This is chapter five of "The Ghost of Vale."
Ren sighed.
Sitting in his team's dorm waiting for his team to come back he had started thinking.
He knew that Pyrrha was upset about what had happened and he couldn't blame her. If he had lost his partner…especially Nora. Still he wished there was something he could do to help. However, another person was about to be more on his mind.
"I'm back!~" Nora's voice accompanied the door slamming open. She almost seemed to bounce into the room in excitement. "So, Ren! There was this big fiasco in the kitchens a few minutes ago and I want you to know I had nothing to do with it." As it happened, she was covered in some kind of batter and syrup.
Ren raised one of his eyebrows.
After waiting a moment and seeing he hadn't changed his expression she continued. "Well~ I think that I'm going to take a r-" She was cut off as Pyrrha entered the room.
"I'm sorry, it took us so long to get back! Nora ate all their pancakes and then made a huge mess with the remaining batter in the process. They said there won't be any pancake batter for tomorrow and I had to help clean up so I…I…" Looking at the seen in front her she saw Nora frozen comically and Ren now with both eyebrows raised.
Ren turned to Nora "So Nora. Explain one more time. You said you had nothing to do with the disaster in the kitchen. Why then are you covered in pancake batter and syrup?"
Standing still for a second, she turned and smiled at him. "It's a secret."
If it wasn't for Ren's semblance and that it was Nora, he might have cracked slightly.
Heaving another big sigh, he told Nora to go get cleaned up. She nodded and hummed as she left the room. Sitting in silence for a minute he sighed again.
Turning back to Pyrrha he asked. "How bad was it?"
Pyrrha coughed. "Well imagine the kitchen except with a new makeover of flower. Everyone was sneezing." Now that Ren took the time to look Pyrrha over he could see she was covered in batter as well.
"Did she blow up the containers?" Ren asked.
Pyrrha shrugged. "I have no idea. All I know is one second, second she was munching on pancakes just fine then...everything went…boom?"
Ren frowned. "Were you guys talking before it happened?"
Pyrrha nodded thinking back. "Yes, actually she asked if I knew better ways to be more coordinated in her movements. I think."
"You think?" Ren asked.
"Uh well she was eating and talking at similar speeds so that's what I was able to gather…" Pyrrha said in a hopeless tone of voice. Ren sighed again. It was becoming his new thing. Maybe He should follow the headmaster's example and start coping with coffee. Nah, he should probably stick with tea.
"Coordinated? That seems ironic, when you consider what happened immediately afterwards." He shook his head while Pyrrha smiled in mild amusement.
"So, is there a reason you asked about what we were talking about?" Pyrrha inquired.
Ren shrugged. "Nothing super important. Just sometimes when Nora is upset, she has a tendency to blow stuff up by accident. She blows stuff up all the time though so maybe it's nothing. Just thought you guys might have been talking about something that might bother her."
Pyrrha frowned. "Well I-" She was cut off by Nora who burst out of the bathroom in her pajama's.
"Well there you go Ren~ all cleaned up. You can get in the shower now Pyr." Blinking in surprise Pyrrha nodded then went into the bathroom.
"You were barely in there for five minutes." Ren stated
Nora nodded "Yup! Well Ren I'm going to bed. Night!~" She climbed into her bed.
Ren stared at her for a few moments thinking then nodded. "Good night Nora."
He didn't see her expression of shame.
Just to clarify a bit once more. The seen above took place the night that Brown had his great "Scare" as we put it. Now, returning the my, as the narrator's amazing narration.
Jaune refused to accept that him a ghost could be sacred by a huntsman's scream and in his shock fly out the window only to get blown three blocks by heavy winds. Yet….
"Ok this is stupid! How can I be scared so easily?! I'm undead for crying out loud!"
Considering that he had followed the huntsman home because he was going to Beacon the next day and floated above him as he slept.
"Yeah that was kinda creepy." Jaune admitted to the empty city alleyway.
He didn't even see what it was that scared the Huntsman so much. Hopefully by the time he back to the apartment the Huntsman would still be there.
"Seriously though what could scare an adult huntsman that much?" He could feel the fear coming from him as he was being blown away and it had been pure terror. Sort of reminded him of that detective that had run from the dust shop.
Wait.
Hold that thought. Is it possible that the Huntsman?
"Did he see me!?"
Jaune felt nervous excitement.
"I have to get back there as soon as possible! Now uh…which way was it again?"
Looking around he thought back. His memory came back in perfect clarity.
"Oh yeah he took the left turn here."
Next morning…
Goodman shivered. It felt like he was being watched again. He of course knew that in the middle of the Vale police department it would be weird he there wasn't someone to see him. Still after yesterday with the…Phantom…appearing on the footage of a different shop. Who knows? Maybe he was being stalked.
"Ok this is getting ridiculous. Time to calm down and look at that footage then meet up with Brown."
Another odd thing he'd gotten a call from Brown in the middle of the night but he had set his scroll to rumble so he had missed it. When he tried to call back Brown this morning he didn't answer…a little odd. Maybe something happened…? He hoped not.
Goodman sighed resigned that he's just have to call him again later.
Arriving at the footage hold he walked in "All right here we go."
Looking around he saw a young man at a desk with a fan in front of what looked like a library for cd's and other recordings. Nodding he walked up.
"Hey, I'm here to investigate the RTDR-3 recordings. I had a colleague look at it yesterday. So, it should be ready."
Looking up from some notes he was taking the young man blinked in surprise. "The what?"
"The RTDR-3 recordings." Goodman repeated curtly.
"Uh? S-sure let's see….um well uh…." Giving an apologetic smile he started picking up papers up off the desk. "I'll get it to you in a minute."
It took five…
"Aha! Here it is sorry for the wait!"
Goodman jerked his head to face the young man.
"About time-" Goodman was cut off…
"Yeah I finally found the report about the filing of the recordings you wanted. Let's see I bet I can find where it says the he put it…" The young man nodded picking up a small up a small folder. "Yeah, Detective Neil right!" Looking up he smiled. "Here you go sir the report you wanted!"
Goodman gave the young man a look that made the young man pause. "Er is something the matter?"
Goodman nodded "Yes there is actually. See I came to pick up the Recordings not the report. Think you could tell me witch aisle its down?" Goodman's harsh voice made the young man mentally flinch.
"Er sorry about that sir uh lets see the report says…uh well it doesn't a shelf number sir." The young man gulped.
Goodman closed his eyes rubbing his forehead. "Was it Neil who forgot to put it on?"
"Uh yes it does look like it sir." The young man shifted uncomfortably.
"That's just fantastic." Goodman snarked sarcastically. "Now where in the bloody blazes am I going to find that Neil-"
"You called pardner?" A voice echoed behind him.
Whipping around Goodman took in the Cowboy dressed detective. "Your howling is harsher than a Vacuo sand storm." Neil tipped his hat in greeting. "I see you still haven't tossed the white coat. Well pardner, I'm hardly one too judge."
Goodman's eye twitched. "Yes, I like it thank you. Now can you please tell me were you put the recordings?"
Neil moved his head forward to make his hat cover his eyes. "My memory is as consistent as the sand found across the wastes."
"So, you don't even remember? Well that's bloody helpful." Goodman rolled his eyes sarcastically.
"Are you from Vacuo sir?" The young desk man asked interest.
Goodman answered before Neil. "No, he was actually raised in Patch and has lived most of his life in Vale."
"Oh…I just thought because of the way he talked." The young man sighed in disappointment.
"Now, Now pardner. I just needed to think a bit before remembering is all. The recordings are in aisle 14. I don't remember which shelf, but I told a huntsman with a yellow shirt where they were. So don't go saying I don't do favors for friends." Neil stated looking at Goodman.
Letting out a deep breath Goodman nodded his thanks. "Thank you." He responded curtly.
Turning to the young man, Goodman stared for a moment. "What's your name?"
"Patrol man Dove sir!" He responded promptly.
"Well Patrol man Dove. Next time we meet I hope you will be more helpful, because at the next district meeting, I believe that we were discussing pay checks for people who don't do their jobs properly."
"O-oh. I-I'll do my best sir!" Dove responded with a gulp.
"That was cold Pardner. Like a gunshot to the heart. And your name is Goodman?" Neil shuddered.
Goodman rolled his eyes. "Ha. Ha. See you later."
Marching off the aisle 14 he tuned the corner and remembered that Neil had said that he told someone else about the recordings as well.
"Who would want to…?"
Stopping he blinked in surprise all the annoyance he had before vanishing in an instant.
"Brown? What are you doing here?"
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Jaune felt mildly annoyed but that was all right, He knew the Huntsman had gone somewhere before he managed to finally get back to his apartment.
Luckily it so happed that the Huntsman had left directions to the Bullhead going to Beacon before he left and though Jaune was terrible with directions with his new memory he could at least remember the instructions.
After some tedious time floating along. He finally arrived at the place the Huntsman had his scheduled Bullhead.
Sitting around on the platform thinking he considered his state again.
"So sometimes people or animals can see me if they are scared? How does that work? That almost makes me sound like a grimm. Except I'm literal soul, while they have no soul. This isn't making much sense. Grimm can just see me. But other people can only see me if their scared? What?"
As anyone intelligent could summarize, he still had no idea he'd been caught on camera. Don't worry, he'll figure it out. Eventually.
"Ok. Maybe I should try my mind reading thing again see if it makes a difference. Didn't seem to harm Torchwick so much as spook him. Hmmmm."
A small crashing noise shook him out of his thoughts.
Blinking he saw the Huntsman, a Bullhead pilot and…. "The Detective? What's he doing here?"
The detective and huntsman seemed to be having some sort of discussion.
Following them into the bullhead Jaune heard.
"So, we don't tell him?"
"He'd think we were crazy so no."
"Makes sense."
"Tell who? The janitor?"
The Bullhead pilot called back to ask if they were ready for takeoff.
Saying they were the bullhead started to lift off.
"Ok here comes the hard part hopefully I can keep up with a bullhead while inside it."
Thankfully they didn't move too fast so he was able to keep up.
"Here I come Beacon ready or not!"
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Johnsen wasn't sure quite what to make of his situation.
They were sitting in the coffee bar next to a window sitting on one side of a table with Davis. Two friends sitting on either side of the table.
"Hey, Davis when you said you wanted to introduce me to two friends of yours this was not what I expected."
Davis shrugged "They're not bad people they just…have interesting tastes."
Turning in unison they listened to the two talking to each other.
"Saten-san that is the most ridicules story I have ever heard. The Grimm having a queen? Where do you hear stories like that?" Asked a small black-haired girl with flowers embedded to make a hair band.
"Uiharu-san, that's why they're called legends. But who knows it could be true right?" Grinned a taller girl with long black hair.
"No. The very idea is ridicules! Where do people get ideas like that? You need to stop finding stories about such things online!"
"Really and here I thought that the one about there being a secret basement in Beacon academy where they hid all their dark secrets, made perfect sense."
"Wha? No! That would be like saying that people with Silver eyes have special powers!"
"Well, they might have you ever asked a person with Silver eyes?"
"No!"
"Well then how can you know? It might be the case."
"Saten-san that is just the most-"
Davis and Johnsen turned back to face each other.
"Well, they are a bit extreme." Davis said scratching the back of his head sheepishly.
"Saten-san you are scaring Davis-san's friend!" Uiharu panicked picking up on the way Davis and Johnsen looked at each other.
Saten stopped talking looking embarrassed.
After a moment of awkward silence Johnsen laughed. "Its fine Uiharu. I'll admit I was taken aback, but its not all that bad. I actually heard about this urban myth about a ghost that has been haunting Vale. You look like you've heard of it."
The moment Johnsen had mentioned the ghost Saten nodded along excitedly. "Yeah! It's been appearing on a bunch of video camera footage all over the city, especially at dust shops."
Uiharu shook her head. "That's just silly but there really is no point trying to talk sense into you is there?" Sighing she called over the bar man. "Mirukushēku please."
Nodding the bar man said "Mochiron." Then proceeded to get a cup.
Johnsen leaned over to Davis. "What's a Mirukushēku?"
Davis shrugged. "I think it's a milkshake."
"Here I've got a pick on my scroll of the Ghost!" Saten raised her scroll so they all could see.
Uiharu blinked. "Is it reading a magazine?"
Davis shrugged "Maybe it's the new chapter of The Infinity Elf's Return?"
Johnsen shook his head. "Only if it has an elf fetish like you do."
"Guys it's a ghost it probably can't even hold a magazine." Saten said exasperated.
Uiharu shook her head. "It's likely some prank."
Saten nodded acknowledgement. "It's possible, still people online are calling it.."
"The Ghost of Vale." Grinned Johnsen.
Their was a brief silence between the friends. "So when's that new chapter coming out?" Johnsen suddenly asked.
Davis groaned.
Thank you for reading the fifth chapter of "The Ghost of Vale." I'm sorry about the lack of updates. I've been very busy but I'll try harder to do better next time. Not too much spiritual chaos this time so sorry about that. I'm grateful for your feedback and enjoyed some of the comments that were made. Hope You all are safe from Covid-19 and that this entertained you.
-Lord Johnsen the 18th