Merry Christmas, dear readers! Or whatever winter holiday you choose to celebrate, I don't judge.
Not much has changed on my front; Bray Wyatt continues to be the best part of WWE programming, the new Star Wars was decent, and D&D is fun as all hell. If nothing else, Critics United is getting uppity on RWBY Watches again, which is a real pain in the side. I swear, those guys must have nothing better to do with their time. The whole intimidation bit didn't work last time, it sure as hell won't work this time.
Ah well, let's get on with it, shall we?
This chapter, we wrap up the Jaunedice mini-arc, the Wolves take the big plunge, and Jaune is planning something.
Wolves of Remnant
Chapter 8
After nearly collapsing in the Emerald Forest, Professor Goodwitch had the entirety of Team JNPR escort Jaune to Beacon's infirmary, where he was then subjected to the most comprehensive check-up imaginable: MRI, CT scan, blood work, x-rays, urine sample. Honestly, he thought it was a bit overboard. Sure, the teeth thing was weird, but he could live them. It's not like they hurt anymore or anything. At worst, he felt physically exhausted, and that could be rectified by a decent meal and a good night's rest.
But then, he remembered who he was dealing with. Dr. Emily Grey, star pupil of Beacon's last chief physician, Nurse Tsune. And dear God, the horror stories he had heard about Tsune alone.
The infirmary itself was more like a small hospital wing than any nurse's office Jaune had been in, being made up of multiple rooms large enough for a full team, a fully equipped diagnostic ward, and an emergency operating theater. Jaune was laid back on one of the beds, bereft of his armor and hooked up to a monitor. Thankfully, Dr. Grey had seen fit to skip the I.V. drip and a catheter.
"So, what's the damage, Doctor?" Jaune asked hesitantly.
"Mr. Arc, you are, without doubt, the most fascinating patient I have ever had in my tenure at Beacon." The doctor said enthusiastically as she walked back into the room. She was an attractive woman, wearing a purple-trimmed lab coat over a lilac business shirt and black slacks, purple eyes behind smart glasses, and her long black hair tied up in a pony tail. "But to answer your question, nothing permanent. Obvious aside, of course."
"Yeah, speaking of which…"
"How in the hell did these even happen?" Nora asked bluntly, looking at pictures Dr. Grey had taken of Jaune's new fangs.
"Yeah, that." Jaune chuckled.
"Well, now, that is what makes this so much fun." Dr. Grey said cheerily, "I don't know!"
"What do you mean 'you don't know'?" Pyrrha asked, irritated.
"Perhaps some visual aides may help." Dr. Grey said, pulling out an x-ray, "This, Mr. Arc, is a copy of your last dental x-ray, dated about eight months ago. As you can see, there are no irregularities. Just a nice, healthy set of 32 pearly whites, without so much as a hint of a cavity. Good job, by the way." Jaune smiled, remembering that his dentist had said much the same at the time. "And this," she put up a new x-ray. "Is the one that I took just now. As you can see, your canine teeth have deviated from the human standard, and elongated to a length normally seen in large dogs and Faunus. Why this has happened, I have no God damned idea!"
Pyrrha sighed in exasperation. Jaune patted her on the back, happy for her concern.
"There's no point worrying about it too much, Pyr." Jaune assured her before turning back to the doctor. "So, what does this mean in the long term, Doc?"
"Honestly, it's hard to say." The normally cheerful physician said in a serious tone, "From what I can tell, your dentistry has completely altered itself to compensate for these new growths, so you shouldn't have any trouble eating, at the very least. I would suggest keeping the information compartmented though."
"So it'll be a secret between us, yourself, and Team RWBY." Jaune said, nodding his head. It made sense to him; he knew his team could keep a secret, Grey was bound by patient confidentiality laws, and he trusted Ruby and Yang enough. Blake seemed somewhat indifferent, making Weiss the hard sell on the whole thing. It was not a conversation he was looking forward to.
"If no one else has any questions, you are free to go, Mr. Arc. However, I would like to set up a few follow-ups, just to be safe. How does about this time next month sound?"
"Wilco, ma'am." Jaune said as he freed himself of the monitor.
After the team had left, she quickly retreated to her office and locked the door behind her. She placed the folder containing Jaune's test result on the desk, sat down and took out a recording device. Placing it on the table, she leant back in her chair and began to speak seriously.
"Medical diary of Dr. Emily Grey, entry 00021. Beginning new case file. Subject: Jaune Arc. Greetings. It has been some time since we've done this, hasn't it. I thought I had seen it all under Lady Tsune, but the young Arc boy has proven me wrong.
"Context: Today, 12 November, 2019, a young human boy, one Jaune Arc, 17, was brought to my infirmary with minor bruising in multiple places and a somewhat depleted Aura. At first, I thought of turning him away and telling him to suck it up and let his Aura do it's job, but a young lady I assume to be his partner informed me of something wrong with his teeth. Taking a look, I soon saw what the young woman meant. Mr. Arc's teeth had supposedly grown beyond human standards while he was on a field trip in the Forever Fall forest. Curious, I subjected the boy to my standard test battery and the results are simply shocking.
"Details: MRI and CT scans show what appear to be the development of currently unknown bodies within Mr. Arc in several places, as well as an increase in the density of the subject's bones. Additionally, an x-ray showed changes in his rib cage; it appears that the ribs are growing larger, closer together. Finally, blood tests show the presence of unknown cells in his blood stream.
"Frankly, I am at a loss for an explanation. His urine sample came back normal, so drugs are ruled out, unless this is some new cocktail that doesn't show up on tests. However, what I have seen of the subject's character dissuades me from this line of thought. I have, of course, told the subject none of this and will be required to inform Headmaster Ozpin of these developments. As a precaution, I have scheduled multiple follow-ups with the subject in order to monitor his progress. Further details to follow in future entries." She paused as her stomach growled. Her tone changed back to scary cheery. "In other news, I'm hungry. End log."
XX
On the edge of Segmentum Pacificus, within the bowels of his Great Ship, Ragnar Blackmane observed the preparations for the next Warp jump. Beside him, preforming a ritual prayer to the God-Emperor was a young man around the age of thirty. He had black hair cut in a military style, a strip of fine cloth wrapped around his forehead, and wore robes he had only seen in one place in the entire Imperium.
"Do you think you can make it?" he asked the young man as he finished his personal ritual.
He smiled and looked up at Ragnar with blue eyes. "Lord Ragnar, your doubt wounds me. And after all my years of service." He joked.
Ragnar chuckled. "There is no doubting your skills, my friend, merely the task set before you."
Ragnar was an odd wolf amongst his Wolf Lord brethren. Not only was he the youngest Wolf Lord ever elected, he was- as far as he knew- also the only one of the current Lords to ever serve in the Wolfblade, a unique unit of Space Wolves that served as bodyguards and agents for the Navigators of House Belisarius, The Routs' most ancient allies, thus making him rather popular among the Chapter's Navigators. As a matter of fact, the young man standing before him, Julian Belisarius, was a descendent of his first ever charge as a Wolfblade; Gabriella Belisarius, a talented young Navigator whose skills seemed to have passed down to her great-nephew.
"So, I ask you again: do you think you can make it?"
Julian closed his eyes and a light shone from beneath the headband he wore. Ragnar knew he was gazing into the Warp with his Navigator sight, having seen it before many times.
Julian sighed. "The trail is bright and clear, even among the tempest of the Empyrean. I believe being so close to Holy Terra, and therefore the light of the Astronomican, helps. What concerns me is that I cannot see the end. We may very well be headed deep into uncharted territory, Lord Ragnar."
"Well, at the very least, you will be in the safest part of the ship while you lead us there." Ragnar shrugged.
*All ships, prepare for Warp jump. May the Allfather guide us.*
XX
A few hours later, Jaune sat on his bed in his dorm, doodling in his dream journal. Pyrrha had insisted that he take it easy the rest of the day, and- after a lengthy process of disguising herself- had left with Ren and Nora to get a pizza down in Vale. He understood Pyrrha's concern, and appreciated it, but still felt like she was going a bit too far at this point. He was perfectly capable of independent movement, albeit with something of a limp.
A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts. He pressed a button on his scroll.
"It's open!" he yelled. Ruby walked in, followed hesitantly by Weiss.
"Hey, Jaune." Ruby said, "How're you doing?"
"On the mend." Jaune shrugged. "Dr. Grey said there wasn't any major damage, so I've been working my Aura to focus on the places that hurt the worst."
"And, what about your, uh," she pointed to her teeth.
"Even she doesn't know what the hell is up there." Jaune said. From the corner of his eye, he saw Weiss placing herself strategically behind Ruby. "But if you want to hear it from me, there is not a single trace of Faunus heritage in my family."
Weiss visibly relaxed at that and spoke for the first time. "But that still leaves several questions. Namely, what, how, and why?"
"I have a theory abut that, actually." Ruby said with a smug smile.
"Ruby, no."
"What theory is that?" Jaune asked, genuinely interested.
"Jaune, don't encourage her." Weiss warned.
"Now, I want you to follow me on this." Ruby started.
"Oh, God, here we go." Weiss pinched the bridge of her nose.
"Mutation." Ruby said like that crazy-haired Ancient Aliens meme guy.
"For God's sake." Weiss groaned, "Ruby, for the last time, this is not one of your insipid X-Ray and Vav comics."
"Weiss, when you've eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however unlikely, must be the truth."
"Actually, it's not entirely impossible." Jaune said, Making both girls round on him, Ruby with a look of triumph, Weiss with one of utter disbelief. "Just really, really, really improbable. But how about we leave that to the people who know what they're doing, yeah?"
"Fine." Ruby submitted.
"Hmph. Thank you for being a fellow voice of reason, Jaune." Weiss said, preening.
"Watch it, Ice Queen, you're on thin ice as it is."
"What'd I do?"
"X-Ray and Vav is awesome, that's what you did." Jaune said with a grin.
Weiss scoffed and rolled her eyes while Ruby laughed at her. "Changing the subject, how did you know Cardin's weapon could do that? The collapsing bit."
"Honestly, I found the switch for it on accident. Glad I did though; something about dual-wielding felt kinda right."
"You did look more comfortable with it than you do with your sword and shield." Weiss agreed. "And I'll admit that your technique seemed to improve quite a bit."
"I'll say!" Ruby gushed, "That Beowolf didn't know what hit it! Swish! Slash! Wham!"
"Oh! That reminds me!" Jaune said, sifting through his binder after pulling it from his backpack. "I have something I would like to ask both of your help with." He pulled out a paper and handed it to the girls. Ruby's eyes widened as she took the paper from Weiss' hands and poured over it.
"Jaune, you are my favorite person in the world right now." Ruby said, her eyes shining.
"No problem." Jaune chuckled, "I was also hoping you could help me infuse that and Crocea Mors with ice Dust?" he said toward Weiss.
Weiss sighed, pulled out a handkerchief, wiped some of the drool from Ruby's mouth and took the plans from her. "Let me see those."
XX
"Are you sure about this Nora? I mean, we didn't even ask him if he would like it." Pyrrha asked her friend nervously.
Nora groaned as she carried the pizza boxes down the hallway. "Yes, Pyrrha, for the gazillionth time, I am sure."
"It's only the third time." Ren corrected.
"Details. Look, Pyrrha, first off, when the cafeteria serves pizza, it only ever serves pepperoni pizza, and Jaune usually downs 2-and-a-half to 3 slices of that every time. Secondly, it is a known fact that the only people who don't like stuffed crust pizza are the ones who haven't tried it yet."
"This is true." Ren nodded.
"Ergo, Jaune is going to love that we brought him stuffed crust pepperoni pizza."
"I still think we should have gotten him that pineapple and ham one." Pyrrha said. 'We could have shared it.' she thought.
Without missing a beat, Nora handed the pizza to Ren, wrapped an arm around Pyrrha's shoulders and sighed. "Pyrrha, if you ever listen to anything I say, please, let it be that ham and pineapple pizza is complete and utter heresy."
"Isn't that a little extre- "
"Say it!"
"I-it's heresy!"
"Good." Nora smiled, taking the pizza back from Ren. As they approached their dorm, the door opened and Ruby and Weiss walked out.
"Alright, Jaune, gimme a day or so with these and I'll have a list of necessary materials ready." Ruby said.
"And I'll figure out the adjustments we'll need to make to your sword." Weiss said.
"But don't think for a second that I'll be doing this for you. You will be making it."
"Of course, Rubes. Thank you both." Jaune said.
"What was that about, Jaune-Jaune?" Nora asked as Ruby and Weiss entered their own dorm room.
"Let's just say that today's little incident gave me some ideas for my equipment." Jaune said with a grin. "So, what kind of pie did you guys get?"
"Stuffed crust pepperoni." Pyrrha said as they entered the dorm room.
"Yes! My favorite!" he cheered, "I don't know that I could forgive you guys if you got that ham and pineapple heresy. Not even you, Pyr."
The entire night, Pyrrha tried to not look at Nora's shit-eating grin.
Well, well, I wonder what Jaune has in the works? Maybe a certain weapon? A more savage one, perhaps? Only time will tell.
I actually took time off from RWBY Watches so I could put this out in time for Christmas, but it went faster than I expected once the juices started flowing. If you guys don't know who this Dr. Grey chick is, watch some RvB for God's sake. She's only one of the best characters from seasons 12 and 13, plus she's voiced by Arryn Zech, aka, Blake.
Well, I think I've earned my long winter's rest. May the Man-Emperor be with you all this holiday season, and I will catch you later.