Redemption Arc: Chapter 4

Cover Art: Me

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The blood-red leaves floated softly through the air, autumn taking a powerful hold of the forest around me. I paid it no mind, however, as I rushed towards the largest tent in the camp. Some of the meeker members shied out of my way when they saw the fire in my eyes, others just watched me rush past. I paid them no mind as I burst into the tent.

"Adam!" I shouted out as I pushed open the flap. The bull-horned faunus looked up at me from his desk, completely calm. "What the hell happened, Adam?!" I continued to shout, my voice a well of concern. "Why does the raiding party smell so heavily of blood?! Did the plan fail?" Adam held out a hand to calm me, and I stopped my questioning, biting my lip.

"The plan went perfectly, Jaune. We didn't lose anyone." He responded with a calm but proud tone. "Then why does everyone you took smell like blood?" I asked, now more confused than concerned.

Adam let out a sigh. "There was more resistance on the train than anticipated, I guess you must've missed a page in the employee register or something. There was a scuffle and a couple of the guards died. An unfortunate accident." He explained in the same tone of voice as earlier. "You don't make it sound very unfortunate," I pointed out. "It was us or them, Jaune, and I'm confident I made the right decision." Adam retorted. "Alright," I said, relaxing my body. "Just as long as nobody got hurt, I guess..."

Adam let out a small smile. "Glad you see it my way," He said, before turning back to scribbling on a few papers on his desk. I turned to leave, but was stopped just before I fully exited the flap. "Hey, Jaune." Adam called out, causing me to turn my head to look at him over my shoulder. "It's good to have you back, you've been a great help." He finished with a smile before turning back to his paperwork.

"Yeah…" I replied. "Happy to help…" I exited the tent, and as I walked through the camp, played the conversation back over and over again in my mind, trying to ease a gnawing discomfort.

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The dream faded, and I opened my eyes to the sight of Ruby crouched near me, slowly moving her finger closer and closer to the tip of my tail. She quickly pulled her hand back when it twitched, but began inching closer again after a few seconds. I took in the rest of the cave to see that both Pyrrha and Blake's "beds" were empty. Makes sense, since if either were here they'd be able to tell Ruby the implications of what she was doing.

I waited until Ruby's hand got close to my tail again, holding it purposefully still, when I spoke. "Am I gonna have to start sleeping with pepper spray, or can you control yourself until initiation's over?" I asked with a teasing tone. Ruby jumped easily her own height and let out a shrill "eep!" before turning to face me and turning a deep shade of red. I propped my head up on my elbow and curled my tail so it lay parallel with my body in front of me, the end softly waving back and forth in amusement.

Blake poked her head into the cave. "What happened?" She asked, clearly having been summoned by the sound of her partner in distress. I opened my mouth to speak when Ruby blurted out "Nothing!" and flew out of the cave in a burst of rose petals. Blake turned to look at me with a raised eyebrow. I offered a small shrug. "Caught her trying to touch my tail," I said nonchalantly.

A small frown worked its way onto Blake's face. "She didn't mean anything by it, I'm sure. She's wanted to touch it since she knew it was there, and I think curiosity was about to win over common sense." I said, defending Ruby's actions even as I prepared a lecture on personal space in my head.

Blake's expression seemed to relax just a little, but she still seemed a little displeased by her partner's conduct towards me. "Blake, it's fine. She hasn't seen many faunus before me, so a few slip-ups here or there can be tolerated. Besides, she didn't actually get around to touching it, just got close." Blake let out a sigh. "If you're okay with it, I guess." She said, fully relaxing.

I walked out of the cave to see Pyrrha stoking a campfire. She looked up at me with a small bit of concern and asked "Why did Ruby come flying out of the cave a few moments back?" I gave her the same nonchalant answer of "I caught her trying to touch my tail. She ran off embarrassed. She'll be back."

Pyrrha nodded. "Well, as long as everything's okay." She said with a polite smile. "I woke up Blake about an hour ago and we foraged for a little bit of food, so there's something to eat if you want." Pyrrha mentioned, gesturing to a few small piles of berries laid out on a bed of leaves.

I inspected the berries to make sure they were the edible kind. I separated a pile of particularly poisonous ones before grabbing a handful of edible berries and sitting next Pyrrha by the fire.

"So, partner," I began, pausing to pop a berry in my mouth, "what's your story?"

Pyrrha seemed to be caught off-guard by the question. "What do you mean?" She asked, her tone carrying an ever-so-slight twinge of concern. "What's your story?" I responded. "I came from a small village in Atlas to make a better home for my family, Ruby came from the small island of Patch and got into Beacon two years early, and Blake… I don't actually know about Blake. What's your story?"

Pyrrha's thoughts seemed to be scrambling for a moment before she spoke. "I… came to Vale to get a change of scenery. See new things, you know?" She spoke with a rushed tone, and I didn't buy her story for a second, but decided not to push. "Yeah, makes sense," I responded with a shrug, feigning ignorance. "I've been all over the world, seen a lot of things, so I completely understand how a change of scenery can be worth the trip. Regardless, I hope you find Vale to be everything you were hoping for." I finished with a smile and popped a few more berries in my mouth. I saw how Pyrrha looked visibly relieved that I had bought her lie, and couldn't help but notice how her smile grew wider as she responded. "I think it's turning out to be perfect so far."

With that, we fell into a short yet comfortable silence, and I continued to snack on the mild, yet sweet berries that Pyrrha and Blake had acquired. I had just finished my handful when Ruby came trudging through the trees towards me. She stood close to me and ground her toe into the dirt sheepishly, refusing to look me in the eyes.

"So, um, Jaune," she began, "about earlier, uh, I…" I rolled my eyes good naturedly and stood up. "You're fine, Ruby, you're new to the whole faunus thing. Just be more careful about it in the future." I held off on the rest of my lecture since I could already tell that the awkwardness of the whole encounter was enough of a lesson. Regardless, I saw Ruby sag in relief and look at me with a small smile. "Gotcha," she replied, content with my immediate forgiveness.

Pyrrha pointed out the berries to Ruby and she began digging into her own small pile. Blake joined us shortly, quietly sitting off to the side of her partner and slowly picking at her own handful of berries. After we had all finished our meager breakfasts, I called everyone's attention.

"Okay ladies, now that we're all up and fed, we should start making our way back to Beacon. Vale is situated generally Southeast of the Forever Falls, so we're gonna want to head that direction. I suggest we head over to the stream from yesterday and see how far we can follow it, that way we can have easier access to water and food for as many nights as possible." I looked around our little group to gauge their reactions, and saw them looking between each other and exchanging nods before returning their attention to me. "I think that sounds wonderful, Jaune," Pyrrha agreed with a smile. "Yeah! Let's get moving! I want to beat Yang to Beacon!" Ruby cheered, and Blake simply nodded in acceptance.

With our plan set, I went back into the cave to retrieve my tracking arrow and we set off to the waypoint I had placed at the stream, where we all took a drink and I retrieved my second arrow before continuing Southeast along the bank.

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We had been walking for a few hours when I abruptly stopped moving. I looked over my shoulder to see that Blake had done the same. "What's wrong guys?" Ruby asked. I quickly held up a hand to silence her. "Shhh. Do you hear that?" I spoke quietly. Ruby paused and cocked her head for a moment, listening. "I don't hear anything," she whispered. "Exactly," was my response, and I began scanning the trees for any sign of danger. "There's grimm nearby. I can't tell how far off they are, but stay close" I hissed as I continued to search the trees.

A gunshot rang out in the distance, and I quickly looked up to see the direction which the birds scattered from. "Someone's in trouble!" Ruby exclaimed, before speeding off in the direction of the shots before any of us could stop her. I reached out a hand towards her retreating form for a moment before dropping it and entering a sprint. "Dammit, Ruby!" I growled as I led the chase, with Blake and Pyrrha close behind me.

We followed her trail to a small clearing, where the sound of gunshots had multiplied. Bursting through the treeline, I saw Ruby acrobatically flip over the head of a beowolf before firing a shot from her scythe to propel the blade clean through its neck. She landed and another beowolf lunged at her, only to have its skull caved in by a blow from none other than Ruby's sister. I noticed the pair of gauntlets on her wrists as one let out a bark and added a generous helping of buckshot to the knuckle sandwich she was serving.

I pulled my eyes from the sisters to see the Schnee off to the side, loading up several glowing glyphs in the air. Icicles burst forth from the symbols and speared a pair of beowolves that had closed in on her position. The fight was over almost as soon as it had started, and soon ten beowolves were nothing more than smoking corpses on the floor of the forest.

"Ruby!" I heard Yang shout, and looked over to see her crushing Ruby in a bear hug. "Ruby choked out a "Yang, let me go," but was largely ignored. "Guess we weren't needed," I mumbled, before turning to Blake and Pyrrha. "So, guess we go say hi," I said with a shrug.

I walked over to Ruby and Yang, with Yang waving enthusiastically upon seeing me. "Yo, Vomit Boy! Wasn't expecting to see you here!" I let out a long suffering sigh at the nickname, and felt Pyrrha and Blake's questioning gazes at my back. "Don't ask," I groaned, before setting my eyes on Yang. For someone who had spent an entire day in the forest, she still managed to look immaculate. I rolled my eyes at Yang, "nice to see you too, Yang," I called out.

Yang let go of Ruby and looked to Pyrrha and Blake. She wolf whistled at the new additions and turned an eye to me. "Woah there, Vomit Boy, making ourselves a collection already?" She teased. Pyrrha and I turned red at the tease, sputtering out our denials, but Blake was seemingly unaffected. "I'm Ruby's partner, and we encountered Jaune by a stream yesterday, where he allowed us to use the shelter he found," Blake explained in a flat tone. Yang, however, didn't relent. "Oooh, taking you home on the first day? Did he take you out to dinner first? Let me guess, you had to huddle together to share warmth, but after a while he shared something else with you~." I could feel my brain overheating as images unbidden crashed through my mind. Fortunately and ironically, I was saved by the Schnee.

"Do you have to be so vulgar all the time?!" The Schnee snapped as she delivered a slap to the back of Yang's head. Yang rubbed the back of her head with a slight scowl. "Jeez, Weiss-cream, you're such a prude," she complained. "I will not have my image ruined by having some blonde hussy with poor impulse control as a partner," she seethed, narrowing her eyes at Yang. Yang narrowed her eyes back, the usually sparkling lilacs shifting to a blood red, and I could have sworn I saw sparks begin to flick out from her golden mane.

"Yes, because I'm sure you wouldn't want the image of a snobby, faunus-hating prude to be ruined," Blake so helpfully added to the conversation. The Schnee whirled on her and opened her mouth to say something, but Ruby was quicker. "Guys! Stop!" she yelled, giving everyone pause. "She's right," I piped up, "it would be in our best interest to keep inter-party conflict as low as possible, since it would also be beneficial for our groups to travel together for safety purposes." Yang turned to look at me, her expression and posture relaxing, but her eyes remaining red. "Sounds good to me," she said, "I've only had the Ice Queen here to talk to for the last few hours, so actual conversation would be nice." Yang completed her barb with a sharp jab of her thumb in the Schnee's direction.

The Schnee huffed and crossed her arms with a scowl. "So, I take it it hasn't been all sunshine and rainbows on the Yang side of things?" I spoke that as a statement more than a question. Yang's face fell into a frown once more. "You don't know the half of it. She had us walking in circles for hours before just deciding we go that way," Yang said, gesturing in the general direction my group had come from. "Like you could have done any better!" The Schnee interrupted. "Considering you were about to take both of you further into the wilderness instead of towards Beacon, I would say literally any other direction would have been better," I deadpanned. Yang shot an "I told you so" glare at the Schnee, who doubled down, crossing her arms.

I gave a hard look at the Schnee. "If you're so intent on pushing people to follow you, at least have the decency to know what you're doing first. Stubbornness and ego will only lead both you and your teammates to their deaths," I said, my tone low and iced. The Schnee managed to both glare at me and quail under my gaze at the same time, which was honestly pretty impressive. Takes a real level of pig-headedness to remain incensed under these conditions. I thanked Oum that she hadn't been made my partner in some cruel twist of fate. "Anyway," I spoke, drawing attention to me and off of the Schnee, "I already know where to go to get to Beacon, and we were trying to follow a stream a few minutes that way as far Southeast as possible so we'd at least have consistent access to water. You two are welcome to join us as long as you don't cause problems. Especially you, Schnee. If you have complaints about what the group's doing you can stuff it and follow anyway or leave," With my piece said, I turned and began walking back to the stream, pleased to note the five pairs of footsteps following behind me.

I led the group back to the stream, and we quietly walked along the stream. Ruby and Yang were huddled close to each other, sharing in quiet conversation while Pyrrha and Blake walked alongside me. The Schnee hung to the back of the group, silently fuming. After a bit, Pyrrha leaned in close to me. "Was it truly necessary to be that… candid? Surely there was a nicer way you could have said that?" She whispered. "While I will admit I was a bit harsh," I began, "this was absolutely necessary. Just because she thinks everyone should listen to her, does not mean she is actually fit to lead. I'd rather deal with a few extra grimm on our journey than have her try to assume control and lead you guys to injury, or worse." "I've seen good people be led to their deaths by a so-called 'leader's' pride and ego more times than should be allowed, and I'm not willing to let it happen while I can stop it again," I thought to myself.

My face had been pulled into a light grimace as I spoke, long buried memories coming to the fore. Regardless, Pyrrha sent me an appreciative smile. "Thank you for looking out for us, then. Though, perhaps try not to alienate our teammate so much," she whispered. I nodded in agreement to her request. "You guys are the closest thing to friends I've had in a while, of course I'll look out for you. And I guess you're right, I'll talk to the Schnee eventually, try to get us on the same page." "Like she'd ever listen, but hey, at least this way I can say I tried." Pyrrha once again gave me a smile, and I felt our bond as partners grow just that littlest bit more.

We walked for another hour in relative silence, and I noticed the sun getting low on the horizon. "It's getting a little late," I called out to the group, "I think we should start thinking about setting up camp." I turned to see the nods of agreement from the rest of the group, and the Schnee who had somehow managed to keep a pout going for a full hour. Doesn't she know her face is gonna get stuck like that if she keeps it up? Moving on from my observation, I began running through the known capabilities of the party in front of me in order to make the following tasks easier. "Blake, Pyrrha, would you guys mind catching a few fish from this stream since you have the best aim? Yang, could you try gathering firewood from nearby so we can carry it to the campsite? I'll go looking for a suitable spot, and Schnee, if it's not too much, help whoever needs it." I got an enthusiastic thumbs-up from Yang, a polite nod from both Blake and Pyrrha, and a deeper scowl from the Schnee.

"What about me?" Ruby asked, "I didn't get anything." I looked at her with a smile. "That's because your job is to keep this ship running until I report back." Ruby paled at my words. "What? Why do I have to be in charge? Can't it be Yang or Blake or Pyrrha or, or her?" Ruby squeaked, pointing at the Schnee. I made a show of thinking about it before turning to her. "Nope," was my simple response. "Why not?" Ruby cried. "Yang has a temper, Blake and Pyrrha have the best aim I know about with the least destructive weapons, and I'm not letting the Schnee control anything," I listed the reasons off on my fingers before turning to look at Ruby. "That, and you've already shown a decent skill in moderating, so I trust you with this." Ruby looked defeated and nervous for all of a few seconds, but quickly replaced those feelings with a shaky determination. "Okay… I'll do my best."

I gave her a quick smile before turning and bounding off into the forest, calling out "See you in a bit!" as I drew further into the treeline. Ruby can handle herself, for however long it takes me to find shelter, right? Yeah, she'll be fine.

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So, two things: 1) this chapter is a little bit shorter than usual, 2) I didn't get to some of the things I said would be included in this chapter from last chapter. Reason being because this chapter was originally going to be part of one super long chapter, but I decided to cut it into two chapters and reformat the second half to function more as a separate chapter. That said, since the second half of this chapter was initially incomplete when I decided to split them, it'll still be a couple days before I can get that segment out. Also, this chapter was kind of a pain to write, since I had to rewrite and rethink the interactions between the characters and literally everyone they interacted with in this chapter multiple times and I'm still not sure how I feel about them. But hey, practice makes perfect. Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed, see ya then!