Beta: ShadowMester234
Back home, Jaune had been in love with the idea of his sisters crawling into his bed after a nightmare or during a thunderstorm. The thought that they would feel safe and protected just because he was there made his heart swell. They never did, though. The older ones for obvious reasons, but even younger ones never sought out their older brother. It was always the older sisters they wanted, usually Saphron. Jaune supposed that even his youngest sister recognized that he was too weak and cowardly to fight off the imaginary creatures of the night.
But now, things had changed. Firstly, the imaginary horrors turned out not to be so imaginary after all, and secondly, a girl had come to him seeking refuge for the night. It wasn't one of his sisters, though, and that caused a whole different flood of emotions to entire his heart.
Emerald slept soundlessly curled up against him with her head resting on his chest, and just to complete the romantic image, sometime during the night Jaune had wrapped his arm around her shoulders.
If anyone had seen them, there would have been no doubt in assuming they were a couple. They weren't a couple though, and that's where the problems laid. Jaune didn't know what to do or how to feel.
On the doing part, he wasn't sure if she should wake Emerald up on or not. It was pretty early in the day, but it would probably be best to be exploring as much as possible while the sun was up. On the other hand, last night had been pretty rough and they might be more efficient in the time they did have if they slept for a little longer. Also, this bled into the feeling part, he just didn't really want to wake here.
Even before Mt. Glenn, Emerald never looked entirely at peace when she slept. It was always like her mind was only half resting, ready to jump her body into action at any moment. It was clearly a skill she had picked up from her life on the street but one that Jaune had hoped would have dissipated after living with him for a while. Was it a sign that she didn't trust him? He didn't think it was. Jaune simply believed it was a habit she was having a hard time breaking.
This was the only time he had seen her truly sleeping deeply. A little strange given where they were, but considering the echoes threatened them more internally than externally maybe it made sense she would pull all her focus inward. Jaune didn't believe for a second that his presence was the reason for the drastic change. It wasn't like sleeping together was some almighty emotional defense.
He was pretty confident that sleeping next to each other hadn't stopped a single dream. He had woken up from the memories of at least three other people during the night, and from the haziness in between, he was sure Emerald had experience at least that many. Directly sleeping together hadn't done anything, but indirectly the feeling of someone beside him every time he woke up was very calming, reminded him that he wasn't alone. Because of that, going back to sleep and facing the dreams again wasn't so hard, but that led him to the much more complex "feeling part" of his dilemma.
What were his feelings towards Emerald?
She was gorgeous there was no doubt about that. She was his partner and they spent practically every second together. They were even living together, so it wasn't like they didn't know each other well enough. In fact, Jaune would bet that he knew Emerald better than anyone. The reverse was probably also true, at least with regards to the new him. He had changed a lot after being rejected from Beacon and becoming a caretaker. He doubted his family would even recognize him anymore.
The thought made him smile. He should give them a call after this. He still hadn't gotten around to talking to his sisters after everything that had happened.
His eyes drifted down to the green-haired beauty sleeping next to him. Maybe he should introduce her. No, that would be too soon, and Emerald definitely wouldn't like being interrogated by all his sisters.
Still, with all the time they spent together and their position it was only natural that some level of attraction would grow between them, and Jaune could admit that it might very much be romantic.
Jaune's arm unconsciously tightened around her shoulders. Would they really make a good couple? Thinking back, they fought all the time. They could rarely spend an hour together without one of them dropping a snide comment. There were also Emerald's own feelings to consider.
It wouldn't matter what he felt if she didn't feel the same way, and despite their current situation, it was hard to determine that. Sure, she might have asked to sleep with him, but that was due to the situation. It wasn't impossible that there were some romantic feelings behind it, but he wasn't willing to bet on it. To her this probably wasn't much different than sleeping in the same room, and they had been doing that since they meet. Then there was her teasing of them dating or even married at times. Was that just how she messed with him, or was she trying to give him hints that she wanted him to take the next step? However, Emerald was a very direct girl. He couldn't imagine that she wouldn't just come out and say it if she did have an interest in him. So, was the fact that she hadn't mean that she didn't think of him that way?
Jaune groaned, lying his head back down to stare at the cracked ceiling. It was all so complicated. If his mother were here she'd probably yell at him for thinking too hard and treating love like an analytical problem. That wasn't how it worked and deep down he knew that, but at the same time, he couldn't stop himself.
For now, he would just put all that on the backburner. This wasn't the place to bring all that to the table. Once this job was over he'd confront it, they were planning on taking a break after all, that would be the best time. Away from this place that was wreaking havoc of their emotions.
It was time to get back to work.
Jaune gently shook Emerald awake. He wouldn't have been able to go back to sleep even if he wanted to, so letting her sleep was pointless although she would probably disagree. Red eyes opened going from wakening haziness to full awareness faster than Jaune could have ever dreamed of.
She didn't stammer or blush at their current position. She simply pushed off him and started packing up camp knowing what they were doing without him having to say a single word. They were just that in tune with each other now, and because of that, despite Emerald's prefect mask, he could tell that waking up next to him had gotten her at bit flustered.
"I'm all for getting out of here as fast as possible, but don't you think we should have breakfast before you pack up our camp."
Emerald stopped dead and Jaune chuckled. No doubt that she realized she had been caught. Her haste had given her away—and what was this? Was that a tinge of pink Jaune saw?
Slowly and robotically Emerald set down what she was holding, trying to give herself time to think of a remark to explain it all away. Unfortunately for her, Jaune beat here to it.
"You don't need to be embarrassed. I've always known you'd be a clingy sleeper."
She snapped back around her blush darker than ever but with a confident smile. "Yeah, I'm sure you had a great time. Just don't let that reward go to your head."
"Hey, what do you mean reward? I remember you being the one to ask for a snuggle buddy!"
"You're obviously misremembering. I'll saw your lost, pathetic look last night and decided to do some charity work. Having a girl as gorgeous as me sleep next to you must have been a dream come true, but I see it went to your head, so you can say goodbye to ever getting close to these babies ever again." She leaned forward giving Jaune a good view of her breast and even pushed them together just to make sure he knew what she was implying.
It was so childish and dumb, but damn it, it worked. Heat crept up his neck and face and he knew Emerald had caught him staring. With a prize-winning smirk, and not a hit of pink as if this was somehow less embarrassing than sleeping together, she twisted back around and walked off to get the supplies to start breakfast. Her hips noticeable swinging as she walked.
Where had that girl that a clung so cutely to him in her sleep gone? He wanted that one back. This Emerald was broken.
Breakfast wasn't a huge affair. Bacon cooked over a fire with biscuits on the side. Jaune had brought enough food to last them a week and a half and much longer if they needed to ration, but that wasn't a big concern. If something went wrong Jaune was sure Whitley could airdrop them any supplies they could possibly need.
"Do we actually have a plan today, or is it just wandering around again?" Emerald asked.
"Technically, wandering around is a plan."
"You know what I meant."
"If I didn't know what to do yesterday, do you really think I would have found a new clue while we were sleeping?"
"You're right, I guess that was a stupid question of course we don't have a pl—"
"Because I did."
Emerald stopped eating in surprised and skepticism "So, we do have a plan?"
"Not really."
Her eyes narrowed as she fixed him an irritated look. "Care to explain what you mean by that."
Jaune made a show of rubbing his chin and humming obnoxiously. "If I had to describe our situation it would be that we still don't know what direction we're supposed to be going, but I did find a compass."
The biscuit Emerald was holding crumbled onto the floor as her hand balled into a fist. Baiting her probably wasn't a great idea, but he couldn't help himself. Plus, he needed a way to even the score.
"Speak in terms I can understand," Emerald stated.
How easy it would have been to turn that around, but Emerald wasn't dumb. It was clearly a trap. If he said something clever then she would have every justification to attack him. Well he wasn't falling for it.
"Those dreams last night weren't all doom and gloom. I learned some interesting about Mt. Glenn from one of them. There's more to it than we're seeing."
"What does that mean?"
"I think it would be better to show you."
Mt. Glenn's underground was a sight to behold. A city nowhere near the size of the one above but still bigger than the village Jaune grew up in. sunlight pierced through the many holes in the ceiling illuminating the underground expansion, but come night this place would likely become a well of darkness. Not good since it took them the better part of the day to find a way down here without breaking their necks, aura was nice and all, but Jaune wasn't ready to test his landing strategy for the first time.
Coming down here was nothing more than a hunch brought on by a dream. Technically, Mt. Glenn had fallen twice. Once when the overworld was overrun and then when the underworld was broken into. Most people would wonder why anyone would stay down here when the upper city fell. They must have known how dangerous it was, but thanks to that dream Jaune didn't have to wonder.
Mt. Glenn had been made for a very specific purpose, to relieve the population burden on Vale. Those who came to Mt. Glenn found they weren't exactly welcomed back. It didn't matter that the grimm were on their doorstep. They had to be sitting on living room couch before an evacuation was called, far too late at that point. Little wonder so many angry echoes arose. People who were not only robbed of their life, but also betrayed by the people who they believed would protect it.
Jaune would be pissed too. It was kind of the reason why he thought to come down here. The closer they were to the epicenter the more likely they were to find something useful, or so he hoped. Like he told Emerald, he wasn't basing this off any evidence. It just felt right, and lacking anything else that was good enough. It did appear that there were far less grimm than there were on the surface, so at least that was an undeniable advantage.
The two amateur spelunkers finally touched the bottom level after their long descent. "Well we made it." Emerald did not look impressed. "Everything looks the same except dirtier and creeper. Also do you smell that?"
Now that she mentioned it, something did smell odd. Jaune remembered smelling something similar when he jumped out of the bullhead. It had never gone away he had just gotten used to it, but now it was definitely stronger. "Yeah, do you know what it is?" he asked still not being able to place it.
She shrugged. "No idea. I can't even think of anything similar. It's not bad but at the same time, I don't really like it."
"Me too, but on the bright side unnatural smells mean we're getting closer."
"Closer to what? Our goal is to implant a good into these echoes, and I might not know what a happy memory smells like but I'm pretty sure this isn't it."
"You think that there are more echoes clumped together down here and that's why it smells like this? Is this what a ghost smells like!"
"Great, creatures we can't see, hear or touch but we can smell. If I start tasting anything strange, I'm leaving. I don't care what Roman will do if we quit. Nothing could be worse than that."
"Please don't say that out loud." Jaune shuttered. "Somehow Roman always knows what I'm doing and I'm afraid if he hears that, he'll do something just to spite you."
"You're over exaggerate."
"I wish I was…I wish I was." The absolute hopeless Jaune radiate was enough to attract a few grimm. They were cut down in short order, but it was enough to convince Emerald that he was being completely truthful. As they walked farther in, Emerald kept glancing around as if Roman would jump out at any moment.
Jaune wouldn't be surprised if he did.
Their first stop was the train station, the only noticeable difference between this place and the city above besides the tracks themselves. Surprisingly, the train was still parked on the platform out front, a rusting husk still waiting to be filled.
"Think it can still run?" Emerald asked as they passed by.
"Maybe, clean it up a little, fill it up with dust and theoretically it should. Not like there's anywhere to go anymore."
On that happy note, it was decided that Emerald would investigate the train cars while he would look through the train station building. It was pretty sparse inside with only some desks, stacks of worn papers and dust—so much dust.
Jaune didn't think he would find anything in here but he kept wandering around just so he wouldn't finish too soon. He poked around the desks to no avail and tried to read some of the documents, but those were illegible to the point that they may have well been in a different language.
There was a computer on one of the desks and having nothing better to do Jaune pressed the power button knowing it wouldn't turn on. Which was why he nearly jumped a foot in the air when it did.
The bright holoscreen lit up the room as any form of startup was skipped and a wall of text was displayed. Sitting down to get a better look, Jaune saw it was the station's timetables. The train's arrivals and departures were all there recorded down to the millisecond.
Jaune scrolled down the page out of nothing more than idle curiosity, but it quickly became apparent that something was very wrong. The last entry should have been on the day the grimm broke into the underground or maybe the day before but that wasn't the case. There was about a two-year gap of nothing before suddenly a new entry was recorded. From there, entries were placed in sporadically with some happening over a year apart and some being within minutes of each other.
Getting to the very bottom of the page, Jaune found something particularly alarming. The last two entries had the date set to yesterday. If the train really had been running he and Emerald had been right on top of it. Before he could look into it any further, the computer shut down and no matter how many times he pressed the power button it wouldn't turn back on.
Alright, it wasn't time to start freaking out yet. There was no way the train was still actually running. It was probably just an error. It did look like all the records were recorded automatically. There was probably a sensor on the track or something and grimm could have easily tripped it over the years. Don't question how that sensor would still be powered, the computer did so it wasn't unreasonable. Weren't ghosts supposed to mess with electromagnetic fields or something, that could be the explanation.
It was a nice theory that he just crafted, but Jaune knew no matter what reasoning he came up with unless he went out to look at the train itself he wouldn't be satisfied. He was just worried about what he might find. He had enough problems without adding runaway trains into the mix.
Stepping outside, Jaune went to the side of the train and got down on his hands and knees to examine the undercarriage. If the train had been moving there was one easy way to tell. He let out a sigh of relief when he saw the wheels had a layer of dust on them at least an inch thick. This train hadn't been moved in a long time.
"Hey Jaune, can hear me! You might want to come see this."
And suddenly, his relief was dashed. If Emerald found something that she thought was important enough to bring to his attention then it couldn't have been good.
She was on one knee, staring intently at the ground, when Jaune found her near the head of the train. "What did you want me to see?"
"Before I show you, you didn't happen to walk over here before now, did you?"
"No."
"That's what I thought, but now the question is who made these?"
Jaune looked over Emerald's shoulders and saw what she was talking about. Imprints on the ground that were faint but could still be made out to be either human or faunus. Jaune didn't know much about tracking but he gauged from Emerald's expression that they must have been fresh enough to suggest they weren't alone down here.
"I just don't understand," Emerald said, standing up. "It just doesn't make any sense."
"Yeah, and that's not the only thing." Jaune explained what he discovered in the train station.
"That's creepy, but I checked the inside of the train and saw the controls. Trust me no one has touched those in more than a decade. It has to be a mistake. Those footprint, on the other hand, aren't. Whose could they be? Actually, do you think it could be Roman?" Emerald glanced around nervously.
Jaune gave it some thought but shook his head. "No, jokes aside, I really doubt Roman would be here. He sent us here specifically because he couldn't make it. If he could have come himself, he wouldn't have asked for our help."
"That I agree with, but what reason would anyone have to be down here?"
"Maybe it's the same reasons as us. Mt. Glenn is close enough to Vale that all the grimm the echoes draw in must be a problem. We aren't the only caretakers in the world. It's possible someone else got here before us."
"I think you might be right, and another caretaker might be good for us. We could exchange information."
"Do we really have any information to exchange?"
Emerald flushed. "I meant that we could work together to solve this problem. It would be better to pool resources."
"Aren't you being uncharacteristically optimistic? We don't even know for sure if they are a caretaker, or if they won't attack us on sight. Maybe they think it's better to remove the competition."
"And aren't you being uncharacteristically pessimistic? Listen, I don't exactly like having to go chasing after a stranger, but I would rather find them before they find us especially if they're hostile."
"So, you think we should go after them?"
"Do you think we shouldn't?"
"No, it's just that…" Jaune motioned to where the tracks led. Right into the train tunnel. The very dark, very eerie train tunnel.
"Don't tell me you're scared?"
"When there are actual ghosts haunting this place, yes, I'm a little worried."
"You weren't like this at the Schnee's mansion."
"There were no endless tunnels of darkness and death at the mansion."
"I can't believe this," Emerald said, rolling her eyes.
"Let's just get going. I'm sure the long walk will be more than long enough for you to make fun of me."
The pair prepared their flashlights and made their way to the tunnel entrance. Before they could step in, however, a strange noise that sounded like a mix between a wail and a rumble called from within. It was loud enough to shake some debris from the tunnel ceiling.
"Well, isn't that ominous," Jaune said. Even Emerald looked a bit shaken now, but they had already made their decision, so they could only continue forward.
Jaune had never experience darkness like this. Most people probably hadn't. The type of darkness where he couldn't even see his hand in front of his face. It wasn't an exaggeration to say that the beam of light coming from his flashlights was his only peak into the blacked-out world. A substantial danger when walking through a forsaken underground tunnel. Even with aura, a misstep could cause serious injury. Not to mention, that a practically sneaky grimm could spell the end of them.
Their best option was to use the steel tracks as their reference point. As long as they stayed a measured distance away from the protruding wooden planks, that were just waiting to trip them, they wouldn't lose their way. The trail of footprints they had been following had been lost to the darkness long ago, so this was their only choice. They just had to hope their quarry didn't break off the main tracks and head into a maintenance tunnel. Passing by them would be the worst possible scenario.
The only thing that kept Jaune from the belief that wouldn't happen was that unnatural smell that got stronger and stronger as he went farther and farther. Like Emerald said, it wasn't an unpleasant or disgusting smell. It just didn't feel right, like the equivalent to a very low-frequency sound, and by now it was overpowering everything else. If this third person really was after the same target, they shouldn't stray.
However, straying soon became a minor concern as the track split off up ahead creating two paths instead of one. Each one heading into an identical looking tunnel. That couldn't be right, though. The tracks only connected Mt. Glenn to Vale. There shouldn't have been any alternative paths, there just wasn't anywhere else to go. Yet, evidence to the contrary was right in front of him.
"Which way do you think we should go?" he asked his partner.
No response.
His breath hitched and the weight on his back grew as he swung his flashlight around despite already realizing what had happened. Emerald was missing.
Jaune tried to think back to the last time he had seen her flashlight beam. They had definitely walked into the tunnel together and they had even been talking to each other. He remembered that, but when did it stop and why didn't he notice. How could he have not notice half of his light source disappear? How long had he been walking alone, on autopilot? How long had he been walking at all?
Everything was getting hazy. Darkness devoured all including time.
He fished out his scroll for his pocket. There was no hope of connecting to Emerald this deep down, but checking the time could help him get his bearings—or it could make things even worse by telling him it was three in the morning. He might not have known exactly what time they entered the train tunnel, but it couldn't have been any later than 4:00 and no matter how messed up Jaune's time scale was there was no way he had been walking for nearly twelve hours.
Should he head back the way he came and look for Emerald? No, they couldn't have gotten separated like this naturally. Something had caused this whether it be the echoes, the unknown third person, or something else entirely. Regardless since this was done on purpose backtracking wasn't likely to fix it. Forward was the only option, but which forward was the right one. The tunnel split in two and there was only one of him.
Maybe it wasn't real. Maybe the choice didn't matter at all, but maybe he was trapped in a maze that only by choosing the correct path would he escape from. There were no hints on which path was correct and there was no point in waiting for one to show up.
For better or for worse, Jaune strayed left.
Emerald was drowning. Water swirled around her nostrils and mouth making her lungs screamed.
She didn't know how she got here, but it wasn't as if she had a gap in her memory nor had she suddenly been teleported. She remembered walking into the tunnel with Jaune, and she remembered talking to him while they avoid tripping over the train tracks, and then she remembered being here. There should have been a step in between the last two but there wasn't, but like she said it wasn't because something was missing. The events happened just as she remembered it was just that in this instance causality had been ignored. Event B had not occurred because of event A. The two existed independently of each other. It was like the opposite of how a movie was edited where two takes were sewed together create the illusion of a continuous narrative. In this case, it was like a single take was split into two to create the illusion that there had been a cut.
But, Emerald did not have the time to philosophize about all that. She had to worry about getting air into her lungs. That was easier said than done. For one, Emerald was not a very prolific swimmer. She did know how, but it wasn't like she frequented Vale's public pools. Two, the direction of breathable air wasn't known. Third, even if she did know could she hold her breath long enough to reach it.
If she had been thinking straight she could have relaxed, and let her natural buoyancy guide her in the direction of the water's surface, but time was ticking down fast and in a crisis the most unnatural thing to do would be to relax. Emerald was left with only her instincts and her luck.
She swam left. There was no reason or rationale behind that decision it was just what she decided. If she was wrong, she would die.
She swam as fast as she could, but it was hard to judge how far she had gone in this murky water. Thirty seconds passed than a full minute. Still no sign of the surface. Her legs felt heavy, actually her whole body did, but her legs especially. She wanted to take a break, maybe even have a little nap. A few minutes couldn't hurt.
All she had to do was close her eyes.
In the midst of falling asleep she noticed something. There was something in front of her obscured by the dirty water. It looked a like an arm and it was reaching down to her, trying to rescue her.
Using the last of her energy, Emerald pushed forward and grabbed on not knowing who the arm belonged to. It pulled her up and her head broke the surface. Coughing, hacking and shivering, it was all she could do to look up at her savior.
It was Jaune, but he didn't seem happy to see her. In fact, he looked disappointed.
"Jaune?" Emerald said trying to find any hint of warmth on her partner's face.
"Great another worthless catch," he spat. "When I'm I going to find someone useful?" Then without hesitation, Jaune pushed her back in. Submerging her once more.
Jaune was on a train. No one else was and the rumbling of the cars was the only noise he could hear. Looking out the windows didn't offer anything, either, as the outside was a blurry mess. Completely unnatural but so was this all.
Jaune stood up from the chair, he was sitting in, noticing the lack of weight on his back. His backpack had disappeared along with his sword, scroll, flashlight and assumedly the lint in his pocket.
In one final test, Jaune tried to summon his journal by holding open his hand. No matter the circumstance or where he was it should have appeared, but it didn't here. Either someone was using their own magic to stop him, or the path he chose had led him to a different dimension. The book had talked about a realm called the Dreamscape and this place certainly felt like it could be it.
Shame he didn't have the transdimensional plate to test his theory, but out of all the supplies he thought to bring he had left that at home. Not like it wouldn't have been whisked away with all his other stuff if he had.
The train rumbled on, but as Jaune stood there in thought, a different sound cut through. It was the train's speaker that made an announcement with a voice that sounded like a corrupted audio file. "Att-ion passenger—the tr-r-r-r—reachinging file stop."
Jaune didn't know if he believed that. This seemed like the kind of train ride that would last forever, but he was proven wrong when the train slowed to halt, and open its doors. Once he stepped out onto the train platform, he was greeted by the last person he ever expected to see here. His older sister's wife, Terra.
"Jaune it's so good to see you. Saphron will be so happy, but that will have to wait till later."
"Wait a second, what's going on? Why are you here?"
"Don't try to tease me. I get enough of that from your sister." Terra frowned. "Now come on I'll give you the tour."
Jaune didn't have much choice but to follow her as she quickly strolled away. "A tour of what?" he asked.
"The Argus relay tower. You know the place you'll be working at."
"What are you talking about? I don't work there."
Terra stopped and stared at Jaune like he was a rowdy child. "You do now. This is your first day, after all."
Jaune tried to say something, but Terra was quick to shush him.
"Listen, I know you wanted to be a huntsman, but that didn't work out. It's time to move on. I had to call in a lot of favors to get you this job, so can you please just pretended to like it. You're smart so I'm sure you'll be fine even without any experience, but if you show up to work with that attitude every day, no one is going to want to keep you around. I know it might get tedious some days, but if it makes you feel better without the work we're doing people wouldn't be able to communicate with each other. In a way, we are heroes."
"I'm fine with what I'm doing now," Jaune said finally able to get a word in.
"Oh, grow up!" Terra yelled. The world shook as her anger transformed her facial features into an ugly snarl. "It's time to stop living in your fantasy. You're not a hero and you never will be. That dream is over. Now you get to live the same way the rest of us do. In an office, doing the same thing day in and day out until you die!"
"You're wrong," Jaune said standing his ground.
"I'm not." The train platform crack and chunks of the ceiling fell down. "Stop acting like you're better than the rest of us. It's time to accept it. You. Are. A. Loser."
Emerald was walking through a school hallway that seemed to go on endlessness. She had never been inside a school before, but she could still tell that is what the place was supposed to be. Doors on either side of the hall with a single window built into them, and a room number off to the side. Trying to open them was futile and the window only showed a room full of empty desks no matter which one Emerald looked through.
That meant her only option was to keep walking along the endless hallway hoping that something would change. She wasn't holding out much hope, though. It was very possible that her surroundings were mealy repeating themselves with only the room numbers increase as she went.
It was an unnerving experience made doubly so by the constant whispering. The whispering that made it sound like there were people just a little farther down the hall or in one of the classrooms, but there was never anyone around, and the whispers followed her no matter how far she walked. It wasn't even anything she could understand just mumbling that sounded almost like words but weren't.
She tried to ignore it, but that wasn't easy. It was pretty much the only thing to focus on. The hall was bland and everything else was inaccessible. What was she even supposed to be doing here?"
"Get lost."
Emerald spun around as fast as she could, but just like all the other whispers, there was no one to take credit for it. That one had sounded so much closer though, and she could actually understand it.
"Trust me if I could I would," Emerald said back, giving herself a brief relief from the whispering. In response, they only seemed to grow louder. It was as if this whole place was made just to taunt her.
She kept walking. Room 436 eventually became room 2216 and so on and so on. Nothing changed, nothing moved, everything was stagnant. Everything except the damn whispering! It never stopped, yet it never quite stayed the same making it impossible to stop hearing it. Every second it grew, if not louder, more insistent. Pounding on her brain like hail.
She was reaching her breaking point.
"Would you all just shut up already!"
Surprisingly they did. The noise was washed away and there was silence at last, but just like the incoming tide, the whispers returned. This time in a way Emerald could fully understand.
"What is with that girl?"
"A stuck-up bitch."
"I heard she lives on the street."
"Smells like it."
"Just a dirty thief."
"Why doesn't she just die?"
"The world would be better off."
They were just words. They didn't mean anything. She had been through worse, much worse. What did she care about the thoughts of people she didn't know and weren't even real. It was stupid.
"Criminal."
"Killer."
Emerald quickened her pace.
"Traitor."
"Whore."
She sprinted trying to outrun them. It didn't work. They were always just one step behind her. She would be running away from them forever.
Jaune couldn't move. It wasn't that he was trapped by something and couldn't get out, his body was literality locked in place. He couldn't even move his eyeballs to look around. Having your vision locked in place was a very uncomfortable feeling.
On the bright side, even with his limited view, he knew where he was. He was back in the cellar that Emerald had discovered in the restaurant. He wasn't sure if being here was a good thing, but at least this time he could see the place clearly.
Before he could confirm anything though, Emerald walked down into the cellar closely followed by—himself!
"It smells awful," the other Jaune said.
"There are rats. Rats poop, a lot," Emerald stated matter-of-factly.
It was exactly the same. Everything that happened the last time he and Emerald were down here was repeating except this time he was observing from the outside. Did he good back in time, or was this another Bury situation? No, both of those would be stupid. He was probably still in the Dreamscape which meant the other Jaune was just a fake, but was Emerald also a fake?
It seemed more likely than not, but he didn't know how this place worked. She might be trapped in something on her end that made her repeat events she'd already done. If only he could get her attention somehow, but that was impossible. All he could do was watch through his unmoving view.
Eventually fake Jaune made his way closer and real Jaune was able to get a better look at him. It was definitely him from the clothes to the hair, but there was one thing wrong. It was his expression. Jaune didn't think he had ever made an expression like that. One with an upturned smile that made it seem like he was sharing in an inside joke.
Fake Jaune's flashlight buzzed over him and then quickly returned as fake Jaune looked straight at him. It wasn't until then that it finally clicked for Jaune just what he was in this scenario. His position and now fake Jaune's reaction confirmed it. He was the skeleton in the corner.
The revelation was more stressful that it probably should have been. It was just hard to imagine himself inside someone else's corpse.
Just like the last time, fake Jaune just stared at him for a bit in shock and horror although, Jaune noticed, not as potent as he thought it should have been. Emerald eventually came to fake Jaune's side and offered him some clumsy comfort.
Jaune didn't know if she didn't notice or just couldn't do anything else, but Fake Jaune clearly wasn't responding to her worry correctly. He was just going through the motions. Saying what he needed to, so he'd be staying on script.
He was acting.
Panic flooded Jaune's mind. Emerald was in danger. He didn't know what this imposter was planning, but he couldn't just be doing this for no reason. Was he planning to hurt Emerald?
As if the imposter could hear Jaune's thoughts, his eyes shifted in a way, that Jaune knew his never had, to looking right at him. Then outside of Emerald's vision, the impostor's eyes narrowed and his mouth slanted in a grin that could never exist on Jaune's face. It could never exist on any human's face.
It was all the evidence he needed to know he had to do something, but there wasn't anything he could do. He tried desperately to move any part of his deceased body but it was useless. He could only watch as Emerald and the imposter walked away from him and headed back upstairs.
He was shouting inside his mind for her to come back, but she disappeared from his view without a single look back. The imposter, on the other hand, did look back before he ascended. "Don't worry, I'll take good care of her, better than a sullen corpse like you ever could."
He ended with a thumbs up and left Jaune to sit in the cellar with the rats until someone else came and found him.
Jaune guessed he would be waiting for a long time.
Emerald was standing in the streets which looked nearly identical to the ones in Vale, but Emerald knew this wasn't Vale. The venue of this segment was Mt. Glenn back before it had fallen to grimm.
Not that it mattered. The buildings might have been nicer but the place was as deserted as ever. Not even any whispering this time which she was thankful for. It wouldn't last, though. She could feel something watching her, and that ghoulish smell had returned. She hadn't even realized it had been absent until now, but she sure noticed its return.
But, what did its return mean? Jaune's theory had been that it was the smell of a bunch of echoes clumped together, but it was clear by now that the echoes were behind everything she had gone through recently and it had been absent. It was the smell of something more specific and it was close—closer than ever. If she could do something about it, maybe this endless nightmare would end.
Emerald might not have been as well versed in magic as Jaune, but she had picked some of it up and had enough brainpower to figure out the rest. Magic might not conform to regular rules, but it did have rules. This problem had a solution and the first step was finding the source of that scent.
Tracking it down wasn't going to be easy, however. Emerald knew it was close but that wasn't as helpful as it sounded. What did close even mean in this place? In the school hallway, the whispering had been "close," but that didn't mean anything could have been done about it.
This space could have been distorted so that, physically, the source was over a hundred miles away and she would have no way of knowing. Looking for it normally would be wasted effort and time wasn't exactly on her side. The something that had been watching her had grown into a bunch on somethings. She was quickly being surrounded.
She had to ask herself what the outcome of all of this was supposed to be. Sure, she had been strung around for who knows how long, but that couldn't be the end goal.
It might seem strange to think about that now, but knowing that would determine how she would respond to the situation. For instance, she didn't think this place was trying to kill her. It could have easily been accomplished back at the lake, and if killing wasn't the goal than what was stopping here from just ignoring her stalkers.
If fact, now that she thought about it, was it even possible for her to be killed here? It had certainly felt like it while she was drowning, but it had felt the same when she had been relieving the memories of the deceased last night. She might have felt everything, but when it was all over, she didn't die because, in the end, it was just a dream. This place didn't feel much different.
Her stalkers finally made their appearance. A horde of people, like zombies from a movie, flowed from every street and between every building. Emerald recognized them as Robin and the other children she had under her, duplicated a thousand times over to fill the crowd.
Even though Emerald knew what this place was, she still couldn't stop herself from shaking. The way their empty eyes watch her and how their arms stretched towards her, trying to pull her in, reminding her things she'd rather forget.
Doubt crept in questioning if she was right and they really couldn't hurt her. Her fight-or-flight response that relied on all her life was screaming at her, but now wasn't the time to hesitate. None of this was real. It was all fake nothing more than an illusion—and she was the queen of illusions.
Maybe it should have been obvious from the beginning. Maybe some being out there was laughing or rolling their eyes on how long it took her to realize, but that was the thing about dreams, was it not? You didn't realize they were dreams until you woke up.
Emerald swept her arm back and channeled her semblance. It wasn't aimed at anyone in particular but on the world itself, and the world reacted. The horde froze and building wrapped. The sky fell apart and the ground sunk and bloated as it tried to maintain its shape.
The unnatural smell came in at full force as for the first time in her life Emerald felt something push back against her semblance. As if she was going to let something like that stand in her way. Whatever force was trying to stop her didn't stand a chance.
Her surroundings were blown away like a set being ripped from the stage as her semblance took full control. By the time it was all over, there was only a pure white vacuum in every direction. Actually, that was one thing that hadn't been caught by her semblance.
With nowhere left to hide the source of the smell was left in plain sight. It was a smoky figure that somewhat resembled a human. It had no expressions to speak of, but Emerald could feel its frustration.
"Not as much fun when you're not the one controlling it, is it?" Emerald mocked.
"Get lost," the mist said, or she assumed it did since the actual sound seemed to come for every direction at once.
"How about you," she replied unleashing her semblance on the origin of all her troubles. The mist seemed to have already accepted its defeat because it evaporated after what could only be considered a nudge from her semblance.
Then, she opened her eyes into a world completely different from the one she had been in. It was too dark to see anything, but she could feel the dirt and dust under her stomach and on her face. More importantly, though, she could feel the flashlight clutched in her right hand.
Standing up and turning it on she wasn't surprised to find herself back in Mt. Glenn, a couple feet from the entrance of the tunnel. Jaune was laid out nearby so she went to go wake him. Gently at first but taking on a rougher approach when he refused to stir.
"What…huh, Emerald? What happened?"
"I'll explain it to you later, for now, we need to find shelter. We've been out of it for a while." It was a miracle that they hadn't been devoured by grimm while they had been in that state. Emerald didn't want to push their luck any further.
Jaune seemed to agree as he quickly regained his senses. "Yeah, let's go. Hopefully Whitley doesn't send the entire SDC security force for missing the check-in. We have a lot to talk about without having to worry about being interrupted."
"More than you know."
Excerpt from the book
So much credence is given to the story of Ozma and Salem. True they would become two of three wizards along with Faunus after the gods revoked that power from the rest of the world, but that reputation cause people to forget about the most important character in that story.
Salem's father, the man who constructed a tower capable of repelling entire kingdoms and slaughter the fiercest warriors, and inside it he imprisoned his daughter. Why did he do it? Cruelty alone doesn't explain the lengths. Did he know that his challenge would build the pyre to light a new age? No one knows for certain. How could they when not a single record of him exists. Not even Salem herself knows his name or what he looks like.
That man, if he should even be called that, appeared out of nowhere to set the stage and then when it was finally conquered, he was nowhere to be seen. No congratulations nor condemnation for Salem and her knight. He simply stepped out of history.
What worries me about that is that one day this person may decide they want to step back in.
What would we do if that were to happen? What could we do?