Cover art - Mike (I'm not being insecure about this, shut up)

Chapter 5 - Sanguine Omen

Ren's voice sounded like muffled static to Jaune. Whatever his friend was talking about was lost on him.

Jaune scratched the hand that Blake had bitten nervously. His eyes were darting all around the library. He had seen it again. It had moved swiftly like a glint of light on a deadly blade, lost to everyone else in the room except him.

Now it was gone again. It had disappeared without a trace. It always did this. It would appear out of nowhere, then return to nowhere the moment he blinked. It was too fast to keep up with. Impossible.

He took another careful sip from his energy drink. He had become addicted to them lately. Ever since he first saw it, he needed all the help those drinks provided. His own eyes were too slow, so he relied on those extra jolts to keep him alert.

"-une? Jaune?"

Jaune blinked and saw Ren staring at him. His friend had a book open about... physics? History? He couldn't remember.

"Bwuh?" was his reply.

"Are you even listening to me?" Ren asked.

"Of course, I am," Jaune said.

"Then what did I just say?"

"Are you even listening to me."

"Before that."

"Uh…"

Ren sighed. "You need to start paying more attention. I know aura studies isn't the most exciting subject in the world, but it's an important matter, especially for someone with your aura reserves."

"Right, right. I'm sorry." Another sip. "So, we were talking about the fundamentals of applied… what was it again?"

Ren stared unimpressed at the twitchy idiot that he was. He closed the book. Fair enough. He could've been reading Jaune a nursery rhyme and he'd still have trouble understanding him at this point.

"Jaune, is there something wrong?" Ren asked. "You're not usually this scatterbrained."

Jaune's bitten hand tingled. He tapped his fingers against the table. "Ren… you ever get the feeling you're being watched?" he said in a timid voice.

"Almost every day. Nora has eyes like a hawk. You get used to it."

"I'm not talking about that," Jaune insisted. "I'm talking about danger. Like there's something constantly breathing down your neck. I feel like a cornered mouse, rushing through thick grass to avoid a snake. Dunno where it's gonna strike from, all I know is I gotta keep moving. You know what I mean?"

"Not really?"

Out of the corner of his eye, Jaune saw it again. That damnable circular red dot. It hovered across the walls, close to where they were sitting. It stayed in their mortal world for exactly three seconds.

Then it was gone.

Jaune growled. It could torment him all it wanted, but it was not hurting his friends. That's where he drew the line!

Ren gasped when Jaune grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him close. "W-What are you doing?"

"Keep your voice down!" Jaune hissed. "I haven't figured out if it can hear us yet!"

"What are you talking about?"

Ren tilted his head up to look around, but Jaune quickly pulled him back down again. "No, don't look at it!" he said. "Don't let it know you can see it, otherwise it will never leave you in peace."

"I don't even know what I'm looking for!" Ren cried. "Why are you doing this?"

"Alright, don't freak out, but I think we're being hunted."

It was out there somewhere. He couldn't see it now, but that didn't mean it wasn't in the room. What corner of Hell could have spawned such a sneaky demon?

Ren pulled himself away. "Jaune, we're hunters," he said. "We are the ones that do the hunting, not the other way round. I think I'd know by now if I was being watched."

"But that's just it!" Jaune cried, then quickly lowered his voice when the librarian hushed him. "No one else can see it. It's been showing up for days nows. It's not even trying to hide. I've seen it in public clear as day, and no one notices it!"

"Slow down. What is it? What are we being supposedly hunted by?"

Jaune hesitated. "I… I haven't been able to get a good look at it," he admitted sheepishly. "It moves too fast for me to get a read on. But when I do see it, however briefly, it looks like a small red dot."

"A small red dot?"

"Yeah. It shows up out of nowhere, stays for a few seconds, then vanishes. Yesterday, it followed me around the entire campus! I don't know if it's planning something or not, but it always disappears before I can catch it."

"I see…"

"And it doesn't obey the laws of physics! I've seen this thing zoom around on walls, then teleport behind me! I don't know what this thing is capable of, but we need to arm ourselves. I'm telling you, we're in serious danger here!"

"This really doesn't sound that threatening to me."

"That's what it wants you to think!" Jaune said, pointing a finger at him. "It wants you to let your guard down. That's how it'll get you. But not me. I've got eyes opened on every inch of my body. I am all-seeing, always alert."

Jaune chugged down the can in his hand. As he fished out another, Ren looked worried. Not by the threat of danger as so clearly illustrated by Jaune, but because he clearly thought his leader was wackier than Oobleck's hair.

"Jaune… I've been speaking with the rest of our team," he said slowly. "We all agree that you've been acting strange these past few days. First there was that incident with the tree, then that fight in the cafeteria, and now this. Has something happened recently? Are you feeling unwell?"

"Ren, I don't see what this has anything to do with what I've just said." Jaune took a sip from his new can. Oddly enough, it seemed like the drink was now draining his energy rather than replenishing it.

"I'm saying this is not normal behaviour for you. It's clear to all of us that something's not right. We're worried about you. Even Nora thinks your acting peculiar."

"Oh, now that's just low!" Jaune gasped.

"Whatever danger you think that this… red dot poses, how do you know it's even real? If none of us have noticed it, why have you? How do you know you didn't just imagine it?"

"Imagined it?" Jaune groaned. "Come on, Ren, you know I've got a good imagination. If I was gonna imagine anything, it'd be cool things that would never happen in real life: like, say, Ruby using her eyes to freeze Grimm in their place or something. Give me some credit here, I'm trying to help us all."

"Jaune, speaking as a concerned friend and teammate… you're talking crazy right now."

"No, he's not," came a new voice.

The two boys turned to see Blake hovering over them like a perched gargoyle. Her amber eyes were locked intensely on Jaune, similar to how they were a few days ago in the cafeteria.

But unlike last time, there was no conflict behind them. Jaune took one look at her and he knew… she understood. She had the look of a woman who bore witness to the red dot.

"Blake?" Ren said, surprised by her presence. "How long have you been standing there-?"

Ren's eyes nearly popped out of his head when Blake pulled his chair out, and suddenly sat down in his lap. She didn't even look at him when she did it- her gaze was focused on Jaune.

"I heard everything," she stated. "How much do you know of it?"

"Not a lot," Jaune said, getting straight to business. "Tell me everything you know."

Behind Blake, Ren struggled. "Um, Blake? Would you please get off me?"

Blake ignored him. "Don't bother telling anyone else about it, they wouldn't understand," she told Jaune. "Let them live in blissful ignorance. It's safer that way."

Jaune nodded. "Understood. What exactly are we dealing with here?"

"Something the rest of the world doesn't understand, or rather, chooses to ignore. I've been seeing this red dot all my life, hiding in every corner of every room. I've tried researching it, but there's nothing in the history books about it. The closest thing I can find is an old folktale referring to a red entity known as 'Salem's Eyes'."

"Who's Salem?"

"I dunno. But apparently she's got eyes. Hence the name."

"My God…" Jaune whispered in horror.

"Blake, please. You're heavier than you look," Ren winced.

Jaune handed Blake an energy drink, which she eagerly accepted. She took a mighty swig from the can, gulped, crunched the can in her hand, then handed it back to him.

"I tried explaining it to my parents once," Blake said. "They laughed at me, said I was just imagining things. I went to bed that night, and you know what I saw? The red dot. It was staring at me, mocking my torment. I only got eight hours of sleep that night because of it."

Jaune's mouth hung open. He was appalled at what he was hearing. "Blake… I had no idea. To go through something like that… how are you still standing?"

Blake gave him a forced smile. "I'm a survivor, Jaune. I've had to be."

"Ren recently told me I was imagining it too."

Now it was Blake's turn to look disgusted. "Seriously? How could he say that? Ren sucks!"

"Normally he's cool, but in this particular instance? Yeah, he sucks."

"I'm still here," Ren grunted. "And, Blake, please! Nora might see this and get the wrong idea!"

"How do we catch it?" Jaune said. "It must have a weakness."

"None that I know of," Blake said. "Every time I try catching it, it slips through my fingers. I've tried sneaking up on it, laying traps, inviting it to discuss peace treaties. This thing is like Ruby's handwriting- unreadable."

"It's already infiltrated our school. We should lock down the building. Maybe set up traps?"

"I've already placed several in my dormroom. At least, I try to, but my team keeps tripping them. Then they get mad at me, and suddenly I'm the bad guy! They don't understand."

"You're not alone in this, Blake," Jaune said fiercely. He grabbed onto her hands and held them tenderly. "You don't need to try and convince me that this red dot is evil. It's small, red, and incorporeal. That's all the reason I need to kill it. If our friends even knew half the stuff we knew, they wouldn't be so judgemental. I got yo back, girl."

Blake was renowned for being a stoic, cool-headed person. But Jaune could see the tears glistening behind those battle-hardened eyes.

"I've been fighting this invisible war for so long," she murmured. "To have someone stand by my side in this moment of conflict… Jaune, it is an honour to chase red dots alongside you."

Jaune's chest tightened as a flurry of emotions raced through him. "The honour is mine," he said sincerely.

"I think the blood has cut off from my legs," Ren unhelpfully added.

But before either of them could enjoy their newfound alliance, Blake suddenly shot up from her/Ren's chair, knocking Ren back in the process. "There it is!" she shouted.

Jaune swivelled round. She was right. Hovering across a row of books was the red dot. His crimson nemesis. It stared at them menacingly from a distance. The lack of facial features on its scarlet visage made it impossible for them to judge what it was thinking.

Jaune felt his blood boil. "That bastard," he growled. "It heard everything we said. It knows too much!"

"Little specky eavesdropper," Blake snarled.

The dot zoomed to the left, racing along several bookshelves.

"No!" Jaune cried. "We can't let it get away! This is the last chance we have to get the drop on it!"

"It fears us now!" Blake said. "It knows we're working together, and it hates that!"

"Come on, we gotta catch it!"

The two warriors of justice sprung into action. They leapt across tables and students in their pursuit of the red dot. There was no time for planning or strategy. If the red dot escaped now, it would be free to wreak havoc upon the innocent students of Beacon.

The students were horrified when Blake and Jaune used their faces as stepping stools in order to get closer. Jaune pitied them. If they were this scared now, he could only imagine how they'd react to the sight of the red dot at full power.

The librarian tried shushing them, but was quickly silenced herself when Jaune accidentally slipped and crashed into her. Blake was throwing several books at the dot to knock it off the wall. The red menace dodged past all of them.

"I should have brought my weapon," Blake seethed. "I'd like to see that pest try and dodge bullets!"

The dot fell off the wall and darted across the floor like a mouse. For some reason, Jaune hated mice now. Seeing the red dot act like one make his stomach churn.

"It's beneath us!" Jaune shouted. "Squish it now!"

The two of them grabbed chairs and smashed them against the ground. The dot narrowly avoided each and every strike. When the chairs were nothing bust splinters, they tried stabbing it with the sharp end of the broken legs.

"Did you get it?" Jaune said.

"Nope," came Blake's reply.

"Well, where is it? I don't see it."

"It couldn't have gone far. Just keep an eye out- oh shit…"

Jaune noticed the despair-filled tone in her voice. He followed her eyes to see what she was looking at. He felt his soul wither. The dot had managed to escape their struggle, and had travelled up the tallest bookcase in the library. The bookcase was at least twenty-foot tall. Why was it that tall? Because this was Remnant. Everything was stupid.

The dot towered over them from up high, mocking them from its mahogany tower.

"Damn it!" Blake said. "I can't get up there. I don't do heights."

"And I suck at climbing," Jaune said. "We'll never reach it."

"We can't let it beat us, Jaune. We've come too far to give up now."

She was right. If they let it escape, there was no telling what levels of carnage it would unleash. Cities would be in ruins, children would become orphans, the sun would burn out. Things would be totally lame-o.

But then Jaune saw a solution. There was a chandelier hovering above the centre of a large table in front of the bookcase. If that chandelier fell down, whoever was standing on the table would go flying…

"Blake, I've got an idea," he said. "We're gonna use that table as a springboard. When I give you the signal, cut the chain off the chandelier. I'll fly to the top and catch the dot that way!"

Blake beamed. "Pyrrha always said you were the smart one. Alright, let's do this."

Jaune stood on the edge of the table. He took several deep breaths, preparing himself for his inevitable blast off. Blake pulled out a book about shurikens from a shelf and readied her throwing arm.

Jaune glared up at the red dot. It looked mighty proud from up there, but if it thought soaring to elevated heights made it an angel, it was mistaken. He was gonna drag it back down to Hell where it belonged.

"NOW!"

Blake threw the book with a spin. The sharp paper easily cut through the chains suspending the chandelier. It fell silently, but landed with a deafening crash. The impact split the table in two.

BOING!

Jaune sailed through the air like a speeding bullet. He headed straight for the top of the bookcase with no signs of slowing down. His arms were outstretched in front of him. The red dot was getting closer. Jaune didn't need to see its face to know how terrified it must have felt in that moment.

He slammed into the bookcase, sending books spilling down beneath him. He hit the bookcase with so much force, it started to wobble like a giant pendulum.

"Got you!" he roared. One hand was clinging for dear life on one of the shelves, the only thing stopping him from falling. The other was clenched tightly around the red dot.

Don't look down, Jaune, he told himself. Whatever you do, don't spoil your victory now. Wow, he was really high up! It didn't help that the bookcase wouldn't stop swaying.

He couldn't wait to see the look on Blake's face when he would bring down the red dot. Their suffering was now over. He couldn't help himself. He opened his hand to get a glimpse of his little red prisoner.

His eyes widened. "No, no, no, nooooooo!" he yelled.

The red dot was gone! The little deviant had escaped his clutches again! How was this possible? How could something so small be so powerful?

Curse it all! Curse it to the vilest depths of all of Remnant!

But that was turning out to be the least of his worries. A low creaking noise echoed throughout the library, like a thousand doors were being slowly opened at once. The bookcase starting leaning forwards, and this time made no attempt to move back.

"Uh oh," Jaune murmured to himself, as his world view literally got turned upside down. He briefly saw Blake's slack-jawed look as a twenty-foot shadow washed over her.

Timber!

The bookcase was devastating in its collapse. A huge dust cloud washed over the library, like someone had let a sandstorm into the room. The ground trembled in its destructive wake. Book pages fluttered down from the sky like snow. The crash was so loud, not even the librarian tried to silence it. All the students gathered around to get a good look at the literary cataclysm.

And there was Jaune and Blake, sitting in the middle of it all, surrounded by book pages and splintered wood. There was so much dust on their faces, they looked like they were wearing grey maks. Both of them had dazed, weary expressions. The two leaned on each other for support.

Ren scrambled over to them. "Jaune, what on earth is wrong with you?" he cried.

Jaune coughed and a small book popped out of his mouth. "I don't know, Ren… I don't know…"

Before he blacked out, Jaune saw Cardin sitting at a table at the far end of the room. The bully had been reading a book before the devastation. Now, he was watching the two idiots who caused a mess like everyone else.

Once again, he gave Jaune that same disgusted frown and disappointed head shake. He then returned to his book and didn't look at Jaune again.