KS: I'm back. Time to pick up where we left off.
"Ugh… that hurt a lot more than I thought it would."
Jaune laid prone on the cold ground, feeling immense pain throughout every fiber of his body. The fall he took after inadvertently triggering the mechanism in the temple wasn't a long one, but it still did a number on him.
"Good thing my aura was up, or I would be splattered across the floor," he muttered, picking himself up from the ground.
He looked around to see darkness surrounding him at every corner. Letting out a sigh, he took out his scroll and turned the flashlight on. He was in a cavern of sorts beneath the temple.
"This day just keeps getting better," he grumbled miserably. "I'm not that, so I should be grateful for that. But what's a cave doing under an old temple?"
He walked down into the cave, looking around. It was completely different from the one he stumbled into in the Emerald Forest due to it being more spacious, but that only meant that it was very dark in some places, even with the flashlight.
"It's not really the best idea I could come up with, but I should walk around this cave until I can find the exit," he said.
Jaune walked through the dark caves, nearly stumbling over rocks, climbing up steep ledges and jumping over narrow gaps. But no matter how far he walked or how many obstacles he overcame, the exit was nowhere in sight. There wasn't even a gust of wind to indicate there was an gap that lead outside.
"This sucks on every known level," he muttered. "What kind of cave doesn't has an exit? And I know I said this before, but who's bright idea was it to build a freakin' temple over a freakin' cave?"
His outburst echoed throughout the caves, going on for minutes. When it subsided, Jaune let out a sigh of frustration.
"I need to get out of here. The last thing I need is to find out if that rumor about going crazy after being in a cave for too long is true. But how to I get out of-"
Suddenly, a strange, humming noise came from the depths of the caves, interrupting Jaune's rant. Curious to see what it was, he went further down into the caves, the noise growing louder as he got closer to the source.
"This is getting weirder by the second," he said. "What exactly did they leave down here?"
Jaune continued to go deeper and the noise grew even louder than before.
"What the hell is making that noise?"
As he went further, he saw a strange glow. Thinking that it was the way out, he rushed towards it and the noise grew even louder.
"This is it. I'm going to make it!"
But as he reached the light, he did not find the exit. Instead, he found a closed-off part of the cave with odd symbols and a wall made out of black-colored glass.
"Well, this definitely not the exit," Jaune said. "And it's a lot more weirder than ever."
He slowly approached the wall. He wasn't sure why, but he was drawn it.
"What is that thing? And what is it doing all the way down here?"
Jaune laid his hand on it. He was amazed at how smooth it felt as his hand glided across the wall.
"I'll admit, this is cool, but I really need to find a way out of here."
He took his hand off of the wall and walked away, but it began to emenate a dark glow, getting his attention.
"Now what's going on?"
Jaune walked towards the glowing wall once more, staring at it intensly.
"What do you want from me? I just want out of here."
"It is not about what I want, Jaune Arc, but it is about what you want."
Jaune was rightly shocked that the walk started to talk to him like it was an old friend of his.
"What are you?" he asked. "How do you know my name? And while we're at it, how are you even talking?"
"All good questions, but we shall get to them at a later time," the wall replied in a smooth, yet sinister voice. "I know what you desire, Jaune Arc."
Jaune was even more shocked that the wall knew his name, but he let that slide so he could ask another pressing question.
"What makes you think I have any desires?"
"Oh, was I mistaken?" the wall asked in a mocking tone. "I thought that you wanted to get back at Lilac for speaking ill of your late teammate."
At that point, Jaune was instantly reminded of that very moment. The one that ignited great contempt for the man.
She went up against someone who was stronger her, someone whom she knew she could never defeat. And for what? To fufill some empty purpose? Performing the fool's errand of playing the hero? She was a fool. No, that would be dregading to foolishness in general. Pyrrha Nikos died for less than nothing.
Jaune shook with anger. "He needs to pay for what he said. Not only did he disrespect Pyrrha, but everyone else who fought at Beacon. A lot of people were hurt and all he could do was act like it didn't matter to him."
The wall began to glow brighter, as if it were responding to Jaune's anger.
"Do you intend to let him get away with that?"
A scowl grew on Jaune's face. "No."
"Perfect."
The wall's glow became brighter, blinding Jaune and enveloping him in the dark light.
Ruby franctically searched the lower floors of the temple, hoping to find some hidden mechanicism that will reveal a hidden passage that will lead her and her friends to the depths beneath the temple. Sadly, despite inspecting every nook and cranny of the floor, her laborious search bore no fruit.
"Come on, come on," she muttered to herself. "It's gotta be around here somewhere."
She lowered herself the floor and tapped it with her hand to see she could trigger anything. But nothing happened, much to her dismay.
"Looks like you haven't found anything either."
Ruby looked up to see Nora and Ren standing above her.
"I couldn't find anything that looked out of the ordinary," the redhead sighed, standing up and dusting herself off.
"Considering how the Aurum build this old temple, I doubt they would have made it easy to locate hidden passages," Ren mused. "Still, I would be lying if I said this wasn't frustrating."
Ruby let out a sigh of frustration. "I've never been the type to point fingers, but none of this would've happened if Lilac took back what he said about Beacon. Now Jaune is stuck somewhere and we don't know how to find them."
"Couldn't have said it better myself, kid."
Everyone turned to see Qrow walking towards them, taking a swig out of his flask before speaking some more.
"The life of a huntsman is never a glamourous one, but there will always be those who will run their mouth about how we're nothing more than glorified mercenaries that are easily disposable. People can be ungrateful for all the work we do, and will go out of their way to shove it in our faces that we're not needed. It's as if they don't care that we defend them from all sorts of threats. People like Lilac are too absorbed in their own business to realize that we experience loss like any other person on this planet."
"Maybe we should've let Jaune punch his eye out earlier," Nora remarked.
Qrow let out a dry chuckle. "Even if you let him, it would make no difference to someone of Lilac's nature. I can tell that kid received more blows than a professional boxer."
"Even so, we should let Jaune give him a good clout once we find him," Ren suggested. "Perhaps we should do the same in Pyrrha's honor."
Nora cracked her knuckles. "That prick is getting more than his legs broken, rest assured."
Ruby had a concerned look as Ren and Nora made their intended threats towards Lilac. To say she was troubled would be nothing short of an understatement.
"Do you either of you hear yourselves right now?" she asked. "Planning to beat up some thug for a crime group. I already don't like this idea and it's the first I've heard of it."
"Come on, Ruby," Nora said with a grin. "You make it sound like we can't take him."
Ruby quickly shook her head and followed it with a glare. "I'm not saying you can't take him. I'm saying you shouldn't take him. I know he's a jerk and is only helping us out of convienience, but attempting to beat him won't help us in the long run. And I doubt Pyrrha would want any of us trying to get a hit in for her sake."
"Ruby, you heard what he said about Pyrrha, and everyone who fought during the Fall of Beacon," Ren said in a bitter tone. "He acted like everything that happened that night didn't matter to him. And he had the gall to openly state that Pyrrha died for nothing. Surely, you wanted to strike him if the opportunity presented itself."
Ruby sighed and looked sullen. "I'll admit, I wanted to shoot him where he stood for saying that. But knew Pyrrha would never want that from me or anyone here. It would be the last thing she would want any of us to do if she were alive." She quickly changed her sullen expression for a stern one. "And the fact that both of you were considering of trying to attack him only shows you're prepared to dishonor her memory just as he did."
The words hit Nora and Ren harder than either of them expected. They had all intention of succeeding where their leader failed in making Lilac pay for his insensitive words towards Pyrrha and those who fought at Beacon, but hearing Ruby made them wonder if they truly were no better than him for considering such an act."
"Look, best not to dwell on it for too long," Qrow said, gaining everyone's attention. "Whether it arrives sooner or later, what Lilac said will eventually come back to bite him. Everything from that point onward is out of our hands."
"So we're just supposed to stand here and not do anything about what he said?" Nora asked bitterly.
"I don't recall stuttering," Qrow replied. "Whatever happens to him will come eventually. It only a matter of time."
"And yet you allowed Jaune to fight him earlier," Ren said curiously.
"That was another matter entirely," Qrow said. "The kid had too much anger bottled up inside of him. He needed to let it out one way or another."
"Seemed like he didn't let all of it out," Nora snarked. "Otherwise we wouldn't be in this mess right now."
Ruby looked around the room. There had to be a hidden passage somewhere, and they needed to find it in order to find Jaune. As the others talked, she went off to investigate the temple some more.
Ruby returned to the main hall of the temple. There many paintings and sculptures of foxes seen on every visible part of the temple.
"Whoever built this must like foxes," she mused to herself. She was about to move to the next part of the temple, when something caught her eye. The two rows of fox statues that lead to the stairs were pointed in different directions. Some were faced north, while others faced west.
"I wonder…"
Ruby went up to one of the fox statues and placed her hand on it. Taking a deep breath, she slowly moved her hand counterclockwise, and to her surprise, the fox statue moved as well.
"Oh my gosh! I think I got it! I need to tell the others!"
Ruby dashed back to where to where the others are with intentions of discussing her discovery.
Lilac sat on the floor, staring at the window. He has had some time to think about the events to lead him to the current situation.
"In summary, all this happened because I provoked that Arc brat," he said. "A real credit to his family name, that one. Getting worked up over some minor slight… truly shameful."
He stood up and began walking down the hall.
"They better not expect me to beg the little twerp for forgiveness. I don't have any sympathy to spare. His teammate died in the line of duty. Big freakin' deal. I've lost people I've cared about, but no one's ever seen me throw a fit about it."
Contrary what he said, Lilac's expression grew morose and his pace slowed down.
"I'm different from him… right?"
He rubbed the side of his head and let out a heavy sigh.
"Come on, Lilac, don't bother thinking about it. Once you've helped them out with… whatever they're doing, they can be on their way and out of your hair. No problem at all."
"I'd say you've got some problems of your own if you talk to yourself in an empty hall."
Lilac took one of his pistols and aimed it at the person that was talking to him… who happened to be Qrow.
"Do you make it a habit of sneaking up on people?" he asked. "If so, I find it very bothersome."
"I could say the same thing about you and your habit of pointing guns at people," Qrow replied. "Anyway, Ruby found might have found a secret passage near the stairs."
"Are you talking about those fox statues?" Lilac asked.
"The same ones," Qrow replied. "She's called everyone to meet her there, and as much as it pains me to say it, that includes you."
Lilac put on a fake smile. "Aw, and I thought you didn't care about me at all."
"Given how you've been lately, we've almost lost reason to care," Qrow replied bluntly. "Though considering we're only at the temple because of you, we have no choice but to put up with your crap." He took out his flask and drank out of it. "But seriously, quit it with the gun pointing. Do you believe that everyone is out to get you?"
"In my line of work, you have to live with the belief that everyone and their grandmother is making an attempt on your life," Lilac said, noticing Qrow's bewildered expression. "You're going to ask if the grandmother part was just an expression, aren't you?"
"I'm going to say that it wasn't," Qrow replied, hoping he was wrong.
Lilac lowered his gun. "About a month ago, I received a package from the grandmother of some punk I sent to the hospital. It was a cake with suspicious-looking candles that that lit up the second I opened the box. Do the math."
He walked past Qrow, who was still bewildered by what he had heard.
"How exactly did she rig the candles to light up when he opened the box?"
"To think, this cute little statue is the key to the secret entrance," Nora said, staring at the statue in question with narrowed eyes. "I knew these were suspicious when we walked in, given how they were pointed in different directions."
"It's not just the one statue, Nora," Ren replied. "It's all of them. Still, I'm amazed that they can be moved."
"Not all of them," Ruby cut in, placing her hand on a statue and attempted to turn it, but it didn't move. "Some of them are stuck like this. I tested some of them before you got here."
Ren placed his hand on a fox statue and turned it clockwise. "Amazing. This holds the key to a secret passage beneath the temple. The Aurum are truly ingenious."
"Okay, so these pretty little statues are to reveal a hidden door or something," Nora said. "Are we supposed to make them face a certain direction?"
"That's probably how they were designed."
Everyone turned towards Lilac, who was walking towards the group with Qrow trailing behind him.
"Given how most of the statues are a fixed in a certain direction, it should serve as a clue as to which direction the other statues should be pointed at."
"How will that help us?" Ruby asked.
"Have you tested the other statues to see if they can be moved?" Lilac asked in return.
"Ruby already tested the statues on our behalf," Ren answered. "Based on what she had told us, three of the statues on the left were movable, as were two of the statues on the right. The rest are in a fixed position."
"And what positions are the immovable statues in?" Lilac asked.
"The second and fourth statues on the left are pointing southeast and northeast, respectively," Nora said. "And the first, third and fifth statues are pointing northwest, west and southwest. Respectively."
Lilac nodded. "Good. Do you know where the statues are pointing at?"
"It's a long shot, but we believe they are pointing to that fox embroided on the rug," Ren said, pointing to the embroidery in question.
"I'm getting real tired of seeing foxes all over this place," Qrow sighed.
"Well, these foxes are pointing us in a certain direction," Ruby said. "And I know how we can solve this puzzle."
"Really? How do we do that?" Nora asked.
Ruby smirked. "Simple. We get the foxes that are moveable to point towards the fox on the carpet. That's sure to reveal a secret passage or something."
"It's worth a shot," Ren said. "Let's do it."
"Cool," Lilac said, sitting on the rug. "I'll just sit here and witness the fruits of your deduction."
"Are you seriously dumping the work onto us?" Qrow asked indignantly.
"Hey, there are five movable fox statues," Lilac said. "If there was a sixth, I would be up there with you. But for now…" He yawned while stretching his arms. "I'm gonna take easy for the time being."
Nora scoffed. "Can't believe you're the top guy in a crime group. Did you get to where you are by dumping your work on other people and taking credit afterwards?"
"Only when I had to," Lilac answered shamelessly. "Now hop to it, my loyal subjects."
Everyone looked at Lilac with great distain.
"Would anyone mind if I shoot him in the back?" Ren asked out loud.
"Another time, kid," Qrow responded. "Let's just solve this puzzle. We can decide where to shoot wiseguy afterwards."
"You realize that you're plotting an attempt on my life while I'm within earshot of all of you," Lilac said, laying down on the floor.
Everyone ignored his quip and prepared to turn the statues.
"We do this on my signal," Ruby said. "Everyone ready?"
She received nods from the others.
"Okay. One, two… three!"
Everyone, apart from Lilac, turned the fox statues to point towards the fox on the rug. When they did, a loud "click" was heard.
"Did it work?" Nora asked.
"I'm not sure," Ren replied. "I heard a click, but we may have triggered a trap instead."
"Whatever it was, we better prepare," Qrow said, reaching for Harbinger.
A slight tremor was felt among the group. Before anyone could react, they saw the stairs in front of them flatten, then separate to reveal a hidden passageway. Nora widened her eyes at the sight.
"Alright! We found it!" she cheered as she rushed towards the passageway. "We're coming, Jaune!"
"Nora, wait up!" Ren called out as he followed after his childhood friend.
Ruby, Qrow and Lilac remained in the hallway, staring at the passage.
"Looks like we're getting somewhere," Lilac said as he stood up. "Finally, we can get the object."
Ruby narrowed her eyes at him. "And Jaune."
Lilac sighed. "Sure. We can get him on the way out."
He walked past the two, ignoring the judgemental stares they gave him.
"It won't be much longer," Qrow said. "Once we get his precious object, we'll be able to trade it for the Spring Maiden's whereabouts."
"The sooner, the better," Ruby said. "I'm getting really tired of him."
The two walked towards the passageway, unaware of what lies in wait for them.
KS: Ruby's all too prepared to cut Lilac loose when this all over. A shame that it won't be over so soon. Not when there's something big the group will soon encounter. (sinster chuckling) ...I gave that away, didn't I? Oh well. Be sure to favorite and follow this fic if you want to see more, and leave a comment when you can. I'm always open to a bit of praise and criticism.