Salem's Servant: Chapter 4
Jaune's eyes fluttered open as his body slowly awoken from its deep slumber. He could feel soft but tattered cloth surrounding him from head to toe, like the warmth one would get from the lovely embrace of a mother. It felt quite cozy, and he couldn't help but want to burrow himself further into the feeling, in spite of how it smelled rather putrid.
It reminded him of his old bed from back home. When he didn't find himself having fallen face-first onto the floor, the feeling of his head resting on his overtly soft pillow and his body enveloped by his withered yet cozy blanket never failed to bring a soft smile to his face once morning finally came. It was just so soft and homey that he often found himself wanting to sleep for just a few more minutes; to experience that cozy feeling for a little longer.
He missed that feeling so much. After having to sleep on cold, stone floors and cover himself with ratty cloths that invaded his nostrils with less-than-pleasant smells for weeks, his mind longed for an actual bed like a hopeless peasant fawning over a princess. He hadn't even minded if that bed wasn't even considered a bed by normal people; as long it was better than sleeping on the floor, he could care less about the stains and the bedbugs.
And now that cozy feeling was back after so long, and all he wanted to do was sleep all day. He didn't want to let it go just yet.
But even as he tried his best to close his eyes shut, hoping sleep would take him over once more, he was already too deep into the world of the woken to return to his slumber. The room was too bright to his liking, and the smell akin to a rotting corpse was just too much to ignore.
With a frustrated groan, Jaune rolled onto his back and began rubbing his eyes of muck. So much had accumulated in his eyes that it would do just as good if his eyes were simply made of the stuff. He never knew what caused them. Some said that a man made of sand would come to those sleeping in the dead of night and sprinkle sand onto their eyes, supposedly giving them good dreams.
He didn't believe any of that. Nightmares were still a thing, no matter how much muck there was to clean off.
Once his eyes were clear of the stuff, he dropped his arms onto the bed and opened his eyes fully, staring idly at the moldy and decrepit-looking ceiling of his room.
He drew out a sigh. There was a list of things that he often wished and hoped were far from being real. For example, the horrifying monsters that appeared in many of his books that he had read, which were often illustrated; and his family's indifference and distaste towards his dreams of being a knight.
It was fairly long list with many different things on it, and waking up still trapped in Salem's manor was the newest entry.
Well, since I'm still here, I might as well get to work. I don't want to anger Salem more and fall further from her good graces. As much as he heavily disliked the idea of working for her, he had no choice but to obey her orders. Unless he had the powers of an ancient god or some weapon that could swiftly put an end to an immortal witch's life, he was as good as a mercilessly mutilated corpse if he ever dared to defy her.
Plus, she was horrifying. Even a non-threatening glance from her could likely have him vigorously washing the stains off his pants.
He brought his arms under him and began pushing himself up from the rickety old bed. His dazed eyes drifted over to the shattered up window. Sunlight was pouring into the room like a golden waterfall onto a lake, engulfing the walls and furniture in a bright yellow sheen. The blonde squinted his eyes and looked away, wincing from the light. He never knew mornings could be this bright. Even with the sky as clear as glass, it never got this bright.
You would think an old manor now owned by an evil witch would have mornings way darker than this.
Shielding his eyes with his arm, he took a glance at everything in the room. It was still the same as he remembered it, what with how ramshackle everything was still was. The spots of black goo were still there, the desk beside the bed was still intact, and even the doorknob was still snapped off.
Though there was something… off, though he didn't know what or why, even though he was certain everything was still in its place. It was like the feeling he would get whenever his sisters stole something from his room, but whatever they stole was so miniscule it would be nigh impossible to spot the difference.
He was sure nothing was missing, yet something told him otherwise.
He narrowed his eyes, not from the bright sunlight but from rising suspicion, as he scanned the room over and over, looking for something that might prove his suspicions right. But no matter how much he tried spot something out of place, everything was still where it was, in the same state as he remembered. Nothing looked wrong, and nothing looked missing.
So then, why was he feeling something was off?
As he pondered on the reason behind his suspicion, his palm dropped back onto his bed, and it was then his eyes widened. They slowly drifted down to his hand, and he finally noticed the tattered up blanket that surrounded most of his lower body. His fingers brushed and felt the canvas-like material. There were a few holes here and there, and a couple of unknown stains as well. It wasn't the best looking blanket, far from it, but in spite of its appearance, it was warm and cozy enough to actually sleep in.
His eyebrows furrowed at the sight. Wait, since when was this blanket here? As far as he could recall, he never went to get one, nor was there even one provided for him when he entered the room last night. Surely, he would remember if he actually went to get one, or if there was one waiting for him in the room. He was certain that brick didn't mess up his memory that much.
Strange… so either he somehow managed to traverse through the manor and managed to find a blanket while sleepwalking, or Ren and Tom brought him one. He highly doubted the latter – he was certain they didn't want to get caught giving the new servant a blanket in the dead of night by Salem, unless they were secretly suicidal.
Though I doubt sleepwalking would be a viable reason as well. He stroke his chin in thought. This manor is so decrepit,, I wouldn't be surprised if I managed to come back with glass shards stuck to my—
Jaune's thoughts instantly ceased however when something soft suddenly dropped onto his head.
"Oh, hey! You're finally awake!"
The chipper voice sent his body stiffening like a statue. Something was on his head, he could feel it. It was small and fuzzy like a ball of yarn, but he could feel whatever it was shifting about, concluding it was definitely alive. All the while, Jaune's body was shaking uncontrollably as he tried his best to stay still, the thought of whatever that was killing him if he ever so moved an inch blaring in his panicking mind.
Calm down, Jaune. Calm down. Calm the frick down!
"Um, hello? Earth to new stranger?" He heard the thing say, then his mind devolved swiftly into chaos when he felt what seemed like little paws taking steps through his golden hair.
Step after step after anxiety-inducing steps, the blonde did his best to keep still for all of it, and he inwardly cringed when the paws eventually landed on his exposed skin.
The thing suddenly stopped, and he still didn't dare to move. Tense seconds turned into what felt like minutes, until—
"Hey!"
"GAAAH!" Jaune girlishly screamed as soon as a white-furred face popped into his vision, his hand acting fast and slapping whatever that was away from his face. Squeaks and high-pitched screams (not his) swiftly filled the air, all stopped by a loud thud against a wall, and followed by another one shortly after.
All the while, Jaune heavily panted, his heart pounding and racing to nigh dangerous levels. His hands were shaking uncontrollably, and sweat was already running down his head. After a few moments, he quickly managed to recollect himself before his mind caught up and realized what just happened. He blinked and brought his eyes over to the floor, right beside the door.
A small white mouse whined in pain as it pushed its body up from the ground, its little paws nursing its head in between its large round ears. "Ow… that hurts… Jeez, is that how you say 'good morning' where you come from? You must come from a really weird place." It said in a high, girlish voice.
Realizing it was still alive, Jaune frantically searched around him for a weapon of some kind. He eventually settled for the candle holder on his desk, quickly grabbing it and raising it up, ready to fight back if the need came.
"Wh-Who are you? Are you evil? Are you trying to kill me!?" He knew the last two were stupid questions – no one would ever tell someone they're evil or trying to kill them unless they're amateurs or very theatric – but it never hurt for some confirmation.
"Huh? What?" The mouse looked up at him with its black beady eyes, which widened at the sight of the menacing candleholder. "Woah, no! No no no no! I'm not evil!" It waved its paws at him in a 'Please don't hit me with a candleholder!' gesture, "There's no evil here! None at all! Completely evil-free! See!"
Jaune watched as the mouse pointed toward its smile, which looked rather not-evil.
But even with that supposedly non-evil smile, he still wasn't going let his guard down around it.
"Why were you on top of my head?" He asked the mouse.
The mouse blinked, and a paw rubbed the back of its head. "W-Well… I was running around in the ceiling when I noticed that you woke up through that hole there!"
She pointed above him. He followed her paw, and indeed there was a rather large hole in the ceiling, among many others.
"I thought I could drop down and greet you a good morning! Then you… you know, Bam!" She slapped the air, recreating what had happened seconds prior before doubling over and wincing, "Ow… still hurts…"
Staring at the pained little creature, Jaune frowned. Guilt ran through him. He did slap the mouse quite hard, didn't he? Looks like he was much stronger when panicked… then again, it was a small mouse, so it was likely his strength was still the same—weak and pathetic.
Sighing, the blonde dropped the candle holder from the air, his arm plopping back onto the bed. "I'm sorry for hitting you… I guess you're not really evil and trying to kill me, after all. Are you okay?"
"I forgive you, and yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry, I've had worse." The mouse said, making its way towards the bed.
The slight limp in its step didn't go unnoticed though, deepening Jaune's frown. "Are you sure? You don't look like it."
"No, I'm fine, really!" The mouse waved its paw in a dismissive gesture, "I fell through a bunch of holes from the roof all the way down to the second floor one time and yet I'm still here, alive and kicking!"
Jaune wanted to question if that was true or not, but ultimately dismissed it. "Okay… if you say so…"
He then scratched his unkempt bed hair. "So… who are you, anyway?"
The mouse, in spite of the limp, managed to jump onto the bed with ease. It sat on its hind legs as it gestured to itself. "The name's Nora Valkyrie! But you can call me Nora! I'm the manor's resident mouse!"
"Huh, well, it's nice to meet you. I'm—"
"Jaune Arc, I know," Nora finished for him. "You're the new servant everyone's been talking about. I thought everyone was just lying at first, but I guess they weren't after all, now that you're here in the flesh!"
The blonde lightly raised an eyebrow. Everyone? So, did that mean there were more people here than just what he had seen, who were no doubt in the same situation as him and Ren and everyone else? Wow... either Salem deliberately went and captured a lot of people herself, or a lot of people just happened to stumble upon this manor and ended up getting captured themselves.
Looks like this manor wasn't as lifeless as he thought.
Jaune brought his attention back to the mouse. "So… since you can talk, I'm guessing you got turned into an animal just like Ren and Thomas?"
"Mhm! That's— Wait," She gasped, "You've met Ren!?"
His face contorted in slight confusion. "Um... yes?"
She gasped once more, and Jaune jolted in surprise when she enthusiastically hopped onto his leg. "Oh my gosh, really? What's your opinion of him? Do you think he's great? I honestly think he's great! He's definitely one of the greatest people on all of Remnant!"
"Uh..." He scratched his head awkwardly, "Nora, I've only met him yesterday. I... don't think I can consider him a great person yet."
Plus, if I remember correctly, he and Tom dropped that brick onto my head when I was trying to run away from Tenebris... Not exactly something a great person would do.
Nora continued on, "Well, whatever you think of him, I think he's amazing! He's kind, helping, and makes absolutely delicious pancakes. Like the greatest pancakes in Remnant! And whenever I hear him talk about me..." She happily sighed, bringing her paws to her chest, "It always makes my heart... uh..."
Nora suddenly stopped and trailed off, looking off to the side, "It... um... makes my heart flutter with platonic, friendly joy! Yup! Completely platonic happiness! N-No romantic stuff here! No, sir! Just... two friends being together, but not together-together! No, not that! Just... yeah..."
Nora ended off her rambling with a toothy smile, which he could see she was straining to keep up. In the end, Jaune simply raised an eyebrow. That was a bit odd. It was like her mind just turned itself off and she just began spouting out random nonsense – nonsense he could barely make out from how high-pitched her voice had become.
"Um... okay, I guess?" Jaune said, hoping she hadn't said anything quite important in that rambling of hers. "So I guess you're his travelling partner that he mentioned, right?"
Nora inhaled and let out a deep, slow breath, recollecting herself for a moment before nodding. "Mhm! We used to travel around Remnant, going from village to town to city, while doing some jobs on the side for gold. You know, deliveries, hunting quests, stuff like that. I guess you could say we're nomads."
She then scratched the back of her head. "Well… until we got to Vale, and we—"
"You didn't have enough to pay for an inn. You found this manor, thought it was empty, and got captured and turned into animals by Salem." Jaune finished for her. "I know, Ren told me."
"Yeah… pretty much." She rubbed the side of her muzzle, averting her eyes. Jaune noticed the saddened look on her, and couldn't stop a frown from forming. Never had he thought a cheery mouse could look so sad.
He thought of petting her on the head in hopes of cheering up, but Nora did it for him by suddenly perking up. "So, what are you doing?" She asked, her chipper attitude back to normal.
The change of subject was clear as day even to a fool, but he didn't let it bother him. She probably wanted to forget that part of her and Ren's life, and he could respect that.
He scratched his cheek as he answered her qeustion. "I... don't know. All I know is that I had to wake up early so that I wouldn't make Salem mad. Other than that, she didn't give me any jobs to do. At least, not yet."
His hand landed back onto the tattered blanket that laid cozily on his lap, his eyes drifting down at it. Feeling the fabric and remembering what had him feeling strange mere minutes ago, he looked back at Nora. "Thanks for giving me the blanket, by the way. Must have been hard work trying to carry this whole thing over here."
Nora brought her eyes to the blanket in question, only to tilt her head quizzically. "Uh... I didn't bring you that."
He furrowed his eyebrows. "Wait, you didn't?"
"Uh uh. Nope." She said, shaking her head, "It's too big and heavy for me to drag."
It was his turn to tilt his head. "So, wait... if it wasn't you, then who did?"
"That would be Ren and I." A gentlemanly voice caught their attention, and they both looked toward the door. Thomas slithered through the hole where the door knob once was, making his way down to the floor and toward the bed. "You should be thankful we remembered to give you blanket and for Ren worrying you might get a cold if we hadn't. We had to wait for hours until Salem finally went to sleep!"
Huh, I guess wrong about the blanket.
"Uh, thanks, for giving me the blanket and all." Jaune said, holding up the fabric to him, "I really appreciate it."
"You're welcome, I suppose." Thomas said, his annoyance lingering a bit in his voice. He then straightened up and continued, "Anyway, I came here to tell you that Salem needs you at the dining room. For what, I don't know. All I know is that she needs you there now. And by now, I mean now."
His eyebrows raised at the announcement. Sensing the need to be quick, he was already moving toward the drawer where his uniform was, ripping the blanket from his lap while Nora quickly jumped out of the way.
He needed to hurry.
"I'll be there in just a few minutes! I just need to change!" He exclaimed, frantically taking off his coat as he shoved one foot into a fresh sock he pulled from his pack. He could probably do without a bath – he just had one yesterday, and he didn't smell all that bad. Well, not to him, at least.
Thomas began making his way back to the door. "Well, you better hurry up. Ren and I will be waiting outside. We'll lead you to the dining room."
"Mphkay!" The blonde said, taking off his shirt.
With that, the snake pushed the door open with his head and slithered his way out. But before he left, he popped his head back in.
He looked up at the mouse. "Oh, and Nora?"
She looked away from Jaune. "Hm?"
He adjusted his monocle, an unamused stare behind it. "Try not to stare too much now."
The snake disappeared into the hall right after. Warmth quickly crept up Nora's furry face, a red tint so strong it was visible past all the white fur. She snuck a quick glance at the still changing Jaune, and coughed into her paw.
"R-Right..." She said, before hopping off the bed and following the snake, leaving the blonde to change by himself.
After a couple of minutes of frantically throwing clothes around and trying to fit his legs into some pants, Jaune exited his room and walked into the hall, now clad in his servant's uniform. Along with the white dress shirt, black velvet vest and bow tie that had so many holes and cut, he might as well be naked; there had also been some black slacks, which, as expected, were also very shabby, accompanied by a pair of equally mucky black leather shoes.
The uniform was a bit tight on his body, what with everything a size smaller. He could barely button up his dress shirt without the risk of popping one of the buttons out, and he had to tuck his stomach in as much as he could in order to fit into his pants. Even the laces on the bow tie could barely reach around his neck, and he had trouble adjusting the thing before it was loose enough to where he wasn't going to choke to death at any moment.
Basically, the uniform was as uncomfortable as wet socks. But he couldn't blame Ren and Thomas, though. They had tried their best to clean it up for him, and they had done much for him in the short time he's been here that it would be wrong to complain about something as trivial as the sizes of his uniform.
Though he did wish they had one of larger size.
But that wasn't of matter right now! He needed to report to Salem. He could already feel her patience wearing thin as the seconds ticked by.
After meeting up with the others, Ren, Thomas and Nora wasted no time in leading him to the dining room. The owl flew and zoomed through the halls of the manor while clutching Thomas in his talons, with Nora gripping tightly onto the feathers on his head. All the while, Jaune tried his best to follow them, numerous times had he fallen behind and almost lost them past the corner, only to luckily catch up again and again.
Saying Ren was fast would be an understatement.
After blazing down a few more hallways and drifting around one last corner (and almost slamming himself against the wall), Jaune finally slid to a stop beside a hovering Ren and the others. A large set of double doors stood before them. As expected, it didn't look much better than everything else in the manor. Scratches – likely from Tenebris – marked the door all over, and the fancy gold-plated door handles were rusted to all sorts of unfamiliarity. At this point, they looked more bronze than gold.
The blonde panted and doubled over, hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath. That run took quite a toll on him. His legs felt like they were being dipped into lava, and he could already feel his throat begging for some water.
And oh gods, the sweat. As if having a uniform a size too small wasn't enough, now he had endure the feeling of clothes sticking to his skin. He just hoped he didn't reek.
Darn it, why did he decide to run again?
...Oh right, the fear of agonizing pain.
"The dining room's right in there." Thomas said, nodding towards the large doors. "I'd get moving if I were you."
"Yeah, just... let me catch my breath first." A few seconds ticked by as the blonde took a few deep breaths, before straightening himself up with one last huff, "Hoo! Okay!"
With a wipe of his forehead, Jaune gripped and twisted one of the rusty door knobs, and pushed the door open.
He was quickly greeted with the sight of a grand room (well, at least it used to be). It was quite spacious, but it wasn't as large as a dining room you'd typically see in a castle. As usual, the walls were covered with tattered, dusty wallpaper, though they were much less so in here than everywhere else. A rusted chandelier - which he highly doubted worked - hung from the center of the ceiling, covered in so much cobwebs, you'd be flailing around trying to get them off you more than actually cleaning. Multiple burnt out candles and lanterns were used as substitutes for the chandelier, which were all scattered around the room.
And right in the middle of everything was a long dinner table. Old silverware of all kinds were bestrewn across the worn white cloth, and around fourteen mahogany chairs were present, some pushed in while others were left abandoned on the floor.
One of them, though, provided a seat for Salem.
And as soon as he entered the room, he could already tell by the look on her face she wasn't happy.
Jaune gulped. "Y-You needed me?"
With crossed legs, the witch had a finger tapping on her knee as she lightly glared at him. "You're late."
Jaune's mouth thinned to a line as he began sweating anxiously. Oh no. Here it comes. He could already hear himself screaming his lungs out as Salem slowly peeled his nails off whilst she drove a branding iron into his stomach... oh gods...
The blonde bowed his head down as the witch continued to glare at him. "I-I apologize... It won't happen again."
She didn't say a word. Jaune kept his head down, and only glanced up to see what she was doing. She just silently sat there, the light glare she was holding on him still present. If looks could kill, then he would have been long gone by now.
Seconds ticked by, and eventually, he heard Salem let out a sigh. "Let's hope you stay true to your word, Mr. Arc."
Jaune let out a breath of relief at her words, thankful his impending pain was postponed yet again.
He lifted his head and straightened up. "I-I will. So, why did you call me for?"
"Breakfast."
The blonde blinked. No words were spoken for a moment, until he faintly tilted his head. "B-Breakfast?"
"Yes, breakfast." The witch repeated, "I need you to cook breakfast for me. Why else would I call for you from the dining room in the morning?"
Hearing her words, Jaune mentally smacked his forehead at the blatant obviousness. Breakfast, of course it would be breakfast! Why else would it be? It wasn't like Salem can live without eating. Gods, first day as a forced servant/borderline slave and he was already screwing things up.
And he had to do this for who knows how long!
Noticing the witch starting to tap her knee impatiently, the blonde quickly gathered himself and nodded. "Oh! Yes, breakfast! Of course! Um," He coughed into his fist, "D-Do you anything particular in mind?"
"Anything will do." Salem said, lazily checking her sharp nails, "Just as long as it doesn't taste like centipedes or raw meat. I've already had enough of those before. Any more and I'll lose my mind."
Jaune had no idea if that last bit was a poor attempt at a joke or not. Weren't jokes supposed to have a punchline, or - though he would never say this in front of her, ever - be funny?
If it was a joke, then she needed to work on her humor more.
Not that he'd ever say that to her and ultimately find himself hanging from his feet with a slit throat because of it, even if you paid him a fortune.
With that, Jaune nodded at her request. "O-Okay. I'll... I'll go see what I can cook up. Um..." He scratched his head awkwardly, "You wouldn't mind if I asked if there's a pantry or kitchen somewhere, would you?"
The witch looked at him for a second, then sighed. She nodded her head towards a pair of doors further down the room. "There's a kitchen right over there, along with a pantry. Make sure you work quickly. I'm starving, and I have work to do."
Glancing over to the door in question, Jaune nodded. "O-Okay. It shouldn't take too long." He began scurrying over to the kitchen, "I'll be back with your meal, Salem!"
Before he could make it far though, he felt a force suddenly grip onto his legs, locking them in place and stopping him. Confused, he looked down, and noticed a red glow surrounding his legs – the same red glow that had engulfed that brick from yesterday.
He turned his head to look behind him, and was met with Salem piercing him with an intense glare. "You shall not call me by my name, Mr. Arc." She said, "You shall only refer to me by 'mistress' from now on. Nothing. Else. Do you understand?"
The blonde's body shook under her menacing glower, a sweat dripping down his temple. He could feel the daggers she was sending painfully impaling his eyes, driving them further into his skull the more he stared.
He gulped. "Y-Yes, Sa- I mean, mistress! I-I apologize for my mistakes. I promise it won't happen again."
Salem kept her glare on him for a few more seconds before finally letting him go from her magical grip, making him drop ungraciously to the floor. She shooed him away, "Go."
Jaune frantically picked himself off from the floor, and without any other word from the witch, hastily darted toward the doors to the kitchen. He pulled them opened and dashed inside, slamming them shut.
The blonde panted heavily, his hands still clutching on the door knobs. Gods, that was intense and scary. It had been like talking to an unpredictable killer, where he had to watch his own words and actions – where one mistake would send a dagger right up his stomach. He could barely keep his 'enthusiastic servant' persona up, not with how Salem seemed to be on the verge of causing him plentiful amounts of pain every second.
And with how her magic grabbed his legs and stopped him... he thought he was done for. Lucky, he was.
Refer to her as mistress only from now on; duly noted.
Okay, come on, Jaune. You can do this. He pep-talked himself up. It's just breakfast! That's pretty easy, right? You've cooked breakfast a lot of times before. You're practically a natural at this point... well, at least that was what mom would say…
With a sigh, Jaune pushed himself off the doors. All he needed to do was make a breakfast meal. He had a few dishes in mind, ranging from a simple omelette to a plate of sunny side-up, toast and beans. He was thankful he wasn't asked of much, just as long as he made it quick and it didn't taste like centipedes or raw meat... whatever that meant.
Wasting no more time, Jaune turned around, ready to start cooking, only to stop when he was met with darkness.
Right... no lights... he probably should've expected that.
"Well, looks like I got to find some lights first..." Steeling himself up, he began making his way through the darkness, waving his arms in front of him to feel for anything he might bump into. His hands eventually landed upon what felt like a wooden counter, and he began using that as guidance.
Soon, his eyes adjusted to the darkness, and he was able to see a lot clearer now. The kitchen wasn't quite large, but it wasn't small either. It seemed to be designed to handle a fairly-sized kitchen staff, considering there were more than one stoves and wood ovens he could see.
There were also a few candles and lanterns he managed to spot, which he guessed were spread out everywhere just like in the dining room. Good. Now he had something to light; the only thing he needed now was something to light them, preferably some matches.
He began searching through the drawers and cupboards, blindly feeling around for matches. They were filled with the usual kitchen tools and wares like knives and bowls, a majority of which were old and dusted, which shouldn't come as a surprise at this point.
Eventually, after rummaging in another drawer, he managed to clasp onto something, his fingers feeling the rough paper. He smiled. A matchbook! And judging by his thumb running against the surface, there were still some matches left inside.
He swiftly fished it out and placed it onto the counter, closing the drawer. He carefully made his way over to a nearby lantern and opened it up. Looking inside, there were still a lot of candle left in it, which was good.
Opening the matchbook, he took out a matchstick and struck the tip on the coarse exterior of the book once, then twice, and once more before fire encompassed the red tip. With a shielding hand, he guided the match into the lantern, lighting the wick of the candle inside. Once he was sure the flame wouldn't go out, he took his hand out and waved the match, snuffing the flame.
"There, now we have light." Jaune smiled, feeling the growing warmth of the lantern. Pocketing the matchbook, he grabbed and lifted the lantern. "Now, time to get coo-"
"Hey!"
"GAAAH!" The blonde jumped back in surprise, his arms wildly flailing around before he fell to the floor with a loud thud!
"Ow... that hurts..." Jaune groaned, sitting up and nursing his poor back. His eyes widened for a second and he quickly looked down where his hand was. A sigh blew through his lips, relieved that the lantern went unharmed.
He then looked up at the open cupboard above, spotting a familiar someone. "Nora?"
"Hello!" The mouse waved at him, "Sorry for scaring you again! I didn't mean it!"
"I'm here too." Thomas interjected, slithering to Nora's side. Behind them, he could see the black-feathered figure of Ren squeezing in through what looked to be a hole in the wall with some obvious difficulty. He managed to squeeze through, though not without face planting onto the floor of the cupboard, letting out a squawk.
"Oh, and Ren too."
The owl quickly gathered himself up. Noticing Jaune, he coughed into his wing in embarrassment. "Hello."
"How'd you guys get in here?" Jaune asked as he got up, "I mean, I can see the hole right in the wall, but there's no way you guys can fit in between the walls, or sneak past Salem in the other side."
Thomas humphed amusedly as he adjusted his monocle. "Oh, you'd be surprised, Jaune. This manor—"
"Anyway, how are you doing?" Nora quickly cut the snake off, earning a glare from him, "Did Salem have you going on some epic adventure to find some mysterious item hidden somewhere? Or... Oh! Did she send you to slay some ghost lurking between the walls? I can be lookout if you want me to! I have good eyes!"
The mouse waved her little paws around with enthusiasm, and he couldn't help but chuckle at her antics. She kind of reminded him of one of his younger sisters, just with a little more energetic and less clingy.
"Well... sorry to disappoint you, but it's none of those things." He said, "Salem just ordered me to make breakfast for her. It's not quite an adventure..."
"Breakfast?" Ren said. He stroke the underside of his beak. "Hmm... If I remember correctly, the pantry here should be somewhat stocked. Some of the ingredients in there might be a little out-of-date, but as long as you're not making anything too fancy, there's lots of things you could work with." He pointed to somewhere behind him. "It's right over there."
Jaune followed his wing towards a lone wooden door behind him, supposedly where the pantry was.
Well, that was easy. Thanking the owl, he picked up the lantern and made his way over to the door, with the other three following right behind him.
Once there, he gripped then twisted the knob. "Okay, time to get coo... king..."
The blonde blinked. He stared confusedly at the numerous empty shelves inside. There was barely anything in the pantry, save for the ever growing homes of the spiders, a few empty baskets, and the tiny bits and crumbs of bread and other foodstuffs he managed to spot with some hard looking.
"Um..." The blonde looked to Ren, "I thought you said it was stocked?"
"I was telling the truth," The owl said, confused amber eyes glancing around the room, "The last time I checked the pantry was the day before yesterday, and it was stocked. The baskets were filled and everything."
"Then... why is it empty?"
"Maybe it magically disappeared?" Nora suggested, oddly wearing a toothy smile, "I mean, we are in a witch's manor, after all. It could be possible."
"Hmm..." Thomas' eyes narrowed as his tail rubbed the underside of his mouth, "Magical disappearances could be possible. But... it could only happen if a witch wants it to. There's no reason why Salem would want the entire pantry to disappear.
"Which only leaves us with one possibility," The snake slammed his curled tail against the air, "The entire pantry was eaten."
"Eaten?" Jaune raised an eyebrow. He expected something more conventional like the entire pantry being stolen, but he guessed being eaten was also a possibility. "Who could eat an entire pantry in... two days?"
"Yes... who could do such a thing in just two days...?" Thomas narrowed his eyes, "It has to be someone with a large appetite; someone who could eat at the speed of a man who hasn't eaten for days; someone... who couldn't follow a simple rule no matter how much it was said to them..."
He whipped his head up. "...Like a certain white-furred mouse!"
Nora's eyes widened at his conclusion. "Woah, wait! Are you saying I ate the entire pantry? Horse apples!"
"Nora, I saw you sneaking into the pantry last night and the night before that!" The snake countered, "Not to mention all the crumbs that were conveniently stuck to your fur during those days!"
The mouse shook her head in denial. "Nuh uh! It's not me! I would never-" She quickly burped, "I would never do something like that! Heck, there isn't even a single hole in here I could sneak in from!"
A loud crash followed, causing them to jump in surprise. Jaune looked behind him, and stared down at the small section of the wall that had fallen to the floor, dust gathering up around it. Once it settled, the hole right in the middle of the fallen piece was bright as day, along with an entire pathway made of tiny planks that had been hidden behind it. Small paw prints riddled the dusty path.
Thomas looked up at Nora with closed eyes. "I rest my case."
"W-Wha! I-!" The mouse stammered, then looked down to the owl, "Ren, come on! Help me out here!"
"Nora, as much as I would like to defend you, the evidence is stacked really high against you." His eyes half-lidded unamusedly. "Plus, I did tell you to not eat the whole pantry all those times before."
"I... I..." Nora trailed off as she looked down at the two, tears starting to form in her eyes. Her pouting mouth shook, and a second later, the waterworks burst as she threw her paws up. "Okay! Okay! I did it! I ate the entire pantry!" She sobbed uncontrollably, "I was just so hungry! Please, I'm sorry! Take me to jail! Take me to jaaaail~!"
She continued to sob and choke. Jaune simply blinked at the overtly dramatic and sobbing mouse, and slowly looked away. "Um... okay... Well, there must be something left in here that I could use. A few eggs or even some non-stale bread would be enough..."
He stepped into the pantry and began his search for something to make a meal of, placing his lantern in the center of the room for light. Ren and the others followed behind him, joining him on his hunt.
He walked through and past the deserted shelves. Blue eyes scanned and searched throughout the lantern-lit room. It was completely barren of anything that could be cooked. Other than old woven baskets, the shelves contained nothing but dust bunnies and emptiness. They barely even had any crumbs or small bits of what they once contained.
It still kind of surprised him that someone as small as Nora managed to eat everything in this room.
Sure, a mouse eating an entire room's worth of food in the span of two nights was as impossible as balancing a quill on its tip, but he was in a witch's manor, where people got turned into animals and a gooey wolf monster thing roams free in the halls. Perhaps the magic Salem used to turn her into a mouse somehow amplified her appetite? Who knows?
The group continued searching through the empty pantry, desperation beginning to rise within Jaune as time ticked by. He needed to find something cook and quick. He could already feel Salem tapping her fingers on the table outside, ready to burst into the pantry and wring his neck for taking so long.
"Come on, come on..." He moved from yet another empty basket and to a corner of the room. A couple of barrels occupied the corner, though what they once stored, he didn't know.
Not that he would be able to know anyway, for as he checked them, they were all unsurprisingly empty, save for webs and some spiders, making him frown. Why did everything have to be so empty? There had to be something here that Nora left. A slice of bread, a block of cheese; anything at this point!
He was about to move on and search through some more baskets when something behind the barrels caught his eye through the shadows.
Raising an eyebrow, he went back and pushed the barrels aside, and noticed a small wooden chest tucked into the corner, blanketed by the darkness. The blonde took a knee and slid it out from the shadows. There was no lock (thank the gods), and it was a bit light as well, but he could feel some weight inside – a sure sign there was something in here.
He slowly creaked the chest open, carefully peering inside. Once he was sure there wasn't anything that could chomp his face hiding inside, he fully opened the container, and brightened at what he found.
A whole jar of butter!
The blonde grinned. Finally, something good! It may not be much, but it was a start! And it didn't look too out-of-date as well! How wonderful!
Blowing the dust off the glass, Jaune picked the jar up. "Hey, I found butter!"
"We found something too!" He heard Nora's voice from behind, and his eyes caught the other three as they flew to his side, dropping what they had found onto the shelf beside him. "Two slices of hopefully still good bread and some cloves of garlic, which hopefully are still good too!"
"Mhm." Thomas hummed and looked up at the mouse, "Thank the gods you didn't eat everything."
Jaune stood up and placed the jar beside the bread and garlic, sacks protecting the latter two from the dust. "Well... we got something to work with now, even though it's not much." He said, tapping his chin, "Now all we need to figure out is what to make with these."
"Ooh! How about pretzels!" Nora suggested, "We could make like breakfast pretzels!"
"Nora, I don't think you can make pretzels out of those." Ren immediately shot her down with reality, "And even if you can, pretzels aren't typically what you eat during breakfast."
The mouse pouted. "Aw..."
Silence followed after that as Jaune tried to think of something to make with these. His options were very limited, and although he somewhat wished he could make pretzels out of some bread, garlic, and a jar of butter, Ren was right. Pretzels aren't something a normal person would eat during breakfast, unless it was the only type of food they had... or they were Nora.
"How about garlic bread?" Thomas eventually suggested.
Jaune raised an eyebrow at him. "Garlic bread?"
"Yes, garlic bread," Thomas repeated, "What, do you not know what garlic bread is?"
"No, I know what it is." Jaune said, then rubbed the back of his neck. "I just... don't know how to make it."
The others blinked. No one said a word for a moment as they all stared incredulously at the blonde, and Jaune couldn't stop himself from fidgeting, feeling that they were silently judging them under their stares..
Eventually, Thomas broke the silence. "Y-You—Really!?" He exclaimed. "You don't know how to make garlic bread!? You must be joking! You know how to cook basic meals yet you don't know how to make garlic bread? Making garlic bread is as easy as blinking, for gods' sake!"
Jaune averted his gaze in embarrassment, warmth creeping up his neck. The recipes he knew were the only ones his mother was able to teach him, right until books and dreaming of being a knight began to distract him more and more from cooking, along with being coerced to do his sisters' chores. He never had the free time to learn more recipes after that, which included garlic bread.
That, and his parents limited his use of the kitchen after almost setting fire to the house that one time. Fortunately, he learned his mistakes as time went on. Now, he always had a bucket of water on hand.
Eventually, he heard Thomas sigh. "Well, it looks like I'll just have to teach you then." He pushed his monocle up, "You're lucky I'm considerate enough to grace you with my extravagant cooking skills."
"Um... okay?" The blonde wanted to question him on his supposed 'extravagant cooking skills', considering he had never even seen the snake cook before, but chose to keep quiet.
Thomas nodded, and beckoned the blonde as Ren brought him and Nora to the kitchen. "Good, now onwards! We have no time to waste!"
Jaune nodded. He quickly gathered up the ingredients into his arms and followed after them, picking up the lantern on the way. Looks like he was going to learn a recipe he had never made before. Surely, nothing could go wrong with this, right? After all, Thomas said the recipe was as easy as blinking, and he had the snake to guide him along.
Really, what's the worst that could happen?
Jaune quickly stepped out into the dining room, his face and clothes covered in ashes and soot, his hair an absolutely disheveled mess.
A cloud of ash puffed out of his mouth. "Well, that could have gone a lot worse..."
The good thing was that the recipe was as easy as blinking. All he had to do was mix up some butter and garlic in a bowl, spread the mix on the cut sides of the bread, and put them in one of the ovens for a few minutes. Unfortunately, Thomas' recipe involved parsley, but he was sure he could leave that out. Hopefully Salem wouldn't mind that.
The bad thing... he didn't have a bucket of water on hand, and he may have added to much wood to the fire.
Thomas definitely wasn't happy about that.
"Who in the world messes up making something as simple and easy as garlic bread!?"
"Oh well," he looked down at the plate in his hands, which he managed to find a somewhat clean one after some searching, "At least the bread made it out safe."
Surprisingly, the bread managed to not get burned to a crisp during that whole fiasco. Instead, it somehow managed to acquire a rich, golden color that would make chefs fawn all over it for its near perfection. Ren had to stop Nora from just jumping at it and gobbling it all up.
How it managed to get so perfect, he had no idea. Heck, he probably didn't want to know. The incredulity of the answer would likely make him lose his mind and go crazy, like someone learning the answers to the entire world.
So he just slapped on some magic and left it as that.
As he neared the table, Jaune straightened himself up, fixing up his hair and dusting off the soot the best he could. Salem was still sitting where she had been, though he could already signs of her thinning patience with how she was tapping on her knee, a light scowl visible from the side of her face.
He gulped nervously. Please don't be angry, please don't be angry, please don't be angry...
"I-I have arrived with your breakfast, m-mistress..." He said, bowing his head down and putting on his servant persona once more.
Salem turned to face him, and he froze on the spot once her glare landed on him. "It took you long enough. And what happened to your face? You're filthy."
"U-Uh..." He wiped his cheek, noticing there was still some soot on his face. "I... had some trouble with the, um... the oven. Too much wood." He said, thinking it was better to just tell the truth. He didn't want to risk telling a lie, lest Salem managed to read through his words.
The witch held her glare on him for a moment longer. She seemingly searched for any form of deceit in his eyes and body language, before finally letting him go. "Hm. Let's hope there won't be any further trouble in the kitchen. Now, what have you prepared me?"
"Oh. Um, I have... prepared a plate of garlic bread for you, m-mistress." He said, gesturing the plate toward the witch.
Salem raised an eyebrow. "Garlic bread?"
He tried to not shake under her eyes. "Y-yes, mistress. I... wanted to make something less simple like an omelette, but there was a... shortage... of, um, ingredients in the pantry, so I had to settle with making garlic bread instead."
"Shortage?" Salem said quizzically as she tapped her chin, causing Jaune's heart to race like a frantic horse.
It was sort of the truth. There was a shortage of ingredients; he just… decided to withhold how big the shortage was, or who caused the shortage. It was technically the truth – just not the whole truth. He just hoped she would see it as such.
"Hmm… I was certain it was stocked..." Thankfully, it seemed Salem believed his words, "Hm, Tenebris must have found the pantry then. He has been wanting food a lot more lately."
"Y-Yes... Tenebris, right." Sure, she could conclude it as that. It definitely wasn't Nora who ate the entire pantry and he was trying to drive the blame away from her by outright keeping the entire truth from his mistress. Nope!
Salem sighed a moment later. "No matter. I will deal with him come due time. Now, my breakfast..."
Jaune took that as his cue and stepped forward, placing the plate upon on the table before her, followed by a clean enough knife and fork he managed to find as well. He then stepped away, fingers nervously fidgeting behind his back as he silently watched her.
Salem eyed the plate before her. She narrowed her eyes, and he could see her head faintly tilt to the side, akin to a curious dog looking at something that was otherworldly to them. Whether it was because she had never seen garlic bread before or because of suspicion, he couldn't tell. The latter, he couldn't blame her for. He'd be wary too, considering poisoning someone's meal was a possibility, especially when it was made by someone who was captured against their will.
And if it was the first reason, then Salem must not go outside very often.
Half-a-minute of careful scrutinizing later and she eventually picked up a slice, carrying it with delicate fingers. She tilted it around, eyeing it here and there as if to get a good, more thorough look at it. She even took a few whiffs, and licked it for good measure.
Jaune couldn't help but awkwardly glance away.
Once it seemed she was sure what she was about to eat wouldn't kill her, she brought the slice to her mouth and took a small bite. The blonde watched anxiously as she chewed and chewed with a speed rivaling that of a sloth, wishing she would chew faster and free him from the anxiety plaguing his entire body.
Who knew watching someone eat could cause so much apprehension?
The witch continued to chew for a moment more until she finally swallowed, her pale neck bobbing up and down as her bite made its way down to her stomach. Silence and worry filled the room, neither of them making a single move.
In spite of this though, Jaune's mind was a chaotic circus. A majority of it was worrying if the bread tasted good and was up to her standards, like a chef being judged by a critic. Other parts were already making elaborate escape plans in case failure was imminent and he needed to run the heck out of there. Dash through the halls, find a low enough window and jump down, and hopefully book it to the gate, and hope to the gods above Salem wouldn't catch him.
Agonizingly slow seconds ticked by, and eventually, Jaune's trepidation was quelled when Salem hummed, and slowly took another bite. And another. And another. She chewed and gulped down her meal much faster now, and it wasn't long until both slices were turned into nothing but crumbs on a plate.
Salem sat silent for a few seconds, then breathed out a surprised hum.
"I... take it you like it, mistress?" Jaune asked.
Salem fished out a white handkerchief from her robe pocket and dabbed her lips of crumbs. "It's... acceptable. Truly not the best meal I've had, but not too terrible either. You've definitely surpassed my expectations."
He couldn't help but let out ghost of a smile grace his lips. He did it! He cooked something Salem thought was okay and didn't die! He didn't even care that he almost burned the kitchen down or that Salem thought low of him at first. He was still alive! Yay!
"Th-Thank you, mistress." He voiced his gratitude of her letting him live, his glee showing through his voice.
The witch acknowledged his gratitude with a hum, and stood from her chair. "Now that breakfast is done, I have more work to assign to you."
His smile instantly faltered. "M-More work...?"
"Yes. You would be a fool to think your only job for today would be to make mediocre-tasting breakfast." Salem walked around her chair and over to him, "If you can still recall, there had been quite a mess left in the parlor whilst you had been trying to escape. Your next task is to simply clean it all up, and to spruce up the parlor itself while you're at it. I'm tired of seeing that room being so shabby."
Jaune tried not to let his shoulders droop. He had to clean all of that? He knew that cleaning up that mess blocking the main entrance was inevitable, but when that was coupled with cleaning the whole parlor? He doubted he could do all of that in a single day.
But he didn't really have much of a choice, did he? If he said no to her, then he was all but certain she would make sure he never said no ever again. He could still her claws digging into his neck...
Jaune eventually sighed. "Y-Yes, mistress."
"Good." She smiled, and began making her way to the doors, "I'll be going back to my work now. You have this day only to do your task."
A click reverberated as Salem retired from the room, heading to who knows where. He stared at the closed doors, and a moment later, the sounds of flapping wings emanated from behind him.
"Cleaning up the whole parlor," Ren said at his side and shook his head, "That's going to be tough."
"But hey, we'll help!" Nora exclaimed, "Salem's probably going to be away with work the whole day, so there's no risk of us being caught helping you! I mean, we will help him, right?"
Thomas sighed and pushed up his monocle. "In spite of you almost burning me to death, it's nigh impossible you could clean the entire parlor by yourself, not in a day at least. But with extra hands... er... well, more like talons, paws, wings and a tail, you could do it."
"I don't really have anything to do today." Ren said, which was much as a notion as any that he was going to help.
Jaune looked to the three of them and couldn't help but smile, a nice, warm feeling vanquishing the sadness growing in his chest. He didn't have a way to repay them, and they probably knew that, yet they still helped him nonetheless. He really needed to find some way to repay them some day. Gods know what he would be doing without them,
"Thanks, guys. I really appreciate it." But for now, he could only offer his gratitude.
"Yes, yes. Try not get too sappy now." Thomas said, "Now let's go. The sooner we can start, the sooner we can finish."
Minutes after wandering through the halls, the group finally arrived at the parlor. As expected, it was still looking like it hadn't been tended to for centuries, now with a whole new addition of the mirror-image of the aftermath of someone failing to squash a person with a giant book shelf.
Jaune put his hands on his hips and stared down at the pile of what had once been that shelf. "Is it just me or has that pile of broken wood gotten… bigger?"
"I believe it's just you." Thomas said.
Nora stroked the underside of her muzzle. "No… I think it did get bigger."
"No, it didn't, Nora." The snake looked at her unamusedly, "It's still the same size from yesterday."
"No, it did get bigger. See that bit of wood over there? That wasn't there before!"
Thomas followed where her paw pointed, and quickly glared back at her. "That barely counts for anything!"
"Yeah, well, at least technically the pile got bigger!"
Before the two could argue more about the laws and logic of a pile of wood getting bigger, Ren quickly put an end to their impending quarrel. "Enough, you two. We're here to help Jaune clean this up, not argue about if a pile of wood actually got bigger or not."
Nora and Thomas immediately kept their mouths shut after that, but not before sending glares at each other, lightning sparking between them. Ren could only sigh.
Turning his attention away from them, Jaune approached the pile. He took a knee and picked up a piece of wood. It was the size of his hand, and one end was sharp and pointy from being snapped in half. It almost resembled a stake, one which the main character of his books would use to slay a vampire, albeit less refined.
"Do you guys have any cleaning tools around here?" Jaune asked, tossing the wood back into the pile, "Like a broom or some sacks to put this stuff in?"
There was no way he could clean this all up by hand, even with the other three helping him. Brooms could help tremendously with getting the splinters and dust out of the parlor, and some sacks would be nice in order to put all these larger chunks of wood away, which could be used as fuel for fires. And if they're lucky, perhaps he could find some rags in order to get rid of all mold and gunk from the furniture.
Ren hummed and pondered for a moment. "Hmm… If I remember correctly, there is a broom closet somewhere in the back end of the manor."
"Oh yeah, the broom closet!" Nora exclaimed, "It has all sorts of stuff. Buckets, rags, sacks, cobwebs, dust. I think there was even a moldy block of cheese somewhere in there, but it disappeared one day. Totally have no idea what happened to it. Though I don't know about brooms though. I can't see any whenever I go through there. I could take us there, if you want!"
A broom closet, huh? Well, that just makes thing a little easier.
Jaune stood up and dusted his pants. "Well then, lead the way."
The group left the parlor and ventured on through the halls once more, with Nora spouting directions to Ren. Occasionally, she would make an error, which lead them to having to back track until they were on the right path once more.
A minute or two later, and they finally arrived to yet another door, shabby and decrepit as expected.
Jaune creaked the door ajar, peering an eye inside. As expected of an old closet with no light, it was dark, though it wasn't as dark as the kitchen or the pantry, fortunately. Just opening the door fully could likely give out enough light that they could search in.
Seeing that there wasn't anything that could jump at him, he pushed the door all the way and stepped inside, hearing the flapping of wings following him.
It was no surprise the closet was chock full of dust and all sorts of clutter. Webs occupied the corners, and his nose began itching the second he stepped in, making him cover his nose with an arm. The room was filled with small crates and all sorts of cleaning tools he could use, though heavily disorganized. There were old rags that could help in getting rid of the mold, and they managed to spot a couple of buckets and burlap sacks that could carry all that discarded wood, tossing them all into a neat pile by the door.
He couldn't see any brooms though. Darn.
"Do you guys see any brooms?" Jaune asked, checking behind an empty crate.
"None here."
"No."
"Nope!"
Jaune frowned. Really, no brooms? What's a broom closet without any brooms? This may as well be just a regular old closet conveniently filled with cleaning equipment.
The blonde sighed and got up to his feet after peering inside another crate, which was empty. If there really weren't any brooms in here, then it looks like they would just have to clean that pile up by hand, and use some extra rags in cleaning out the dust on the floor. He could go through other rooms and hope he would find a broom, but that would take even more time, and he would likely waste that time if there wasn't a single broom in this manor.
"Well, let's just go." He said and picked up the buckets and sacks they found, "We're just going to have clean the pile by hand. I don't want to waste more time searching for one broom."
The other three nodded, and Jaune began following them out of the room. He was about to take a step into the hall, when—
Crash!
A crash from further inside the closet got their attention, their heads snapping to where it came from. It wasn't a loud, head-on crash, but it sounded more like something heavy falling to the floor from a high shelf.
"What the heck was that?" Nora asked.
"I don't know." Jaune said. He looked to the mouse. "Are you sure this isn't someone else's room?"
"This room was always empty of anyone whenever I go through here." Nora said.
"Hmm…" He stroked his chin, narrowing his eyes as he peered at where the sound likely came from, "Tenebris can't go invisible or change size, right?"
Nora raised an eyebrow at his sudden question. "Um… no…? At least I don't think he can. Why?"
The blonde placed the buckets and sacks down on the floor and took a step towards the source of the sound. Whether they were going to voice their protests or not, he didn't know. He stepped around a couple of chests, squeezing through some crates. He knew the first rule whenever you hear a weird, sudden noise is to simply not go to where that noise was, at least if you don't have a way to defend yourself.
But so far, the only ones with no qualms on killing him in this manor were Tenebris and Salem, the latter only if he managed to anger her. And this closet was way too small for that wolf monster to fit in, let alone hide completely out of sight.
He could only hope Nora's answer was true.
After stepping over some more unimportant stuff, Jaune finally managed to get to where the source of the sound was…
…Only to find absolutely nothing. His eyes peered around. He couldn't see anything out of place, anything that stood out from the mess of equipment and junk – just a bunch more empty crates, webs and dust bunnies.
He let out a short hum, feeling somewhat relieved that Tenebris hadn't jumped out from some pile of junk and chomped his entire head off. Yet again, he lived to see another day.
Concluding it was nothing after all, he began making his way back to the others when—
Crash!
Jaune yelped as he spun around, flailing his arms about in a weak show of defending himself. Okay, scratch his conclusion. That sounded really close. Something was definitely in here!
After a moment more, the blonde's flailing gradually slowed down. He panted, and his shaky eyes peered about at the shadows, searching for anything that could jump at him. But when he found nothing but the sounds of his own heavy breathing, his arms dropped to his sides.
Huh, nothing… again…
"Jaune, are you okay in there?"
The blonde blinked back to reality at sound of Ren's voice. "Uh… I'm fine, just—huh?"
When he took a step, something pressed against the bottom of his shoe. He looked down with furrowed eyebrows, wondering what that was, only to raise them once more in surprise.
A broom!
He grinned at the sight and picked it up. Huh, how convenient was that? A broom suddenly at his feet, and in good condition too! It was as if the gods heard his words and decided to finally give him a break this one time.
Thank you, gods!
Remembering he left the owl with half an answer, he said back. "I'm fine! I just managed to find a broom!"
"How great. Can we go now?" Thomas said, followed by a sneeze, "This dust is absolutely violating my nostrils!"
Hearing that, Jaune began making his way back to the others, only to stop at his step when he felt a vibration in his hands.
Huh? He looked down at the broom, furrowing his eyebrows. It stayed still for a second, only to vibrate and shake once more and with even more intensity.
He blinked. "Uh—WAH!"
His shoulders were almost pulled out of their sockets as the broom suddenly took flight and pulled him along, crashing through the numerous crates and out the broom closet.
Ren and the others managed to dodge the speeding blonde and broom in time. They approached and quickly peered their heads out of the door, and were able to catch a split-second glimpse of a white, black and gold blur darting past a corner. High-pitched screams echoed down the hall, fading until they were too far to hear.
"Um… was that a flying broom?" Nora asked.
Thomas nodded, staring wide-eyed down the hall. "I believe so…"
"Come on, guys." Ren said and began flying after the blonde, "We have to catch them before something bad happens to Jaune."
Girlish screams of utter fear echoed and bounced off the walls as the somehow flying broom continued to drag Jaune through the many halls. Dust and wind whizzed past and grazed his face, his mop of blonde hair flapped about and fluttered from the winds he was blazing through, and his legs felt more like wet pasta at this point.
Not to mention the sick feeling constantly rising and urging to break free through his mouth. He tried his best to keep what little he ate in between girlish screams.
The broom continued to drag him through the air, flying around corners and slapping his body around like a ragdoll, zero care for his well-being. All the while, Jaune tried his best to keep his grip on the broom, for fear he might coat the floors with his own blood.
He didn't know how long it took, too busy screaming his lungs out to know, but eventually the fly-away broom managed to fly its way to the parlor. It stopped its speedy flight to a halt almost instantly, and once more he felt his shoulders nearly get pulled out of their sockets. He was now left dangling high up in the air, gripping the broom with all the strength he had.
He looked down at the floor below him. Oh gods, that was long way down. From here, he was guaranteed to break another ankle, perhaps even a whole leg yet again.
Taking a guess on what the broom was trying to do, he looked up at it. "P-Please don't drop me…" He said, hoping it could understand him. It was somehow able to fly, so surely it was sentient too, right?
His plead for mercy was unfortunately met with the broom jolting downward, which caused him to yelp and almost lose his grip. His heart pounded and sweat ran down his head, and oh gods, he was going to hurl any moment now.
If he ever got out of this, he was never trusting another broom ever again.
The familiar squeaks of a certain mouse sounded from where he had come from, and relief waved through as Ren and the other arrived to the scene, the owl panting from chasing him down.
"Guys, help!" He called. The strength in his fingers was waning, his hands slowly slipping off the handle of the broom.
"Don't worry, Jaune! Just hold on!" Nora said, then pointed a finger at the broom, "Hey, broom! I don't know what you've got with Jaune here, but if you put don't put him down now, I swear on my mouse life that I will nibble you to splinters!"
Her order was met with another down jolt. His fingers continued to slip.
"Okay, aggressive tactics failed. I'm going to try a calmer approach." The mouse inhaled and let out a smooth breath. "Hey, broom. Would you be a nice piece of cleaning equipment and kindly put down our friend? You see, we kind of don't want him to get hurt. So if you can, that'd be really nice of you."
The broom stayed motionless for a moment. Jaune began to think her calmer approach worked, only to feel his stomach drop again when the broom nearly drop him once more.
Keep it in, Jaune. Keep it in.
Nora let out a huff of defeat. "Well, I'm out of ideas."
"Why don't we just tackle the broom?" Thomas' question was immediately met with another jolt, "Okay, fair point."
The owl sighed. "Look, broom, whoever you are." Ren started calmly, "I don't know what Jaune did to make you so angry, but whatever it was, I'm sure he didn't mean it. From the short time I've known him, I'm certain he wouldn't hurt an ant even if he was paid all of the gold on Remnant. Unless of course that ant was secretly evil, then he'd make an exception. But you're no evil ant, so I'm sure that Jaune didn't mean to do whatever he did to you. So please… put him down."
The parlor went silent. Tension waved throughout the occupants. Ren and the other two watched the broom with anxiety laced in their eyes, while Jaune simply remained wordless, his arms shaking as he tried to keep himself from falling and breaking a leg.
Minutes, which felt more like hours to everyone, passed, and slowly but surely, the broom descended back down to the ground. Ren, Nora and Thomas waited and watched carefully, and it wasn't until Jaune's feet met the ground that they immediately flew over to check on him.
"Are you okay?" Ren asked.
The blonde caught his breath, bent over with his hands on his knees. "Y-Yeah… I'm fine… A little sick in the stomach, but I'm fine nonetheless."
"Well, isn't that dandy?" Thomas asked, almost no care in his voice. "So, what do we do about the broom?"
Jaune looked up from his panting. The broom that had caused him fear and sick stomachs for the past few minutes stood by the group idly. It floated upright just a few inches above the ground. It showed no emotion, being a broom, but Jaune could nonetheless feel a glare piercing his eyes.
"Wh-Who are you?" Jaune asked, taking a wild guess that if the broom was sentient, then it could probably talk as well. Dumb logic, but it couldn't hurt to try.
His guess was unfortunately proven wrong when the broom simply floated there, wordless. The only response he got was a short rustle of its bristles and nothing more. He guessed that was its way of talking, though he had no knowledge on broom body language.
Heck, he didn't even know if broom body language was an actual thing.
Thomas hummed conclusively. "Well, at least we now know it can't talk."
"It can understand us, at least." Ren added, then looked back to the broom, "So, would you mind telling—I mean, showing us why you decided to fly away and drag Jaune through the halls?"
The owl's statement was proven correct when the broom rustled its bristles with more intensity this time, then turned around. Not seeing what the broom was pointing to at first, they all raised their eyebrows, but after closer scrutiny, they managed to spot a small blot of black on its handle. It was a bit smudged, but even closer scrutiny made it out to be the faint shape of a shoe.
"Wait, you're angry because I stepped on you?" Jaune asked, and was met with another rustle of bristles. "Okay, well, I'm sorry for stepping on you. It was an accident. I mean, I didn't see you and… I think you kind of rolled under my foot, so technically, you let me step on you—Ow!" He yelped when the broom struck its handle on his shoulder. "Okay, okay! All my fault! You had nothing to do with it, all me!"
"Okay, that's good." Ren turned to the broom, "Though I do think you also owe him an apology for flying him through the manor."
"And for nearly making me hurl." The blonde added. He could still feel a bit of a rumble in his stomach.
The broom frowned featurelessly, turning around away from them. It had no arms, but he could see it crossing them as it rustled its bristles in an 'I don't want to!' kind of way.
Ren's eyes half-lidded, frustration laced in the amber. "Apologize."
Another rustle, and it still didn't turn around.
The owl's annoyed eyes turned into a glare, and Jaune faintly shuddered at the sight. "Do it..."
The broom hovered motionlessly for a moment, seemingly wanting to disobey once more, but with glare being sent at it, it eventually let up. It sighed without actually sighing and finally turned around to face Jaune. The rustle it made was quick, and before he knew it, it turned its back on him once again.
Jaune blinked. "Um…" The blonde looked off to the side, then back. "I have no idea what you were trying to say, but I'll take it as an apology."
Rustle. Rustle.
Again, he had no idea what it just said.
"Now that that whole fiasco is over." Thomas adjusted his monocle, "Time to clean. No more wasting time."
"But wait, we don't even know its name yet!" Nora exclaimed, earning an exasperated groan from the snake. If he had something to say back to the mouse, he kept it to himself and grumbled instead.
"Well, it can't talk, so it can't even tell us its name if it had one." Ren looked to the broom, "Do you even have a name?"
The broom seemingly pondered on the question, and after a moment, it shook itself from side to side, wordlessly saying 'No'.
Nora gasped dramatically, placing her paws to her chest. Tears welled up in her eyes. "Oh my gosh, that's so sad! Stuck in a dark broom closet for who knows how long and you have no name? That's even more sad than that one play Ren and I watched." She looked down at the owl, "Can we give it a name, Ren? Please? Pretty please?"
"I don't see why not."
"Yes!" Nora was practically bouncing where she sat. "Oh, how about Broomy!"
"That's a terrible name!" Thomas exclaimed. "Constantacius sounds miles better."
Nora looked down at the snake with a feather of frustration in her eyes. She grumbled and crossed her paws. "And you're telling me mine's terrible…"
"How about Dusty?" Jaune suggested. His answer was a met with hard smack on the shoulder. "Ow! Okay, bad name!"
"Hmm…" Ren hummed, narrowing his eyes in thought. His eyes peered down at the lower half of the broom, and after a moment, an idea seemingly popped into his head. "Bristle. How about Bristle? Does it sound good to you?"
Jaune watched as the broom hunched over, as if contemplating on the suggestion. After a few seconds, it perked up and began hopping in the air, a happy sounding rustle of its bristles.
Looks like it liked the name.
"Well, Bristle it is!" Nora declared. "Now that that's over, want to help us clean up the parlor? We're going to need some more help if we want this parlor spick and span, and you'd be a big help!"
Bristle stared at the three animals for a moment, then turned to Jaune, then back, then back to Jaune. It seemingly looked down, and Jaune followed its eyeless look down to his hands. He looked back up at the broom, and realized why it was fixated on his hands.
He was the only one capable of handling Bristle, and he wasn't exactly on good terms with the sentient broom.
The blonde raised his hands up. "I promise I won't hurt you or do anything weird, Arc's promise."
Bristle silently stared at him for a few, yet long seconds, before seemingly sighing in defeat. It turned to the others and nodded its handle, followed by some incomprehensible rustling.
"I'll take that as a 'yes'." Thomas said.
Ren turned around and began flying back to once they came, Nora and Thomas ever so joining him. "Well, we're going to get the buckets and sacks. We'll get started once were back."
Jaune watched the animals fly away, soaring past a corner and finally out of the parlor, which left him and Bristle all alone.
He turned to the broom, who faced him as well. It had no eyes, yet he could still feel the glare it was sending him, piercing splinters into his own pair of eyes.
"You're going to be a pain to deal with, aren't you?" Smack. "Ow! Yeah… I thought as much."
Jaune and Bristle swept the last of the splinters and dust out of the now clear doorway, specks and motes gathering up in the air before flying away in the wind, never to be seen again. It had been hours since the group had started cleaning up the parlor, and he must say, it was looked pretty great. The dust that had encompassed everything was no more, picked up by the wind and set free to the outside world. The numerous mold and mildew on the furniture were now scrubbed off by the rags they found, and the big pile of broken wood that had once blocked the entrance was now put into sacks and buckets, stored away to be used as fuel for fires.
Looking around the room, Jaune smiled. It was looking more like an actual parlor guests and visitors would prefer to stay in now instead of a clear sign of abandonment and impending danger.
"And all of it was done before sun fully set." He uttered and glanced back at the orange hue of the cloudy sky, the sun only halfway down the horizon line.
There was a rustle of bristles beside him, quickly followed by yet another smack to his shoulder. He yelped in pain and clasped his pained shoulder, glaring at the broom that hovered before him.
Oh yeah, Bristle. Saying he had trouble cleaning with the darn broom would be an understatement. If he had to count on his fingers how many times his shoulder was smacked and struck by the broom, he would need at least four more hands. There was no doubt a bruise was going to form, if not already formed.
At least it didn't hit him where it hurts the most, otherwise he would have to say goodbye any future children he was unlikely to have.
He heard the flapping of wings nearby, and turned to see Ren and the others flying in from one of the hallways. "We put the last of the wood and cleaning supplies back in the broom closet." The owl said, "If you don't mind, we're going to go hit the hay. We're a bit tired." He emphasized this by nodding toward the other two, Nora snoring away atop his head while Thomas simply had an exhausted look on his face, too tired to even speak.
"Oh, okay. I'll see you tomorrow, I guess."
The blonde quickly thanked him for their help, earning a nod of acknowledgement from the owl. He watched as he turned and left the parlor, the flaps of his wings fading until it was no more. Bristle also left too, but not before smacking him once more on the shoulder and rustling its bristles menacingly like a growling dog. He could only do as much as glare at it as it disappeared into a hallway, to where, he didn't know.
He now stood alone in the parlor, silence being his only companion in the room. Noticing the quiet, he sighed. "I guess I should go to sleep as well. It's been a long day." He said, wincing when he tried to roll his poor shoulder.
Yup, definitely going to bruise.
He let out a bellowing yawn and turned to the doors. Grabbing them by their sides, he had intent on closing them, but something in the distance caught his eye. Something… familiar…
He brought his eyes up, and it was then he got a clear of his object of sudden interest. The gate. The metallic, black-colored gate that had once struck apprehension and fear in him when he had first arrived here around a day ago. With the thickly dense darkness now absent, the gate seemed so near. So close. So… reachable, as if it would take only mere seconds of running before he could feel the old metal poles in his hands. The familiar screeching that showed its age, as he slowly pulled the gates opened, and—
"Don't even think about it."
The voice pierced through the silence like a knife against paper, and Jaune quickly turned around to see Salem standing by across the parlor. Her appearance was the same as before with her dark robe and pale skin, but with quick scrutiny, he could see some distinct black and red blots where her pale skin was shown, as if dyed water had splashed onto her. What those blots actually were was a mystery to him.
His eyes went wide. "I… uh—"
"You read like an open book, Mr. Arc." She said, her voice calm as ever, "So close… so near… as if you could simply reach it if you just held out your hand." Her eyes narrowed to a glare. "What I said wasn't a lie, Mr. Arc. I will know, and there will be consequences if you do so."
His body stood frozen under her glare, and he tried to keep himself from shaking in fear. It was hard to when those dark, menacing eyes seemingly stared into his very soul.
"So, if you prefer to continue walking on this godforsaken, cruel world," She began walking away, "I suggest you close those doors, and never think of it ever again."
The blonde gulped and meekly nodded, watching the witch as she left the parlor. It was only a minute after she was gone did he calm down, sighing in relief and wiping off the sweat that had accumulated on his head. His heart pumped loudly in his ears, and it wasn't of the good kind.
Her words echoed in his mind. How she knew what his mind had drifted to was beyond him. Perhaps the thought of escape was the only association with that gate? Or perhaps… she was more powerful than he had perceived her to be? It was a sea of possibilities; the reason could be anything, really. He just wished it wasn't the latter.
And his mind didn't dare to ponder on the supposed 'consequences'. Nightmares were the last thing he wanted right now.
He let out a sigh and turned around, gripping the doors by their sides. He was tired, and any semblance of joy and accomplishment was now long gone. All he wanted now was some shut-eye.
The last thing he saw before the doors closed was the metal gate at the end of the path.