If you haven't seen Ready or Not, then I seriously recommend it – it was pretty damn awesome! I went into it expecting a fairly typical horror comedy movie and in some ways, it is, but it's just so unapologetically over the top for its genre that it was thoroughly enjoyable. Most of the characters had just enough substance to them that it really piqued my curiosity in regards to the specifics of their pasts and while the rest weren't exactly the most fleshed out, the roles they played out were played so well that they were still pretty funny to watch.
And of course, that's to say nothing of the actual action within the movie. And boy, let me tell you, the poor bride really went through a lot in this movie, ha ha. In immediate hindsight, it really makes me wonder just how/why the family even lasted as long as they did, but eh, it is what it is. Doesn't make the bride's ordeal any less horrifying/awesome to watch.
Now then, other than that, how are things, you guys? Hope all is fairly well in your lives. To those of you in school, hope classes go well. To those of you that work, may your jobs not heap too much stress on you. With how hot it is recently in my part of the world, I can only imagine how much more unbearable the heat and mugginess must be in other parts of the world for you all, especially if you're going to school/work under such conditions, to say nothing further of whatever stressors there may be there. Stay cool and safe out there!
Now then, to actually address some story related matters. Firstly, to those of you who don't have much interest in Hazel and by extension the rest of the antagonists, I'm actually in agreement with you – they all have semi-unique designs, but beyond that aren't exactly the most fleshed out characters in RWBY (not that the main characters are that much better either, in my personal opinion). But that said, it's naturally the goal of any fanfic writer to put their own spin on the characters we choose to have in our stories, so hopefully what I have planned for Hazel and the others in this fic will be enough to make them appealing to you in one form or another.
Secondly, I'm also well aware of Hazel's hypocrisy and it's a real dark mark against him in canon material since so far, aside from his quiet moments of honor, it's his primary personality trait. But like stated above, I aim to try and flesh him out a bit in order to explain his hypocrisy a bit better. By no means am I trying to justify or even excuse his moral myopia, but I do aim to at least make him fleshed out enough that you guys will hopefully look at him and go 'okay, I can roll with this much.'
Here's to hoping I succeed!
Chapter 22
Jaune and his team awoke early the next morning and immediately set out to begin their mission in earnest.
The blond teen's immediate desire had been to go out and try tracking down the Grimm, seeing as he highly doubted they'd be intelligent enough to effectively cover whatever tracks they'd undoubtedly left behind. However, doing that would deprive Sol of one defender and that would be horribly unfair to his team to have them focus on keeping the town safe while he went out hunting.
Besides, just because their mission was to deal with the Grimm should it come down to it, the goal was still to ultimately ensure Sol's safety anyways. In which case, it would be better to first focus on securing the town.
As Dean had told them last night, the townsfolk had done their part in repairing the damage done by the Grimm, but as JNPR set out and took a closer look at said repair jobs, they could tell said repairs weren't exactly the best. Jaune didn't doubt the townspeople's skills at manual labor, but he suspected they were much more rattled by the Grimms' attacks than they realized, easily missing what should've otherwise been obvious mistakes in their work.
Right then, so they had their first task of the day. "Nora, Ren, can I leave you to fix up the repairs on this side of the town?" Jaune spoke. "Pyrrha and I can take the others."
Ren nodded. "Of course. But first, we should all go together to get the tools and materials needed."
Jaune agreed to this and the four of them went to do just that, heading for the barns on the town's edge and, after speaking to the owners who were already up and at it, acquired the materials they needed.
After doing so, Jaune directed Nora and Ren to the spots he particularly wanted them to focus on while then motioning to where he and Pyrrha would be working for now.
"Afterwards, we'll go patrol the paths leading to and from Sol," Jaune explained. "When we do, make a map and mark any and all landmarks – trees that are particularly bigger or smaller than the others around it, any streams or unusual formations… and especially any and all tracks, if you can spot any. The Grimm may not exactly be using the roads to head to the town, but we can't rule it out for now."
Giving out his orders, they all went to work.
And so, their day was off to quite the busy start.
Having been out on the frontier by himself for quite some time, Jaune was more than used to such manual labor, but a glance to Pyrrha as she worked alongside him told him that she wasn't.
To be expected; during their long talk on the night of the dance, she'd revealed to him that all she really did while growing up was train, so she was lacking quite a bit when it came to other things. Being out here on the frontier was one such thing that she wasn't exactly used to.
But as he showed her how to properly repair the broken wooden fences and patch up busted walls, she quickly caught on and they started making progress.
They'd started this task at the crack of dawn, but before any of them knew it, hours went by and now it was closer to noon than it was to the morning.
Even though it was just as cloudy and cool as it was yesterday, the constant moving and lifting they were doing was resulting in a nice little sweat being worked up, more for Pyrrha than him, but still.
"Thank you for your work," spoke the kind lady whose barn wall they were fixing up right now. She was a moose Faunus who lived here with her husband and three kids, all of whom were currently tending to the fields.
"You're welcome," Pyrrha replied, giving the lady the same bright and cheery smile she most likely gives all the time to interviewers. "We're glad to just be able to help."
The lady, Arnett, was in quite the chipper mood. "I know the mayor probably told you already, but it really means more than we can say to have you respond to our request. We'd thought that, well, it would ultimately be up to ourselves to try dealing with the problem."
At that, Pyrrha paused in her lifting of a sheet of metal to look at Arnett in concern. As she was using her semblance to lift and hold the metal sheet in place for Jaune to pound into place, it sort of just hovered motionlessly in place.
"What exactly do you mean?" Pyrrha asked, somewhat worried by those words. "Is it… is it common for you all having to defend yourselves like this?"
Though Jaune simply grabbed the floating metal sheet to hammer into place, he was also listening keenly to their conversation, a silent grimace on his face.
It was another one of those things that people knew on an intellectual level, but to have it directly explained to you by someone who lives it, it can be a real mood-crusher.
It's made abundantly clear at classes in Beacon and the other academies that living outside the kingdoms is a huge gamble for people. Certainly, they'll have more immediate access to certain resources and can therefore become very self-reliant, but they really have to work hard to make things go right. Also, because they live outside the kingdoms, they tend to not be as quick to progress in terms of technology, leaving them with outdated methods of communication amongst other things.
And of course, living outside the kingdoms means being without the protection living within one offers. This meant that more often than not, it would be up to the people living out there to look out for themselves against Grimm and bandits. While it would not be entirely impossible to call the kingdoms for help, however, the further out they lived, the less likely it was for them to receive help.
Sol, while hardly the farthest settlement he's ever seen, was still plenty far enough away from Vale's walls to result in obvious differences between them in terms of economy, culture, and resources.
And these were things Arnett was now explaining to Pyrrha, the woman tapping her thick antlers almost sheepishly. "W-Well, out here, it's mainly up to us all to look out for bandits and the like. Living away from the kingdom may give us a lot of independence, but that also means calling for help when we really need it isn't exactly an option. And since we're not exactly the most caught up with technology either, sending out requests in the first place isn't a quick thing to do."
Arnett now looked downcast. "…If we could have contacted Vale faster, then maybe the deaths of the Whiteflowers and Lucens could've been avoided… but since we can't, well… this is the current situation."
"I… That…." Pyrrha began. She hung her head. "…I'm sorry."
Arnett looked at her in surprise and then immediately began to wave off her apology. "O-Oh no, it's fine, dear! I didn't mean to sound as if I was guilting you or anything!"
"B-But…"
"Pyrrha," Jaune began gently. Finishing hammering in the last metal sheet, he looked at her. "It's okay. Out here on the frontier, it's just how things are. Things are always going to be different depending on where one lives. Said differences are just much more noticeable out here. And in the end, huntsmen and huntresses can't be everywhere at once – there's just not enough of us to go around nor are we that fast in covering such large distances. And of course, we'd have to know there's a threat out there for us to head there in the first place. Now, that isn't to say we should just be okay with all this, but in the end, all we can do is do our best."
Arnett's smile returned. "Your friend is right, dear. Though some other towns out there may not be the most accepting of 'city folk,' I like to think everyone here in Sol have a bit of a better grasp on how things are. Everyone is different when it comes to what they like and are comfortable with. And us Sol folk like what it is we do. This town wouldn't have come to be in the first place if our ancestors were that uncomfortable with the risks."
"…Right," Pyrrha admitted in a somewhat embarrassed but still sorrowful voice. "I'm sorry if my words caused any offense."
Arnett just laughed. "You kind of like to apologize a lot, don't you?"
Pyrrha opened her mouth, obviously to apologize again only to catch herself just before she could utter the first syllable. Her face turned just slightly red instead, getting Arnett to laugh even harder. Even Jaune smiled a bit.
"Anyways, thank you again for the help so far," the Faunus woman said. "If there's anything you need help with too, just ask, okay?"
"…Then, in that case…" Jaune began, getting her attention.
He then told her the general plan he'd come up with so far. After telling her about the roads, he then asked her if there was anything out there to take note of.
Arnett was quiet for a minute as she thought. "Hmm, we do have a stream to the southwest. That's where we mainly get water from since the Grimm don't really approach from that direction ever, but other than that, that's about it. Sorry, I don't actually do much traveling out of town." She looked sheepish. "I mainly take care of the farm here while my husband, Kraven, does the traveling. But I think my kids liked to travel out that way, at least… well, before the recent Grimm attacks. So, they might know something."
"If it's not a bother, can you ask them for us?" Jaune inquired. "Ah, but it doesn't have to be right away though; Pyrrha and I still need to do a few more repairs before we get around to meeting up with our friends to start our patrol."
The woman nodded. "Oh, of course, of course! It's already almost time for lunch, so I can ask them then. And you two and the others are more than welcome to join us if you'd like."
Jaune and Pyrrha shared a look before focusing back on the woman, smiles on their faces. "Thank you for the offer. If it's alright with the other two, we'll be taking you up on the offer most likely."
Knowing Nora, there would be no 'most likely,' but rather an 'absolutely.' The auburn-haired girl loved eating almost as much as she loved fighting. Still, it helps to be polite about things.
Talking with Arnett a moment longer, she finally bid them goodbye for the time being, waving at them as she then walked back to her home, intending to start making lunch.
As the wall was now finished being patched up, Jaune and Pyrrha gathered up their tools and started making their way around the barn to the other side, where another massive hole could be found, the result of a huge Ursa having charged right through the side of it.
"Think we should have warned her about Nora's appetite?" Pyrrha asked.
"No. Instead, I think we should warn Nora about lunch," Jaune replied with a bit of an impish smirk.
"Oh, why's that?" Pyrrha asked playfully, noticing his mood.
"You couldn't tell? Going by the smell on Arnett and her house, they're not meat-eaters."
"Oh my…"
Indeed, Arnett and her family were vegetarians. And Nora, aside from being a pancake lover, was a big time meat-lover…
"I guess we'll have to make sure she doesn't cry too much when we do come for lunch," Pyrrha commented, trying not to giggle too much.
"I don't know," Jaune began to quip. "You really think we can ever stop Nora from expressing herself?"
"Fair enough."
They went about the last of their repair jobs in a much better mood than before, taking small and lighthearted jabs at their rambunctious teammate.
At least they'll be having some entertainment to go along with lunch.
Hazel, having gotten some additional sleep since his reassessment of his current circumstances, sat up slowly and went about the process of making himself some breakfast.
He'd gone and hunted down some small animals yesterday and went about expertly rationing them for his own use.
Having killed, drained and skinned some wild rabbits and squirrels – it never ceased to amaze him somewhat what kind of wildlife roamed certain areas – he went about pulling some pieces of meat out of the pack he'd specifically made for it and went about cooking the meat slowly.
And all the while, the Grimm under his control watched in silence. At some point, they'd seemingly tired of growling at him and had settled down into something of an inactive state. Inactive in the sense that they weren't asleep – Grimm were not capable of sleeping – but rather that they quite literally weren't doing anything other than just sitting there.
They eyed the cooking meat in disinterest before proceeding to go back to staring at nothing in particular, something which got Hazel to snort a bit in bemusement.
In the short time he's been practicing this ability of his, he's gotten used to the various quirks the Grimm seemed to display, to the point where whatever interest, however slight, he'd initially had faded away.
In the end, Grimm were painfully simple creatures. Certainly, years upon years of life may lead to the development of genuine intelligence for them, but said intelligence was entirely geared to killing humans and Faunus more effectively. The sense of self-preservation they develop as they age was ultimately for the goal of making sure they live as long as possible so that they may kill as many as possible before they're ultimately slain themselves.
Truly, the Grimm were brutally simple creatures. But in Hazel's opinion, so was humanity. Humanity was a beast all its own with how greedy and vicious each individual could be. And no matter how complex some people may paint themselves or their ideals as being, they were ultimately motivated by one painfully simple thing:
Want.
It didn't matter if someone sought justice or revenge. It didn't matter if someone was prone to saving people or killing them.
Good and evil… they were concepts made by humans to try and justify or at the very least excuse whatever action it is that they take. But at the end of the day, whatever it is that they do of their own free will, it is precisely because they wanted to do it in the first place.
…
This was something he understood. After all, his sister had wanted to try and become a huntress, to be a force of 'good.' She'd wanted to do this because she had been inspired by his acts of good as she'd grown up even though he'd made his own 'want' clear, which is to say, for her to stop from going to Beacon and potentially becoming like… well, becoming like him.
…Once upon a time, when he'd been far younger and therefore much more naïve, he too had wanted to do 'good.' Which is to say, he'd wanted to help people. Doing good made him feel good and so, at the time, it had just seemed like something perfectly natural to do.
But at some point, as he ventured to more and more different places, he got to meet more people… and in doing so, see up close and personal what cruelties and horrors others could and would commit for the sake of desire.
Before he'd known it, he'd gotten sucked into that world of darkness. His near-overwhelming want to help others had driven him to greater and greater extremes to eliminate the figurative darkness of humanity, all for the sake of ensuring the happiness and safety of the innocent.
Except.
Except, sometimes, those 'innocent people' had really been just as bad as the ones he'd fought against, having just been hiding their darkness so that they may make use of his great strength.
Even after he'd started to catch onto such people, he'd still gone about combatting the most horrifying of deviants – bloodthirsty bandits, cruel slave traffickers, serial killers, vicious gangs and more. At some point, the constant fighting against such people began to wear him down. Not physically – none had ever been capable of challenging his strength – but mentally, spiritually.
He can't quite recall when, but at some point, he'd completely drifted over to this world of 'darkness,' where genuine thanks for his efforts no longer existed. Instead, what had taken its place were people that were either too scared of him to say or do anything… or those that sought to use him, to bend him to their will.
Apathy had set in hard during that time, but even then he'd gone on fighting just because that was all he'd ever known, the only thing he'd ever been good at in order to help others.
He'd suffocated under such a stifling layer of depression and madness for so long that it hadn't been until he'd returned home one day on a whim that he'd even met Gretchen in the first place. Looks like his parents had been busy during his years traveling.
And she… she had just been so pure. So much so that not long after meeting her for the first time, she'd quickly wormed her way into his dulled and dying heart and warmed him from within. She'd reminded him of what it actually meant to be happy, a godsend since their parents hadn't exactly been model citizens to start with anyways. In hindsight, it was amazing he'd ever turned out the way he had initially. And that went triply so for Gretchen.
But just because she'd become his guiding light in life hadn't undone all that he's seen and done in by that point. Just because Gretchen had served as his driving force in life by that point didn't mean that suddenly all the hardships he's gone through and the impacts they'd had on him were undone in the blink of an eye. He'd still been just as broken down and warped by the atrocities he's seen and the atrocities he'd had to commit to prevent further ones from ever happening again.
It had been precisely because of how worn down he'd become that he had so desperately wished for his sister to never go down the same road he'd gone down. Though his body practically moved on autopilot to always lend out a helping hand, his mind and very soul begged otherwise. But unfortunately, his thoughts, though acknowledged by Gretchen, never fully got across to her – instead, she'd been too caught up in the image his actions painted of him (not that she'd ever truly known what exactly he's done) and wanted to be just like him.
Hazel recalled sending message after message to Ozpin, who was already headmaster of Beacon at the time, to not accept Gretchen's application since convincing her on his own clearly wasn't going to work. But that man had simply written off each and every increasingly desperate message and ended up accepting his sister's application…
…And later, during the girl's very first year there, she'd gone on a training mission that had gone horribly wrong.
And now… now she, the one thing that he'd had left in his life, was gone.
All because she'd 'wanted' to be like him and Ozpin had 'wanted' to just believe that she'd had what it takes to walk such a dangerous path.
Want. Want. Want.
Gretchen may have justified it to him back then of being just like him, to help others, but that 'want' of hers had had no real reason behind it other than that poor and ill-defined one. And Ozpin, the bastard, had wanted another little ignorant soldier under his command to battle against Salem's own forces at the time. He may try and excuse this want as being for the greater good, but even Hazel, as weary a soul as he was, knew that plenty of things could've been done differently.
And so, because he no longer had nothing else to live for other than revenge, he now had no other 'want' than to take revenge for his sister's death.
It was as simple as that now.
"…Haaaa," he sighed.
Really now, he thought. Had he always been this melodramatic? To be all on his lonesome really was a horrible thing.
…But even then, he meant every word.
This world had broken his very soul down bit by bit, leaving him a cold and bitter man. Gretchen had been his only solace ever since she came into his life. And now that she was gone, all that mattered was getting revenge for her against that bastard Ozpin.
If that means helping Salem, then so be it. After all that he's seen and done, his faith in humanity's ability to ever better itself wasn't exactly at a high point here, so if the ancient woman ever did succeed in her plans, it wouldn't exactly be that big a loss in his eyes.
After eating his breakfast in complete silence, he cleaned up and then stood tall, his muscles bristling as he did so.
Later today, he will conduct another little 'test' of this new ability of his.
Time to see just how well the Grimm could pull off a truly coordinated attack on the town of Sol.
After some time being spent having a delightful lunch with Arnett and her family (and true to form, Nora had cried over the lack of meat, much to everyone's entertainment), it was time for team JNPR to roll out though not before helping the woman clean up a bit afterwards.
Arnett and her husband, Kraven, had introduced the team to their three children; their eldest daughter, Erin who was just older than the Beacon team by two years, and their twin boys, Arthur and Sean, fourteen years of age and about as energetic and unruly – but well-meaning – as one would expect such teens to be.
Sure enough, the three kids knew their way around the area pretty well and thus had been entrusted with giving the team something of a tour along the roads, but not before first stopping by Dean's place to inform him of where they'll be for the time being.
After that, they'd taken off, going in separate directions – Ren and Nora went with the twins down one path while Erin led Jaune and Pyrrha down another.
And in comparison to her younger brothers, both of whom Jaune felt were like male versions of Nora in many respects, Erin was something of a wallflower in terms of personality, shy and withdrawn.
It certainly made for one hell of a contrast given her very tall and thick stature; the girl clearly took a lot after her father Kraven, who himself sported a thick and extremely muscular physique, though she was still plenty feminine, Jaune noted clinically.
"Thanks again for showing us the way," he spoke to the girl with a smile. That said, he couldn't help but feel just slightly uncomfortable here – Erin would frequently look at him as they walked, with an intense look in her green eyes that reminded him just a bit too much of Isaac's own daughter back in Vale.
"R-Right, no problem," she replied in a quiet and almost squeaky voice, not quite befitting of her build, clearly honed over many rigorous years helping her father with manual labor.
"So," Pyrrha began. Jaune looked at her and blinked in mild confusion at the somewhat irritated expression on her face. Had Erin somehow offended her? "Just what sights are there to see out here?"
"O-Oh, not much, really," Erin said, looking away quickly as she took to scratching the side of the bear ears atop her head, yet another trait she'd inherited from her father. "This path is a pretty straightforward one – follow it long enough and you'll hit the next town, which would be Axiant."
"There's absolutely nothing worth noting?" Jaune now asked as he looked up a bit at the girl, who was just a few inches taller than him. "Like a rock or land formation that's really out of the blue compared to the rest of the landscape?"
Erin shook her head. "No, not really. But, uhm, compared to my brothers, I don't exactly… adventure out there much… sorry." She tilted her head down in what appeared to be shame.
Jaune just shook his head gently though. "No need to apologize. It's not like any of you ever could have seen something like this coming. But if by chance you do remember something, just let us know, alright?"
Her face was looking mighty red now as she once again stared at him intently for a second before looking away. "R-Right!" she squeaked out.
Beside him, Pyrrha made a very quiet sound of mild bemusement and it seemed like it was aimed at him. Now he was really confused – just what did he do? Hadn't they gotten closer since the night of the dance?
…Ah well, he could worry about that later; have to focus on the mission first.
So, on and on the three of them walked. Like Erin had pointed out, the path was indeed a straightforward, though Erin did pause every now and then to point small 'unofficial' paths that did branch out from the main one. According to her, these smaller paths were ones that some people tended to take since they would eventually lead to where a lot of wildlife could be found to hunt. These paths were traveled down just enough that the grass was almost permanently flat and the ground disturbed, making it stand out compared to the rest of the otherwise untouched forestry.
"Uhm, so do you really think the Grimm might try coming down the paths?" Erin eventually asked at some point as she showed them the way down each path, not completely, but enough for them to get a feel for the area. "I-I mean, n-not that I'm doubting you or anything, but ever since the beginning, they'd only attacked from past the fields. There no paths out there. Not official ones, anyways."
"We might be overdoing things a bit here," Pyrrha spoke before Jaune could. "But with how unusual these Grimm have been acting, better safe than sorry."
The blond teen nodded. "With how advanced these Grimms' intelligence seems to be, using more human-like tactics wouldn't be too big a stretch for them. Utilizing feints is a staple among strategies, so for all we know the Grimm might have only been attacking from past the fields to get all of Sol to prepare for future attacks from that direction only to then blindside you all from another direction instead."
Erin shuddered. "I-Is that really going to happen?" The poor girl sounded on the verge of hysteria.
Jaune silently cursed at himself. Given the circumstances, all of the townspeople had to be doing what they can to keep calm lest the negativity potentially draw in more Grimm. Yet here he was casually talking about things that could make the previous attacks look like nothing in comparison.
Even if he was merely speaking the truth, there was such a thing as subtlety and tactfulness.
"Well, it's only a possibility," he responded quickly and smoothly. He patted her shoulder gently. "Like Pyrrha just said, better safe than sorry. But don't worry – no matter how the Grimm end up attacking Sol next, we'll be there to keep you all safe. You have our word."
He spoke with quiet conviction, but it was enough to placate the girl… though the way her breath quickened when he patted her shoulder along with the look in her eyes was really worrying him now.
"Y-You'll protect us…? P-P-Protect m-me…?" she huffed
"Of course," he said with the same level of conviction, though inwardly he was now wondering if maybe he should stop digging himself a grave here.
Erin backed away from him, cupping her own reddening face as she huffed and puffed, the look in her eyes worsening.
Jaune worried.
Pyrrha snorted in annoyance.
Erin continued being weird and Jaune realized that there was just no backing out now, quite belatedly so.
Right, time to get back on track.
"Now that all said, shall we continue?" Jaune spoke. "We still have a few more paths to mark, right?"
"…R-Right," Erin replied after taking a moment to calm down.
Getting back onto business, Erin proceeded to show them down a few more paths just as intended, Jaune and Pyrrha marking them down on the map data they'd been compiling on their scrolls, which thankfully still worked well out here on the frontier. Technology sure was amazing, Jaune pondered.
Anyways, despite having not traveled particularly far down any path – it wouldn't do to wander too far away from the town – they'd still spent several hours out there. Now it was time for them to return, at which point they made good time returning to the town.
Bidding Erin a quick goodbye, Jaune and Pyrrha promptly returned to the inn for the time being. As they did so, they passed through the center of town, where they occasionally stopped to speak with a handful of townspeople, especially the ones manning the various stores around there.
With a message being sent to them by Ren saying they were only now making their way back to town, Jaune felt it would be okay to pass the time waiting for the N and R of his team and so he swiftly went about helping some store owners set up displays and move some inventory around. As for Pyrrha, she too helped out a bit before eventually settling for just speaking with the townspeople, who'd been drawn to her looks and style.
While she was getting somewhat mobbed by several men clearly interested in her, Jaune could only look on from afar in slight concern. She seemed to have a handle on things, clearly used to this sort of thing, no doubt because of her fame and resulting fandom, but he resolved to step in should things go to far.
In the meantime, though…
"So then what's your game plan?" asked the storeowner, a spider Faunus in his late twenties. He was looking to Jaune in interest as the two of them shuffled some empty boxes around to make some room for new stock. "Have you guys already figured out how to deal with those damned Grimm?"
"Somewhat, yes," Jaune answered. "We just scoped out the surrounding paths, got a lay of the land. Now that we've a good idea of the terrain, traversing it efficiently shouldn't be that hard. But just to confirm, the earliest the Grimm have attacked was about an hour after the sun begins to set?"
The store owner, named Thane, nodded. "Yeah. But they seem to favor coming after the town when it's night. Not like it's exactly a big deal for us since we're Faunus, but you know… darkness is just a scary concept, yeah?"
Jaune nodded in understanding. "Yeah, I know."
This is but one of numerous conversations he's had in the meantime, having used this time to not only help the people out with whatever chores that needed to get done but to also do some additional intelligence gathering.
"That aside, anything else you can tell me?" Jaune questioned as he finished up the current task. "Like, what Grimm seemed to be out on the frontlines?"
"Honestly, I can't say. Was more concerned with getting myself and my neighbors to safety," Thane replied. "But I think one of the other guys down the road knows. There's this old lady, Marie. She runs the best damn sweets shop in town. She was out and about during most of the attacks since she always takes down the outdoors signs at the same time every day. She probably got a better view of the attacks without having to worry that much for her life."
"Got it. Thanks," Jaune then said with a soft smile.
"No, no, thank you, my man. Any helps means a lot."
Bidding Thane goodbye, Jaune then went outside to fetch Pyrrha, conveniently as she drove off the last guy, who left with a somewhat downcast expression whilst his partner sported a rather embarrassed expression.
Looking at her curiously, his expression alone was enough to prompt her to talk.
"They're all nice people," Pyrrha began. "But the pick-up lines they were trying…" Her cheeks were reddening.
"Ah…" Jaune could only chuckle sheepishly.
Another thing about the people on the frontier, it's that they can often be brutally honest about what they want since they don't exactly have a lot to distract themselves from whatever work they do. So, if they want to get together with someone, well…
"Where to now?" Pyrrha suddenly said, clearly eager to talk about anything other than what just happened.
"Well, there's someone named Marie just further down the road. Apparently, she got a good view of the attacks each time and she wasn't in enough danger to end up getting distracted. But firstly…" He trailed off as his scroll let out a ping, signaling the receiving of a message. Checking it, he hummed. "Looks like Nora and Ren are back. Should be coming down the road right about now."
"Great, let's go meet up then go from there," Pyrrha said.
And so that was exactly what the two partners did.
They linked up with Nora and Ren and together, they bid Arthur and Sean goodbye and watched the twins as they headed home before making their own way to the sweets shop.
Jaune and Pyrrha primarily did all the questioning while poor Ren had to practically keep Nora physically restrained lest she devour the muffins and cupcakes seen in the window display.
"It was mainly the Beowulves at the forefront followed by Ursas?" Pyrrha repeated Marie's words in genuine surprise.
Marie, a cool old lady in her seventies, nodded firmly. "That's right, young missy. Even with my eyes going a bit bad each year, I couldn't mistake those giant shits for anything else, even from afar." Marie bristled a bit, her bushy squirrel tail twitching a bit as she did so. "And wow… been a long time since I've ever seen Grimm up close like that… made me relive some unpleasant memories every time."
"Don't worry," Jaune chipped in. "Soon enough, we'll deal with them and you won't have to relive those memories anymore."
"…Heh. You're a real good kid," Marie said as she looked at him. "I'll be holding you to that then. Now, how about some slices of cake for the road? It'll be on me."
He and Pyrrha tried to decline, but one doesn't simply decline someone that was essentially a tough as nails grandmother figure; they exited the shop all of two minutes later with two slices of cake for each of them plus Nora and Ren.
Ren merely chuckled at the almost defeated looks on their faces, only for Nora to pretty much inhale both slices then shove one of Ren's down his throat, saying that he just had to experience the epic sweetness.
Looks like revenge really was sweet sometimes, Jaune noted as he took his time eating his slices.
But soon it was time to really begin their mission.
After eating their cake, the four of them headed back to the inn for just a short time, which they spent pouring over the map data they'd collected.
"Looks like your side was a bit more adventurous," Pyrrha commented in amusement.
Ren could only nod. "You've no idea how tempted Nora was to try sliding down every slope we came across," he quipped.
When everyone turned to look at Nora in fake exasperation, the girl merely snorted. "Oh come on, those hills were pretty much begging for it!"
"Every hill?" Ren asked knowingly.
"Every single one, Renny and you know it!"
Chuckling at the two's banter yet again, Jaune studied the map with great interest.
"Hmm, compared to our side, yours was much more lopsided. Literally," he pointed out.
Due to what he could only assume were literal land-changing events many millennia ago, there was a lot of terrain that was meshed together in such a way as if it were something out of a fantasy novel. Just look at how different the climates of each kingdom was – even when accounting for natural phenomena and the like, each kingdom's geography and topology were so radically different that it was sometimes hard to believe they existed on the same planet.
In the case of the land around Sol, there was plenty of plains to be farmed, followed up by forests that only got thicker going westwards while to the east, it was much more hilly and sunny once you got past a certain point whereas here in Sol itself, it was perpetually cloudy despite the townspeople's ability to create and maintain their own crops.
And as interesting as this was, it was still something of a bad thing.
As far as attacking from the west, including southwest and northwest, there was too much forest for the Grimm to just bumrush the town, though if they ever did use the road to attack, it wouldn't be entirely out of the realm of possibility. This isn't to say that mere trees and rocks would be enough to genuinely impede them but smashing their way through it all would certainly slow them considerably.
However, if the Grimm took the time to circle around and attack from the east, they'd have more than enough open space to really put however great their numbers really are to good use. The town would be overrun and completely flattened in minutes in such a scenario.
The only consolation was that the north and south were nothing but extremely dense forestry, dense enough that this is where the town primarily got their own lumber from. Attacking from either of these two directions would be impossible unless these Grimm were also a hell of a lot stronger than the usual ones encountered so far.
"What's the game plan, fearless leader?" Nora asked, getting serious as she saw his serious expression.
He took a moment to think. His friends waited patiently for him to organize his thoughts.
"Given that the attacks have been coming primarily from the west, you'd think we worry about fortifying that side…" he mumbled. "But I just can't shake the feeling that sooner or later the Grimm will give up that line of attack. Plus, by this point, the whole town is keeping a look out on that side."
"In other words, we'll be looking to patrol and guard the east," Ren surmised.
Jaune nodded. "Looks that way. Still, depending on how things go, we should patrol the west on occasion too. And though it's been many years since, I could try and set up some simple traps, just to act as alarms if nothing else on the west side."
"Ooooh~ traps?! Why, Jauney, I think you just stole my heart!" Nora proclaimed with a playful smile. "Think it'd be cool if we rig some of my grenades with them?"
"That's… actually not a bad idea." He'd been about to reprimand Nora, but in immediate hindsight that actually sounded like a good idea. If nothing else, it could help thin their numbers.
"We'd better get started then – it's already getting late," Pyrrha chipped in.
Sure enough, it was slowly getting darker outside, which put them all on edge. If they'd chosen to plan this allout downstairs in the diner rather than up here in one of their rooms, the four of them would bet the other patrons would be tensing up too right now.
"Yeah, let's do that," Jaune said.
He then stood up, stretching for a brief moment – only to freeze when a howl could be heard off in the distance.
His friends paused in what they were doing as well.
This only lasted for all of a split second, however, and they swiftly exited the room and bolted out of the inn in record time.
That had been the howl of a Beowulf.
Another attack was just about to start.
From approximately two miles away, Hazel stood with his arms folded over his chest and with his eyes closed as he concentrated hard on his new ability.
Keeping the Grimm from turning on him was as easy as breathing by this point but directing them in combat was a bit more difficult still, especially since in order to effectively lead them, he had to concentrate to see through their eyes.
Currently, he was looking through the eyes of the Beowulves sent ahead of the rest. Said Grimm were in the midst of traveling down the sole road leading directly to the town before splitting up near the end, heading into the forest areas near the town's edge. Doing so would cause them a bit of difficulty in maneuvering past the trees, but this was an intentional – a delayed attack.
Meanwhile, the Ursas were practically stampeding down the main road, the continuous howls of the Beowulves doing well in covering up the loud steps of the Ursas.
The bear-like Grimm were thus the first to reach the town and by then, the populace had already heard the cries of the Beowulves and thus had started to take action, for sure enough through the Ursas' eyes he could see some new barricades that hadn't been there last time.
Not like it would do them much good.
With just a thought, he had the two Ursas closest to the town charge forward just a little faster and head for the marketplace, smashing through the support beams that held up some of the storefronts. Even if only vaguely, he could hear the breaking of the hard wood and the collapsing of the ceilings above the walkways.
Meanwhile, the other Ursas spread out and headed for the nearest barns, their large bodies crashing through the thinner parts of the fences and trampling over the grassy plains.
"…Hrm." Hazel was a bit perplexed.
He'd known from the start that the people of Sol were a rather resilient bunch, quick to act… but the repairs he'd noticed just now to the fence and barn walls were done too fully and too well to be their work, which he's grown familiar with over the course of his attacks on them.
In other words, they'd gotten what felt like multiple people to come to their aid.
"Huntsmen?" he murmured.
He got his answer not even seconds later.
Just before the two Ursas that had reached the marketplace could go any further, four individuals came barreling down from the opposite direction and in the span of an eyeblink, one of them, a girl wielding a large hammer, swung her weapon and struck the side of one Ursa's head with tremendous force, supplemented by what appeared to be a grenade of all things.
The Ursa died on impact and its body swiftly dissipate into nothingness just as another person, a blond, lashed out with an impossibly swift sword swing and cut the other Ursa vertically in two.
Grimacing as he lost sight through the Ursas, he switched to the senses of the other Grimm closest to these people for another look.
And in doing so, he was just barely able to hear the cries of one of them.
"Nora, you and me will fight them all head on! Focus on the ones closest to town! Pyrrha, Ren, fire support – shoot every Grimm that the two of us can't get to!"
It was the blond that yelled this out and it was his face that the other approaching Ursa saw just before the man attacked and decapitated it.
…No, not a man – a boy. A teen. So were the other three.
"Teenagers now…?" Hazel growled out, somewhat perturbed.
Up until now, he's fought many different people, but for the longest time he's primarily gone up against people closer to him in age; the last time he's ever even seen a teenager in a fight was when he himself was still in his early twenties.
Given Sol's distance relative to Vale, these teens likely came from Beacon… meaning only one thing.
"Ozpin, you foul being…!" He must have sent the teens here to investigate the situation caused by his little training sessions with this new ability.
To think that man would send teens out like this… how disgusting! He'd long since doubted how sincere Ozpin's words about Gretchen's death being the result of a genuine training mishap, but now he was starting to wonder differently.
…
…
…No matter. He's come too far to just be abruptly changing his mind now of all times.
"Ozpin, just know that their blood will be on your hands if they have to die here," he muttered, cursing that unkillable parasite.
Nonetheless, teens or not, they clearly knew what they were doing. Thanks to his command for the Ursas to take front and center during the attack, they were thus the first victims the blond teen and the hammer girl tore through, both of them exhibiting rather prodigious strength and speed.
The blond in particular proved to be abnormally strong in comparison to the others, moving with a speed and precision that he's seen in huntsmen much older than the teen.
In the span of just a moment, the Ursas he'd sent to attack the barns were nearly wiped out completely. Only a few were able to try attacking in kind, but even with Hazel providing them direction, the blond and hammer girl would easily duck and weave past the Ursas' wild paw swipes and strike at their exposed stomachs.
Meanwhile, through the eyes of the Beowulves, he could spot the other two teens – Pyrrha and Ren from what he just heard – taking up positions atop the buildings furthest from the action the blond and hammer girl were engaging in and were sniping at the Beowulves that were now making their way out of the forest and towards the sides of the barns and town.
Realizing quickly just how many Grimm have just died, Hazel issued an order for several Beowulves and just three Ursas to cease heading towards the town and merely hang back while the rest spread out even further.
Attacking from the areas directly north and south of the towns was all but impossible since the forestry there was much too thick for the Grimm to effectively charge from, but so long as he had them proceed slowly, it wasn't entirely out of the picture.
Besides, this was now a good chance to see if flanking the town would be possible even from this distance and level of control since he could only get so far away before his hold on the Grimm weakens.
At this current distance, he could still hijack the Grimms' senses to an extent and issue orders for them to follow, but to what degree they'd be able to follow them was now different.
Sure enough, the Grimm he sent to the northern and southern areas seemed to be having some problems properly executing his orders, charging in too quickly and ending up getting stuck in between the many thick trees there.
While that was happening, the four teens were making incredibly quick work of the Grimm that had been sent directly ahead.
Hazel sighed; even while providing as much information to the Grimm on what was going on and what the teens were doing, it wasn't as if he could actually bequeath them his level of strength and expertise in combat. He may be able to provide the Grimm closest to him with all the information he wants, but it's still up to them to process said information and act accordingly based on the orders given.
That, and there was one other factor made swiftly apparent-.
"Almost done, Jauney!" he could hear the hammer girl cry out giddily as she shot a grenade at one of the few Beowulves he'd sent right at her. The grenade hit it head on and the explosion of pink Dust was the last thing Hazel could see through that Beowulf's eyes.
He then switched visions to the last Beowulf that had charged towards town, just in time to see the blond leap directly towards it once again with a speed that no one his age should be capable of barring a semblance.
The Beowulf, acting of its own accord now, tried to lunge forward and bite into the incoming teen's face, only for it to fail spectacularly as the teen suddenly lowered himself and then swung one of his blades upwards in a reverse grip, the Beowulf looking down just in time to see itself get bisected from the groin upwards.
As its body split apart and so did its vision, Hazel glared through the Beowulf's eyes at the blond teen, studying him in that split second before the Beowulf's sliced halves dissipated.
Humming now thoughtfully, Hazel now quite calmly came to the conclusion that his attack just now had been a complete and utter failure.
He had by no means been not seen this coming, but he'd been expecting fully fledged huntsmen and huntresses to eventually come to Sol's aid and even then, he hadn't thought that would happen so soon. Given the lack of advanced technology out here, he'd been expecting for Sol's request for help to take much longer to reach Vale and for it to even go unanswered for a while longer.
Had Ozpin perhaps realized he was here somehow and thus sent in a team that much sooner? It was possible. Indeed, in hindsight, it was actually likely that Ozpin had been doing his best to track his general movements, in which case it shouldn't have been too hard to realize that Sol would've been next in line along his current path.
Sighing in annoyance at himself for his short-sightedness, Hazel gave the silent order for the remainder of the Grimm to retreat.
The ones that he'd order to hang back responded to said order instantly, turning tail and fleeing with nary a growl. As for the ones now stuck in the northern and southern parts of town, it took them seconds longer for them to even acknowledge his order, but they did eventually cease their futile struggling and began an awkward about-face, attempting to now wiggle out of the thick forests in order to return back to camp.
As for Hazel himself, he remained where he was, staring in the general direction of Sol, deep in thought.
Those teens had fought surprisingly well, though to be fair to himself again he hadn't been anticipating such a thing for a while longer. In any case, they were now a new problem that had to be dealt with. Should they return to Vale and give Ozpin confirmation that the Grimm were 'behaving oddly' as he was sure had been stated in Sol's request, then that information would be disseminated amongst all other trainees and hunstmen under Ozpin's thrall who would then be on the look out for any other such oddities.
Though he didn't even remotely fear the possibility of being hunted and confronted more frequently in the future, that didn't mean he'd like for his path to be obstructed so often.
In which case… those teens needed to be killed. If not by the Grimm he could subjugate then by his own two hands.
In fact…
"Hrm."
The look in that blond teen's eyes… something about it reminded Hazel so very much of himself from a time long ago, back when he'd first been hardened by the experiences and struggles he'd gone through yet still before he'd started to become numb to the world.
That blond… there was no doubt about it. He was a 'hero of justice.' Not one of those fake ones that just pretended to be morally upstanding and righteous, but the real deal… just as he had once been.
That teen wouldn't simply roll over and die, no, he wouldn't. Even if he somehow was able to send hundreds of Grimm or even more after him, that blond would fight to his very last breath and further beyond that.
No Grimm would be a match for him.
Therefore…
As his thoughts went on, Hazel's entire body bristled and his muscles practically swelled as the mere thought of battle entered his mind.
As new plans started to form within his head, Hazel finally turned around and began his trek back to his camp.
He would hold off for a few days, he decided, give the town just a bit of time to recover and let them all, those teens included, eventually relax…
…Then, just as they begin to think the threat might not be what they thought it to be, he would swoop in with his Grimm and crush them all.
But first, he would need more Grimm to do that in order to ensure absolute victory.
Therefore, it was time to begin the subjugation.
And in the end, there will be no survivors. He will make sure of that.
Another build-up chapter as you can see, this time meant to establish Hazel just a bit more than before. As you can see, his line of thinking isn't exactly the most logical nor stable in any way. In a way, I suppose you can think of him as being somewhere in between EMIYA and EMIYA Alter in terms of mindset and methods. Jaune in turn could basically be described as a more worldly and mature Shirou from before he starts becoming like EMIYA.
Now that said, there's going to be a lot more in terms of comparison going on here than what I just mentioned. Won't be going into detail on that front just yet though and certainly not through an AN of all things, but it will be coming up fairly soon.
As for all the dialogue, that was also very munch intentional - as much as I like RWBY, they really don't focus much on establishing an actual connection between the MCs and others be it through spoken dialogue or gestures. Beyond everyone basically doing things because 'they're friends and also the good guys of the show,' there's really very little connection between them and the citizens that they, as aspiring huntsmen and huntresses, want to protect. Basically, they lack established connections and empathy. Characters like Arnett, Dean, the others back in Vale... they're all meant to show that bond, however slight, that Jaune and his friends have with them, to show that they do indeed do what they do for the sake of not just their friends but the innocent in general. Hope you guys understand.
Other than that, the action at the end was deliberately brief and vague, partially because none of the Grimm, which Hazel can see through, are at a level where they could properly give JNPR an actual challenge but primarily because it is for all intents and purposes a mere appetizer… and the main course is coming up very soon.
Hope you will look forward to it! I swear that there will be plenty of surprises along the way!
Until next time, everyone. Take care!