condiments." In all actuality, he had taken a few jars of the crimson sap for just such a reason as cooking; his culinary side had tried to brainstorm what to use it with while on the flight back from Forever Fall.
Jaune stepped towards her, trying to get her attention. "Wait!" he called out to her. "I know I don't deserve it after all that happened, but... would you still be willing to help me... to help me become a better fighter?"
The two of them stood in silence for a few seconds.
What Jacob knew was that Pyrrha was hiding a satisfied smile from Jaune's gaze.
She about-faced and came up to Jaune. Without warning, she pushed him to the ground with a solid thud.
"Hey!"
"Your stance is all wrong. You need to be wider and lower to the ground... like Jacob, for one example." Pyrrha ignored Jacob's cry of mocking indignation and offered a hand up for Jaune, to which he graciously accepted. "Let's try that again."
As the two reconciled, Muller couldn't help but smile.
All according to plan, a mini-Tzeentch cackled in the back of his imagination.
"Hey, mind if I join this little soiree? I probably should actually train with someone else rather than make things up as I go along..."
And under the stars, the three began their training...
AND CUT! *Falls over exhausted*
God, this was exhausting to try to get out to you guys before I head out on my vacation to Anaheim. Since it's gonna be a week disconnected at Disneyland (give or take) I probably won't be able to get out a chapter next week, though I'll probably dabble.
Also, only now looking back at this, the chapter seems a bit.. cluttered. I dunno, let me know if you think so too.
Regardless, favorite, follow and review this story as much as you lovely people can and when we come back, We'll find a Penny, and pick it up... though I doubt it will all-day bring good luck.
Also, spot the references.
Hope you enjoy the story and I will see you... in the next chapter. Buh-bye~!