Welcome to ch 12 of TPA. Edited, and spell-checked by JJD.
Ruby sat at her usual place and looked around. The cafeteria was full of people, like usual, but it it was somehow less noisy than usual - even for a Saturday morning. There was tension in the air - nothing too serious, but one could feel it.
"You hear? They found another victim yesterday."
"Really? When?"
"Late last night, somewhere in harbor."
"That's terrible. That makes eight in total, right?"
"Yeah. What the hell are the police doing?"
Ruby winced. Conversations like that could be heard all over the place, and for good reason. The Vale Murder Spree, how media had chosen to dub them, had started last Monday. Everyday since then, a corpse of a young girl was found somewhere in Vale. So far, the police had made little progress in finding preparator. There were no witnesses, the victims seemed completely unrelated, and the bodies were found in seemingly random locations.
So it shouldn't come up as surprise that people were on edge. She looked over her team. Weiss was just staring at the inside her tea cup. Blake didn't have book with her, and wasn't that a weird sight, instead she was looking something up on her scroll. Ruby was sure it was reports related to the murders.
Even Yang seemed lost in thought, not even trying to tease anyone. One look at team JNPR confirmed they were no better.
Pyrrha tried to lift the mood by starting a conversation, but it soon died out. Ren was even quieter than usual, just poking his food with fork. Even Nora was quiet, which Ruby honestly though was a bit scary. And Jaune…
She paused and blinked a few times, only now noticing lack of certain blond Hunter.
"Guys, where is Jaune?" She asked aloud.
Pyrrha looked up her from her breakfast with slight frown.
"We're not sure. He went to Vale yesterday because he took some contract from the Company. When I woke up this morning, he was not in the room. But I got a message from him on my scroll saying that he got held up, and he will be back later than usual."
Yang perked up at that.
"Again? He was out Monday, and Wednesday too, right?"
"Actually, he was out everyday. Apparently it was supposed to be a short job, but is dragging on..." said Ren.
Blake looked up form her scroll.
"What job? And why he would go everyday if it left him so exhausted He even fell asleep in class a few times."
"Apparently someone he used to work with in the past contacted him. They needed some help on short notice, and not many people were available. Jaune accepted because he was running out of money."
"And when we asked him why he needed money so suddenly, he just said, 'three days, and seven sisters,'" added Nora.
Yang snorted.
"Yep, I think that explain a lot. How's his family anyway? Everything alright?"
"I think so. They left Vale earlier than they initially wanted, but apparently plan on visiting again sometime soon."
'When the murders stop' went unsaid.
Ruby recalled the previous week and smiled at the memory. Jaune was very excited about meeting with his parents and sisters. He would often drag one - or all - of his female friends to Vale to help him pick gifts, or ask their opinion on the one he already had planned. There were even some secret there - something team JNPR refused to talk about. Of course this made Yang all the more eager to learn what it was.
Jaune spent the whole weekend with them - to the not too well hidden disappointment of Pyrrha. Of course that prompted even more teasing form Yang. Ruby shook her head. Poor girl would probably have died from embarrassment, if not for Nora who was valiantly discracting Yang with constant sparrings.
She recalled how happy Jaune seemed next Monday. But this happiness turned into concern when he received a text message from his grandmother, and then into a full panic when the news of finding the first victim hit. It took the combined effort from both teams to stop him from rushing into Vale then and there. As it turned out, a few of his sisters went into the city alone, and his parents had trouble locating them. Fortunately, about an hour later, they were found.
Ever since then, Jaune seemed on edge - even when his family left Vale.
Ruby sighed, and looked around - just in time to see the blond haired boy heading their direction. She waved with a smile.
Jaune nodded and sat heavily in front of her, his food tray clanging on the table.
A choir of greetings sounded, and he greeted back. Ruby winced when she took a closer look at her friend. He looked like he would fall asleep at any moment, and only stayed awake by sheer force of will.
"Are you ok, Jaune?" She asked, even though the answer was obvious.
"Yeah, just a little tired."
"That doesn't look like 'a little'. When did you get back anyway? You are usually back shortly after eleven, but this time I think we are all were asleep when you returned." Ren asked, eyeing his leader with noticeable concern.
Jaune just groaned.
"Yeah, I got held back. Some idiot wanted to show off, messed things up, and it fall onto me to clean it up. I think it was almost five before I was done. Then there was a lot of paperwork to fill out - I just returned.."
Pyrrha sighed, seemed to consider something, then looked her partner in the eyes.
"Jaune, this is too much, you need to stop. You are exhausted already, if this continues it will affect not only your grades, but health too."
The blond hunter just shook his head.
"Pyrrha, we talked about this already. I can't simply 'stop'. I took a contract, and I need to stick with it."
"But.."
"I'll be fine. This was supposed to be a one time thing, but since it's dragging out, they are looking to hire more people."
This seemed to calm Pyrrha down a little. She still stared at him for a few moments, but eventually let it go.
Yang looked between two of them for a moment, before focusing on the leader of team JNPR.
"Well, now that you and your wife are done, I think it's high time we take care of the real problem here." Both Jaune and Pyrrha choked on their food.
Yang grinned and rested her cheek on one hand, while tapping the fingers of the other on the table.
"Ladykiller, you were going out to Vale everyday for the past week. And you always return late. Very late. Long after curfew. You often come late for classes, even sleep in few, and yet you didn't get detention. Or were reprimanded. None of the teachers seem to notice, or care about your escapades."
She leaned closer and looked him straight in the eyes.
"Care to explain why?"
Jaune just shrugged.
"I'm a registered member of Company, and this is a Company approved job. I guess they simply contacted Beacon, and informed them I was hired. And since it's technically Hunter related, I guess someone from staff just signed it off as me doing self-study, or a special assignment, or something like that." He said, before returning to his breakfast.
His friends stared at him for few seconds. Then exchanged knowing looks, silently asking each other who would say it.
"Professor Port is just covering for you while you are out, isn't he?" Blake asked finally.
Jaune sputtered and choked on his food. After his coughing stopped, he looked at the black haired girl with a slight panic in his eyes.
"Wha… Ho.. I mean, I don't know what you're talking about." He said finally.
"Jaune… everyone knows you are his favorite student."
"What? Nonsense . Peter Port is a professional, he treats everyone equally."
"He took you on some special assignment, not a week after Beacon started." Said Weiss.
"Yeah, but…"
"You guys sometimes meet in the corridor and spend hours discussing some strange stuff." Offered Ruby.
"Hey, that's…"
"He often calls you out to 'discuss some important matter'. No one knows what, but there are rumors flying around". Blake added.
"Wha…"
"And you are still the only person who understands what he's talking about." Yang finished with smirk. It fell when she noticed Ren and Nora looking around nervously.
"Ren? Nora? What's wrong?" she asked, a little uncertain.
"Well…" Ren begin.
"I think, his last story was actually pretty good." Nora finished with a shy smile.
All of team RWBY recoiled.
"Wha - What the hell?!" Yang screamed, terror evident in her voice.
"You guys… what the hell happened to you." Blake asked, eyes wide.
Ruby recovered from the initial shock, and used her Semblance to reach Pyrrha. She grabbed the champion by the arm and pulled.
"Quickly Pyrrha, you have to run! Before you get infected too!" She cried out.
There were few moments of silence. Then all of them burst out laughing.
"But seriously, what's up with you and Port? You guys spend a lot of time together. I don't think I ever heard of a student going to visit his teacher just to hang out." Asked Yang after she calmed down.
Jaune considered this for a moment, then just shrugged.
"I'm not sure. I guess its because we have similar experiences. Port was learned the ropes in the Wilds too, not in school. This is the old way of training, almost completely forgotten nowadays. Most people will go to schools, since its safer, and more efficient."
"So what are you talking about when you meet?"
"Usually we just complain about how much of a mess the current Hunter training program is. Or talk about our hunting methods."
He seemed to consider something for a moment, then just shook his head.
"Anyway, I think I'll try to catch some sleep. I feel like I'm gonna collapse any moment."
"And you look like it too. I guess we won't keep you any longer." Said Ren with a nod.
Weiss made a show of wrinkling her nose
"Just don't forget to take a shower. You stink so much that I can smell it form over there."
Jaune rolled his eyes.
"Yes, mom. Anything else, or can I go?"
Weiss eyed him for a moment, stroking her chin. Jaune sighed.
"You aren't going to repeat your usual rant, are you? I heard it enough times when I was working for your father."
"Now that you mention it…" Weiss said with a smirk.
Jaune narrowed his eyes.
"Well, if we going to repeat our old routines, I guess next you will…."
"Ok, you can go. Good night Jaune, I hope you have nice dreams!" The heiress exclaimed quickly, a slight panic evident in her voice.
Jaune just snorted and left. Weiss took a few deep breaths to calm herself down.
Ok, stay calm Weiss. They don't know, and will never know. This was just some insignificant banter, surely no one….
An arm wrapped around her shoulders and mop of blonde hair appeared in her vision.
"Weiss~" Yang sing-songed
Damn.
"Y-yes?"
"What was that about?"
Just stay calm, you've got this under control.
"I was just messing with Jaune. Nothing more."
There. Simple, easy answer. Surely she will…
"Oh, I'm sure you were. But I'm more interested in what Jaune mentioned…"
Crap.
"I mean, you backed off rather quickly after he mentioned it. So, Weiss-cream, what did your 'usual routines' include?"
Weiss could feel her cheeks heating up.
Double crap.
"I-I.. I Have to go! I have an appointment that I absolutely can't miss!" She said, getting up in a hurry.
Smooth Weiss, really smooth.
"Oh?" Yang raised a single eyebrow. "And what appointment would that be?"
Triple crap.
"Well…"
"She promised to help me with something."
Everyone turned to look at the source of the new voice. Blake packed her book into her bag and stood up.
"I guess we will head to the library now?" She asked looking at the heiress.
Weiss nodded.
"Yes indeed. If you excuse us, we will be on our way." She said, following her new most favorite person in the whole word.
Yang was staring at her for a few more intense moments, then just shrugged.
"If you say so. I'm in a merciful mood today, so I shall pretend I believe that. Come Rubes, I think we still have some homework to do."
"Thank you."
Blake looked over her shoulder at the heiress.
"You're welcome." She said with a nod.
They continued walking in the silence, neither sure what to do.
Come on Blake, you can do better.
The black haired girl sighed. One of reasons she dragged the heiress out of the cafeteria - beside saving her from being Yanged to death - was to get to know her better. After the joined sparring session with team JNPR, she decided she should get to know her team better. Sure, they knew each other only for one week at that point, but Blake knew she was a rather antisocial person, so the sooner she starts, the better.
Ruby was easy enough. She was nice, friendly, innocent, and excitable. Honestly, it was hard to not get along with her. Yang was similar - she was friendly enough on her own, and if someone was on good terms with her little sister, she would treat them as her own friends anyway.
That left Weiss. She was most distant from her teammates. Not really cold, or looking down on them, but rather reserved. Blake could see it in her behavior -sometime heiress would do, or say something, and then tense, as if wondering if what she did was not rude.
So it shouldn't come as big surprise that two of them didn't interact much. Blake was keeping mostly to herself, and was not afraid to let other people know when she prefered to be left alone - which was honestly most of the time. So even now, three weeks after Beacon started, they were still mostly strangers.
Blake decided that it was time to change it.
Ok, stay calm girl. You can do it. Just start the conversation, something easy.
"So what was that 'usual routine' Jaune mentioned?"
Weiss gasped, and Blake mentally facepalmed.
Great, just great. Ask her about the very thing you saved her from having to talk about.
"You don't have to say if it's too personal. I was just a bit curious."
She could hear Weiss letting out a breath of relief.
Ok, back to square zero. Now think about something that will not sound like you try to interrogate her.
"Thank you."
Blake turned around, surprised.
"For saving me from Yang. It's not that it's something bad, or very personal… Well I guess it is… Personal I mean, not bad…"
Weiss Schnee, miss perfect, is standing before me, blushing and babbling. Good thing I'm not jumping to conclusions as easily as Yang.
"You are welcome." Blake interrupted "What are friends for?"
Ok, making some assumptions here.
To her relief, the heiress just smiled.
"I guess. But still, thanks for save." She seemed to consider something for a moment before asking.
"Hey Blake?"
"Yeah?"
"If you don't mind me asking… where are we going?"
Well isn't that a great question?
Before Blake could come up with an answer, the heiress continued.
"I don't mean to imply that I do not enjoy your company, but we've been wandering around for quite a while. I was just wondering, if there is something you wanted from me, or…" she trailed off.
Blake considered the answer for a moment, then decided to just go with the truth.
"To be honest, I just wanted to get to know you better. It was already three weeks since our team was formed, and we didn't had any chance to hang out."
Heiress looked surprised of all things. But soon after her lips stretched in small smile and she nodded.
"That sounds like great idea."
Huh, that was easier than I thought.
Well, this went better than expected. Though Weiss, following her silent teammate.
After being saved from her inevitable death by teasing, she intended to thank her and then leave Blake to her own devices.
But then the thought struck her -she knew next to nothing about the black haired girl, despite living together for three weeks. Weiss knew she like to read, and preffered to keep to herself. And that was it. Blake seemed to be an intelligent, and very observant girl, that didn't hesitate to say what she thought, but at the same time, was much more tactful than Yang. Weiss would really like to call her friend.
Well, that would be strange. Have we even had a proper talk? I don't think so.
Considered all of this, Weiss decided to take advantage of her current situation. Now, that there were no noisy, overexcitable teammates nearby, they could maybe hang out a bit. And as the heiress considered the best way to breach the topic, Blake once again spared her potential embarrassment by admitting that she had similar thoughts.
So now two of them were sitting at a white table, surrounded by the greenery of the Beacon gardens. It was a nice, quiet place, that Weiss found during the first week of her stay at the academy, and visited when she needed a bit of rest from her noisy team.
"This is a really nice place." Said Blake. "How did you find it?"
"By accident. I was wandering around, trying to clear my head, and just stumbled upon it."
Blake hummed.
"But I must say, it's a bit strange. It almost looks like a restaurant." She said with a small smile.
"Well…" the heiress trailed off. "It technically is."
Seeing her teammate's surprised expression, she continued.
"This is part of the recreation area for dignitaries visiting Beacon."
Blake suddenly looked nervous.
"Wait… can we even be here?"
Weiss shrugged.
"There is no rule saying we can't. And as long as we do not get in anyone's way, I doubt they will throw us out."
Blake chuckled.
"What?"
"Nothing. It's just that I didn't picture you as someone who would say something like that. You seem more…" Blake trield off.
"Stuck-up?" Weiss offered.
Blake blushed a little and looked to the side.
"No… 'proper' would the be word I'd use. More of 'if it's not allowed, it's forbidden' type of person."
"I guess… I must admit I used to be much more… stiff when it come to rules and regulations."
"But not anymore?"
Weiss huffed.
"Yes, not anymore. And I blame every bad thing that came out of it on the dunce."
"You mean Jaune?"
"Yes. He really was a bad influence on me. Sometimes I wonder why my father even allowed him to come so close to me. Though he probably never really cared."
This last sentence was mumbled quietly. So quietly in fact, that Blake doubted she would have heard it, if not for her being Faunus.
"So, if you don't mind me asking… what is between you and Jaune? You seem really close." Weiss let out tired sigh."I don't think you're secret lovers or anything like that. I'm not Yang. I'm just curious." Blake added quickly.
"Well, like I said many times, we are just good friends. And us being close?" She hummed, considering the answer.
"I guess it all just comes down to Jaune being the first… I guess you could call it 'normal' person my age that I had a chance to interact with. All my acquaintances up to that point were children of my father's business partners. Sure, they were friendly, but it was because it was expected of them... and from me."
She paused, lost in thought.
"We would smile at each other, joke around, even hang out. But it was all so…forced. Staged. Like a game - we all played it, even though we knew it was all just a facade."
A small smile appeared on her lips.
"Jaune was the first person I met who was just… friendly. There was no ulterior motives to his actions. He was friendly, because he wanted to be my friend. At first I was suspicious of him because of that. I guess I just couldn't believe he wanted to be friends just for the sake of being friends."
"After his first contract with my father ended, and he left, I felt… lonely. Then I realized how easy it was to talk to someone when you didn't have to be on your guard all the time. So next time Jaune came along, I decided to try and give him a chance. And it paid off. Sure, there were other people who I could talk with honestly - my sister, or my butler Klein. But with Jaune it was different. With Klein we had to stick to certain rules, he was employed by my father after all. With my sister… Well I love her dearly, and admire too. I always wanted to be like her, so I tried to act properly around her. With Jaune it was… different. He was not bound by the same rules as Klein, and he wasn't someone I admire, like my sister. I… I didn't had to be perfect around him."
"So how was he back then? He seem a bit…" Blake trailed off again.
"Dorky?"
"Yeah, that one."
Weiss rolled her eyes.
"He was even worse than he is now. Seriously, it's baffling how he managed to survive in the Wilds. And don't even get me started on his social skills. Or rather lack of thereof. Seriously, the only reason he was not thrown away form any social gathering was because he was just too dorky, and no one took him seriously. Everyone thought he was just some comedian."
"It must have been nice." Blake said, after heiress stopped her little rant with a huff.
"Hmm?"
"Having so close a friend. I never had any."
"Really?" Weiss looked genuinely surprised.
"Yeah.. There was this one guy. I thought we were friends, even more than that. But then he changed… or maybe he was always like that, and I just didn't notice? I'm not sure. Anyway, there came a time when I realized that we can no longer see eye to eye, so I left."
"Do you regret it?" Weiss asked.
Blake looked up at the heiress.
"Do you regret leaving him?"
She took a moment to consider her answer.
"No… I don't think so. He was.." she paused, then sighed. "We disagreed on some fundamental levels. We used to share a dream, but…" she trailed off, and fell silent.
Weiss hummed.
"So.. who is your favorite writer?"
Blake looked up surprised and a bit confused, but took this chance to change the topic.
"I don't have one favorite. I just read whatever tickles my fancy. But if you want some recommendations, Then…"
Form there the conversion become much easier. They would start on a topic, discuss it for sometime, and then move on to the next. If it turned uncomfortable for one of them, they would change it, and pretend neither noticed.
It was strange, and a bit awkward at times - but after three hours, both girls were much more comfortable with each other. Maybe not full friends yet - but the first step was made, and now they at least had some topics to talk about.
One thing Weiss was particularly happy about was that Blake didn't inquiry where the heiress procured porcelain cups and the tea they drank. A sign on the doors to small kitchen said to 'not interrupt the staff', not 'do not enter', and she did leave some money, that would surely cover the cost of their tea. But even she could admit she was pushing borders quite heavily there.
Eventually, they decided to head back. But this time their walk was not silent, instead both of them enjoyed the easy discussion.
Blake chuckled at the heiress' joke. Their little outing went far better than she could have hoped. Weiss was much easier to talk to than Blake imagined. It turned out they have similar tastes in many areas - music, movies, books Though in the latter case, she didn't dared to mention some of the more… mature ones she read.
"So then we.. Jaune?"
Blake looked at the heiress in surprise, then up at where she was staring. Sure enough, the blond leader of team JNPR was there.
"He seems in a hurry." Blake noticed.
Well that was somewhat of an understatement. He was sprinting at full speed, heading towards the bullhead docks.
"Do you think something bad happened?"
The heiress just shrugged.
"Maybe, but it might be him just overreacting. Jaune tends to take his contracts too seriously."
Blake hummed, observing as Jaune ran past a few people, knocking someone down. He didn't seem to pay any attention at the angry shouts that followed him.
"Any idea what his job might be?"
"Your guess is as good as mine. But I don't think it's anything dangerous."
Blake raised an eyebrow at that.
"Oh? And what makes you think that?"
"He didn't have his weapon. He might be a dork, but not enough to go into combat unarmed."
Blake spared one more look at the running blond, and true to Weiss' words, his sword was nowhere to be seen.
"Well, whatever it is, I'm sure he will be fine. Unless Pyrrha nags him to death."
Weiss snorted, and they continued walking towards the dorms.
Blake couldn't help but smile. Today was a good day.
Jaune dropped into the seat and pulled his scroll. He opened the last message he received, and started at the photo of a young girl.
Emilia Benger. Age 16. Student at a local high school. Good grades, liked by teachers and fellow students alike. President of the student council, and captain of the girls' basketball team. Her body was found only thirty minutes ago, in the older parts of Vale's trade district. She wasn't registered as missing yet - so she had died not long ago.
Well, that makes thirteen.
Jaune winced. This was getting really bad. Thirteen victims in the span of six days. There were little to no connection between them. Most of them didn't know each other. There were oraphons, daughters of simple workers, and directors of big companies. There were both human and fanus. Bodies were found in seemingly random locations around city, usually within its walls, and there were no visible injuries. There were only two common traits between them.
All victims were young girls, aged between thirteen and seventeen, and all of them turned in the same Harrowed after death: Class 2, subtype Dream Eater.
Jaune yawned and shook his head to stay awake.
Pyrrha was right - he really needed some rest. If he knew how it would turn out, he would probably have refused this contract. It was paying well, and Dream Eaters were not very hard to kill once you found them, but after a whole week of mostly sleepless nights, he was running on fumes.
He yawned again, and the checked messages he received again.
Five victims found, all over the city. It was unknown if they all were killed today, or some of them were simply not found earlier. Port was already on the case, but since the victims were spread all over the city, and killing five Harrowed in quick succession could prove dangerous for single Witcher, Jaune agreed to help.
The bullhead landed in Vale soon after. Jaune walked out and stretched, yawning yet again.
I really need to take a break. Hopefully whoever they hire will be better than the guy last night.
"Jaune Arc? Please come with us."
The blond hunter turned around to see two men walking his way. Even though both of them wore civilian clothes, Jaune recognized one of them as the police officer that arrested him not so long ago. He smiled at the man.
"Hey, I just got into Vale, and you already want to cuff me? Isn't this a bit harsh?"
The man snorted.
"You can be never too careful with you Hunter lot. Always going around causing trouble."
Jaune shook his head and followed the two men to an unmarked police car.
"So why are you out anyway? I thought Peter was supposed to take care of things today?"
Jaune turned to his companion. Steven Brown was a burly man in his mid forties. He was assigned to accompany Jaune on this case.
"Yeah, but with so many targets it's better to spread them between two people." He paused to yawn again. "It's dangerous for a single person to kill so many Harrowed in a single day."
"I heard they hired another Witcher yesterday…" Steven paused when he noticed Jaune scowl.
"That bad?"
"Yeah. Guy was more concerned about looking cool, than doing the job. He got knocked out and let the damn thing escape. I had to spend most of the night chasing it around."
"Can't they hire someone else? Or just pick a few Hunters?"
"It's not that easy. Dream Eaters remain in they 'ghost' form most of the time - you can barely see them, and they are almost completely immune to normal attacks.. They materialize only when they fight you - but the problem is that they tend to avoid direct confrontation."
"Then why hunt them? If they don't harm people…"
"I never said that." Jaune yawned again, then slapped his cheeks. "They are still dangerous, they just act differently. Normal a Wraith, or any Harrowed really, will attack you, and kill you as soon as it finds you. Dream Eaters work in different ways - they attach themselves to their victim, and follow them around, slowly draining them of Aura. Such a person will feel tired, might have trouble with concentrating, or remembering things. It's easy to write it off as exhaustion. And when the victim falls asleep - the Harrowed will drain them even faster. It can take weeks or even months before a person dies."
Jaune hummed, considering something for a moment.
"I guess you could say that if normal Harrowed are predators, Dream Eaters are more like parasites."
Steven noded once, and then considered his companion.
"Will you be ok though? You look look like you could fall asleep on your feet."
Jaune let out another yawn, and shook his head.
"Yeah, they are not hard to kill. Its finding them that is tricky. That's why it's important to take them out as soon as you locate one. Finding them afterwards is a real pain. That's also the reason why it's only me and Peter doing this job. You need to have some way of detecting invisible enemies to deal with Dream Eaters, and it's not something everyone can do."
Steven just nodded. The rest of the way passed interrupted only occasional small talk. Normally, Jaune prefered to stay silent and focus on the job. But this time he welcomed distraction - it helped him stay awake.
After around thirty minutes, Steven parked the car in one of the more remote areas of Vale.
Not remote enough.
Jaune thought, noticing several people milling around. It was not a crowd by any means, and he knew some of them were police officers in disguise, but there were a few civilians too.
Oh well, it changes nothing. As long as I don't mess anything up, it should be alright.
"Here. I believe this is yours."
Jaune took a long, metallic case handed to him by Steven. It looked fairly simple - black, about one and a half meters long, with single handle in the middle. There was an electronic lock on one side, as well as a small scanner. Jaune entered the six digit code into lock, and pressed his thumb to the scanner. After a moment, the locks were released, and Jaune opened the case, revealing Eclipse resting inside.
After it became clear this assignment would drag out, Jaune decided to leave his black sword in the Company office, rather than the school. That way he didn't have to waste time going to locker rooms everytime he needed it, and didn't risk people stopping him to ask why he carried his weapon on school grounds.
With a nod, he closed the case again, but didn't activate the lock. Instead, he picked it up, and started walking towards building in front of him. Judging by sign in the door, it used to be a hairdresser salon, but it was long since closed.
The doors opened easily, revealing an interior devoid of any furniture, but with a lot of dust, and what seemed like the remains of fireplace on the floor. There were two people inside. Dirty, mismatched clothes, unshaved faces, and bottles in paper bags they held made them look no different than any other beggar in Vale.
"You can leave. Tell the guys outside to stay at least one hundred meters away, and not to enter until I'm done.
Both men nodded and left. Jaune shook his head. They had to be either crazy, or have balls of steel. Keeping watch inside of a haunted building, when you didn't even have Aura, was not something many people would willingly do. But members of Vale's police Special Response Unit were some of the toughest bastards Jaune had ever worked with.
He took Eclipse from its case, and waited for the sounds of footsteps outside to quiet down, then activated both his blade, and Semblance. Jaune briefly considered trying out the technique Peter taught him two weeks ago, but he still had a long way to go with it, and this was not time to be experimenting.
With a sigh, Jaune pulled two Elixirs from his belt and drank them both. He was already exhausted, and it wasn't even that long since last time he activated his Aura vision.
Three perception enhancers, and three Dusk's in around twelve hours. I can already tell, this will be the most epic hangover ever.
He winced a bit when the light nausea attack hit him. But thankfully it was short, and Jaune started heading towards the doors at the far end of the room - where he knew stairs leading to the cellar were.
Soon after, he was in small, dark, and damp room. It looked similar to the one above - only difference was a few old wooden boxes in one corner, and less empty bottles lying around.
Oh, and the corpse of a young girl in the middle of the room.
Jaune looked around. Spotting the Harrowed was not hard - it hovered around one meter above the dead body.
Unlike most Wraiths, Dream Eaters didn't look like something pulled straight out of a schizophrenic's nightmare. Most notable difference was the face - it brought to mind a young, sleeping woman, not a deformed human skull. It also had normal fingers instead of sharp claws, and long, black hair that floated gently in the air instead of eldritch bluish, or greenish flames.
Jaune took his stance, and started to close the distance slowly. When the Harrowed didn't react even when he was not more than three meters away from it, he broke into a sprint and buried Eclipse into its chest. There was no soul-crushing howl, no sudden burst of telekinetic energy, or eruption of otherworldly flames. Just a quiet sigh as it started to turn into motes of light.
Jaune winced. He hated dealing with Dream Eaters the most. Whether it was their appearance, or strange behavior, he didn't know, but they always made him uncomfortable. He shook his head to dispel such thoughts and focused on the body instead. It was cold, but still a bit soft.
So she died relatively recently. That would explain why the Harrowed don't move - it still hadn't not formed fully.
He looked the dead girl over carefully, but couldn't find any noticable wounds. There was no blood, no deformations indicating blunt trauma, and as far as he could tell, there was no sign she suffocated, drowned, or had been strangled.
Oh well, I guess I'll leave this to the police. This is a fairly fresh body, so maybe they will find something this time.
Jaune spared one last glance towards the corpse, and swept the room just to make sure there were no Harrowed traces left. Only then, he left the building. Back in the open he leaned on the wall, and slumped, taking deep breaths.
I really need a break. He thought.
"You are out fasts. I hope this means that the job is done, not that you got scared and ran away?"
Jaune looekd up at Steven, and accepted the offered hand.
"Yeah. It didn't have a chance to fully form, so I took it out without any problem. By the way, that means the corpse is still fresh. Maybe the folks from the lab will find something this time."
Steven just nodded, and hauled him towards car. Since not a single body had any injury, the current theory a was that some kind of poison was used. However, so far identifying it proved difficult - there was some damage to internal organs that supported this theory, but no traces of any known poison was discovered in any of the victims' bodies.
Oh well,. It was not his job to find this out, and even if it was, he was too tired to think about anything right now.
Not him, nor any of the cops paid any attention to the figure observing them from one of the alleys.
He slumped against the wall and let out a ragged breath. He failed. Again.
This was supposed to be a good day. The day when he finally succeed. He put a lot of work into this, used the best ingredients he could get his hands on, double, triple, or even quadruple-checked every step, every dose, everything.
It was perfect. Today he was supposed to finally complete the medicine for Emily. But there were some things he had to take care of, so he left the medicine in the usual meeting place with precise instructions on how to use it, in case he didn't not make it back in time. He was sure it would work - it was a recipe of his Master after all.
But now he would never know. His first hint that something is wrong was the people. There were more than usual, and some of them were a bit too focused on looking around. Some of them were walking from place to place, but never strayed too far from the same spot.
He hurried, picking well-known alleys to reach his destination faster. But his heart almost stopped when he noticed a blond boy with a very familiar case in hand leaving the building where they were supposed to meet.
He knew what this case contained, and what him leaving this building meant. It meant that Emily was gone. That he would never see her smile again. That he failed.
His hand clutched his chest. Why? Why was this happening?
He just wanted to help. Emily was such a nice girl - far too trusting for her own good, cheerful, nice, and always smiling. But he knew, from the moment he saw her, it was all just a farce.
She was ill. Very ill. No one else noticed, but frankly, he didn't blame them. Symptoms were subtle, almost impossible to notice. The only reason he was able to do so, was because he saw them oh so many times already. So he did everything he could to help her.
He wasn't arrogant enough to think he was only one that could, or even that he was best for the job - this would be his Master. But he wasn't there, so it was up to him to act.
He spoke with her just this morning - she was so excited to meet him. And now she was dead. Gone forever. Murdered by some maniac in broad daylight.
With a heavy sigh, he pushed off the wall, and started walking. He didn't care where he was going, just as long as it were away from this place.
Ever since coming to Vale, he found several girls suffering from the same illness. Even though he knew the chances for success were low, he tried his best to help them. And he did - he managed to save far more than usual. Only for all of them to die soon after.
He briefly considered if this was his fault. Was he somehow drawing death to them? Maybe the murderer was someone who had grudge against him, and was killing those girls just to hurt him? Was it better if he just stopped?
He shook his head. No, that was ridiculous. He was not so important to warrant attention like that, and it definitely was not his fault that some… some monster decided to kill them. And even if that was true - they would have suffer even more if he did nothing.
He took a deep breath, and steeled his resolve. He couldn't give up. He had to continue. Not for himself.
Not even for his Master.
But for them.
Well, that wraps it up. A little bonding between Blake and Weiss, Vale is terrorized by a series of murders, and our blond Witcher is working his ass off to save both the citizens of Vale, and his own wallet.
Also, we got a bit of insight into Jaune and Weiss' relationship. In case there are any White Knight fans reading this, I'll make it clear - they are just friends, and there will be no romance between those two in this story. Sorry folks, maybe some other time.
Oh, and speaking of Jaune and Weiss - here is another omake of their time together:
It was strange, Weiss decided, how even the smallest things could shock very fundations of your life. How even simplest, most mundane thing could lead to you changing the way you see the world.
Weiss believed in order. She believed that everything, and everyone had its place in the universe. She believed that there are certain fundamental truths, so absolute that no one could ever question them. That's why certain things just worked the way they did - and there was no reason to question them.
But what if one of these truths was proven to be false? Suddenly every other looked less… absolute. If one of them could be so easily torn to shreds, what about the others?
And what did this mean for Weiss? Was everything she ever believed a lie? Were her dreams even hers? Was she even her? Maybe she was an imposter, a dopplengar with a false memory put in the place of the real Weiss, who was now suffering in some creepy dungeon? How could she know anything? How could she trust anything, when the very foundations of reality were torn down before her very eyes?
She looked up again, taking in scene in front of her. An impossible scene, something that by all rights should not be happening. But it was. It wasn't a dream, or illusion, or hallucination. Or maybe it was? Maybe the whole word, and everything in it was just a mirage, including Weiss.
"Here, try this one."
She stared at one Jaune Arc, presenting her yet another dress with a goofy smile on his face. With sigh Weiss accepted it, and went into the changing room.
She looked good in it. As she did in every one of the thirty two she tried out up till now.
She felt good in it. As she did in every one before.
How could Jaune Arc, a boy, be able to pick dresses for her so perfectly? This shouldn't be happening. This went against one of most basic laws of universe - men hated shopping for clothing.
Sure some of them might have gotten used to it, even enough to actually offer some sound advice. But they would never, ever enjoy it. Because the universal truth was this - when woman took man to clothing shopping, it was to make him suffer.
He should not actually enjoy it.
He should not be able to guess her mesurments with a single glance.
He shouldn't be able to pick the perfect dress everytime - one that not only fit perfectly, but also looked good on her.
He most definitely shouldn't be able to pick accessories that matched every dress, her eyes, hair, and skin.
And absolutely, definitely, most certainly he shouldn't be so good at all of this that even employees of Atlas most famous clothing stores were impressed.
When they finally left - after Jaune received several employment offers - Weiss was silent. She desperately tried to make some sense of what just happened. She remained mostly silent for rest of the night. She vaguely recalled her servants taking bags from them. Then they visited some more stores, restaurants, and then - to her surprise - a simple food stall. Her father would probably have a stroke if he saw her even look at place such as this, but her? She didn't care. Not after what happened.
The food was good. Not delicious, not amazing, not even close in quality to what she usually ate. Her chef would probably commit seppuku with a butter knife if he saw what she was eating.
But she didn't care. Even though it was not good, she enjoyed it. Maybe it was the shock of her world crumbling to dust, or maybe the people around who did not pay any attention to her, or maybe the blond boy next to her - who was treating her as just a friend. Not a connection, not business partner, nor a way to further his own agenda.
Just a friend.
"So.. wanna get some ice cream?"
Ice cream? At this hour? And no doubt bought in some run-down place.. Local tabloids would have field day if they found out that Weiss Schnee was doing something so undignified. It was bad enough she visited some simple food stall, with a boy, and was now eating kebab with far too much sauce.
"Sounds good." She answered with a smile. To hell with tabloids, rules, and expectations. The world stopped making any sense somewhere between the second and fourth perfectly fitting dress Jaune picked for her. She could at least have a little fun before reality collapsed, and everything returned to the nothingness.