Welcome to Ch 35 of TPA
Ruby groaned, slowly opening her eyes. She hurt all over, like she just ran a marathon. Several times. She sighed and sat up, looking over small room she was in. It was unfamiliar place, and it took her a moment to recall where she was. She slowly stood up, noting with a bit of surprise that she had no trouble standing.
What had she done yesterday anyway? To be so exhausted she had to…
And then it all came flooding back. The old, oak tree, The small clearing, basked in the reddish light of setting sun. The small girl in a green dress smiling at her. The black blade piercing her chest. Red, warm blood staining both the green dress, and hands holding the sword.
Her hands.
She lifted them up, staring as if they belonged to someone else. She could still remember he warm, thick liquid. She could almost smell the intense metallic scent.
Ruby hid her face in her hands, her body shaking.
What have I done?
She killed her. She killed Rias. She could remember the moment so cleary. The moment she grabbed the black sword. The moment it stirred to life, when Jaune poured his Aura into it. How she then added her own. How it pierced the chest of her friend. Emotions and… were those memories? That had crashed into her moments later. And then… darkness.
She started shaking even more, her breath coming in harsh gasps.
She killed a person. Not a Grimm, but a human. Not a bandit, or another criminal, but a small, innocent girl. Her own friend. She…
"Ruby?"
She tensed, and slowly turned around. Silver eyes met emerald, and Ruby forced a cheerful smile onto her face.
"Hey Nora! Wha…"
She paused when the older girl embraced her in a tight hug.
"I'm so sorry Ruby." Nora whispered in her ear, gently stroking her hair.
Ruby bit back a sob. She absolutely couldn't cry! She was Huntress, a Hero, and heros didn't cry!
No matter how much it hurt.
Ruby let out a stuttering breath.
Nora's hug tightened.
"It's ok Ruby. You can cry, I won't tell anyone."
Ruby weakly shook her head. She had to be strong, she couldn't afford to cry. But Nora's warm hug, the way she gently stroked her hair, it all made resisting so much harder.
And when the older girl started humming some soft melody? Ruby finally broke, letting her tears flow freely.
"So, how did it go?" Asked Jaune when Ren left the sheriff's office.
"We won't be put in front of a firing squad." His friend answered with a smirk.
Jaune snorted and got up. "Then let's go back to the tavern. Ruby should be up by now."
"So, what happened to her? They way she fainted…"
"Aura exhaustion. I'll explain in detail once we get there."
"It's another one of these Witcher secrets?" Asked Ren with a smile.
"Yeah."
Ren shot his friend a curious look, but refrained from asking any more questions.
"Thank you, I'm better now." Said Ruby, putting down now her empty cup.
Nora smiled at her.
"I told you. Renny's tea is the best!"
Ruby chuckled, but had to admit her friend was right. The strong herbal drink Nora brought her really helped in calming down.
"So, what now?" She asked after a moment of silence.
"We wait for boys to come back. Jaune said there is something he needs to tell us."
Ruby hummed.
"Where are they anyway?"
"Giving a report to the sheriff. They should be back any time now."
True to her words, just a few minutes later, Ren and Jaune entered the room.
"How are you feeling Ruby?" Asked the blond witcher after everyone sat down.
"Ummm… good. I felt dizzy when I woke up, and my whole body ached, but now I feel fine."
"It's normal. You poured too much Aura into Eclipse, that's why you felt drained. More importantly - have you felt something… strange? Like emotions, or memories that weren't yours?"
Ruby looked at him, surprised.
"Yes… I wasn't sure if I imagined it or not, but when we… I…" she paused, taking a deep breath. Nora squeezed her hand, sending her a reassuring smile. Ruby smiled weakly back. " When I killed Rias… I felt something. I don't remember exactly what, but there was something."
Jaune sighed.
"Well, I guess this was to be expected." He paused for a moment, before continuing. "Do you remember when I told you guys about how black swords work?" He waited for them to nod. "Well, the thing you experienced is called rebound. It happens when you absorb too much corrupted Aura too quickly. Or if you absorb a lot more than your own Aura can adjust to. You get used to it over time, allowing you to absorb more, but you shouldn't push your limit too far."
"I see." Ruby considered something for a moment, before asking "Is there any way to stop this rebound from happening?"
"Beside not absorbing too much corrupted Aura? I don't know of any, and honestly, even if one existed, I wouldn't want to use it."
"Why?" Asked Ren. "Based on what you said, and Ruby's reaction, it's not a pleasant experience."
"True." Jaune agreed, "but… it just feel right, you know? Like hearing their last words, or something. And…" he sighed, shaking his head. "You grow more powerful each time you do this. And you know what they say - appetite grows as you eat. Rebounds are the price for this power, something that keeps you in check. Without it, it would be too easy to get yourself lost, and bite off more than you can chew."
"So what will happen if you absorb too much?" Asked Nora.
Jaune considered the question for a few moments, then shrugged, and took off the leather glove on his right hand. Three startled gasps sounded when the black limb was uncovered.
"Are you all right?! Do we need to call a doctor? Jaune, what…" Ruby called out, already looking for the first aid kit.
"Calm down. I'm fine."
She paused, looked at him, then at his black hand, took a deep breath, and slowly let it go.
"Are you sure? This doesn't look 'fine'." She said sitting next to him.
"Yeah. Like I said, it's normal when you absorb too much corrupted Aura. Unfortunately, when killing an incorporeal Harrowed, this happens almost always."
"Then why am I ok?" sked Ruby, staring at her own hands.
"It's because your tolerance for corrupted Aura is lower than mine. That means you can't absorb enough for corruption to show."
"I see..." Ruby hummed, then suddenly perked up "Wait, you said incorporeal Harrowed, but Rias…" her voice grew quieter as she spoke, until it was just a whisper. Jaune placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder and smiled.
"Well, you passed out, so I guess you didn't see it. Whatever type of Harrowed was possessing Rias, disappeared after we stabbed it with Eclipse. Judging by the state of the corpse that was left behind, she had to be dead for over a week."
Ruby slumped even further and Jaune winced.
I'm so not ready for this. Ok, think, what to do?
He glanced at his teammates, but it didn't look like he was going any help from them. They both looked uncertain what to do.
Right, it that would be too easy. Ok, I need a distraction.
"So… you guys wanna hear a Witcher story?"
Ok, not my brightest idea…
Ruby looked at him, curious.
"Story? About what?"
Jaune sighed. If only he knew himself.
Come on brain. Give me something, anything…
"It's called 'Queen of the Damned'." He said, before he could stop himself.
Anything but that!
"Ohhhhhhhhhh are we going to be telling ghost stories!?" Nora exclaimed, happily jumping to her feet. Jaune made to protest, but caught her eyes subtly shifting towards Ruby, then back to him. Thankfully, he caught the hint.
"Sure… why not." He allowed.
Nora cheered again, grabbing both Ren and Ruby "Oh, it's going to be so awesome!"
"So… why are we sitting under the blanket?" Asked Jaune.
Ruby sighed, shaking her head.
"Because ghost story are always told under a blanket. Or over a campfire, but we can't start one here, can we?"
Jaune sighed, and shook his head.
"You do have a point." Ren admitted, "but why did you insist we wear our pyjamas?"
Nora and Ruby shared a long look and sighed.
"Because we can't have a ghost stories night without dressing appropriately." She explained slowly.
"But it's nine in the morning…" the black haired boy pointed out, but Nora waved her hand dismissively.
"Details. Now, let us begin!"
Jaune cleared his throat, and spoke.
"Long time ago, before Grimm started plaguing this land, there were many kingdoms across Remnant.. The world was a chaotic place then, it wasn't uncommon for cities, or even whole kingdoms to be destroyed overnight by their neighbors. One day, the kings of the five biggest kingdoms came together to speak about the future of their countries.
"This state of things cannot continue. " Said the oldest and wisest among them. "If things continue as they are, we will just destroy ourselves. Nothing will remain. "
"Truth you speak." The others agreed. "But how can peace can be reached? Even if we are of one mind, nobles from our kingdoms will not agree so easily. And what about the small countries? They'll just look for opportunity to claim our lands for themselves."
"True, it's not easy task, but we must not give up. For we all know that war gives birth to nothing but hatred and misery, and those bring the Damned."
"Do not fear those Harrowed creatures, my lords, for my warriors will cleanse the land of this plague!" Spoke the only woman among them, a Queen Without a Land. Legends said she was a descendant of a royal family of kingdom long since destroyed, and she didn't have a single city under her rule, but everyone respected her, for she and her people roamed this lands, cleansing any impure soul that appeared. No one dared to defy her, but not out of fear of her army, for even though every warrior under her service was worth ten, they were few, and scattered among all the kingdoms.
No, the reason no one wanted to offend her, was that her people were the only ones that knew the ancient arts required to vanquish the damned spirits of the deceased.
"It's true that you, and your people have protected us for many years, but can you really say you will be able to continue doing so? Even now, your warriors, as brave as they are, are stretched thin."
She did not speak this time, for she knew there was truth in those words.
"Our only chance for survival, is to unite under a single banner."
"But who's? Even if we chose one amongst ourselves to stand above the rest, the noble houses from our kingdoms would not agree! They would revolt!"
And so it was, that for three days, and three nights they argued. For they agreed that something had to be done, but couldn't agree on the method. And just when it looked like talks would break, an old sage appeared before them and spoke.
"Listen, oh wise and powerful monarchs! Your goal of reaching unity is noble, but not achievable. For no King, or Queen, no matter how wise or powerful, could rule the whole word."
And a great sadness befall on all gathered, for they thought their dream of peace would never come true.
"But do not weep, for there is a method to achieve peace."
"What? Please, tell us great sage, how can we save this world from ruin?"
"Each one of you shall gather their armies, wisest advisors, and wealthiest merchants. You will send them over the lands surrounding your kingdoms, and with gold coin, silver tongue, and steel sword you will take them under your rule. And so every single one of you will take part of this world, and rule it over, and you will not attack each other."
All the gathered monarchs remained silent, absorbing sage's words.
"It could work." The Queen admitted. "But what about the future? Can any of you claim that your sons will obey this rules? Or your grandsons? Or their grandsons?"
"No one can speak for those that are yet to come, but if all the kingdoms are of equal strength, even in the future they would not seek war with each other. For if one would attack, all three would stand against the aggressor."
The kings listened, and saw the wisdom in sage's words. And so it was, that they returned to their kingdoms, and gathered their armies, and merchants, and advisors. Then, they conquered all surrounding lands, with coin, words, or swords.
Many years later, all five monarchs gathered again, to speak of the state of the world.
"We have peace. It's fragile, but all small nations are united under our rule. And with how much land we gained, nobles no longer push for war." Said one of the kings.
"And without wars, these damned creatures, these Harrowed, numbers have dwindled greatly. My warriors are growing bored. Really, where will we go now, that they are gone?" Queen the joked.
"Back home." One of kings said with smile, but the Queen just shook her head. "My people have no home. We lost it long ago."
"Then build a new one." The king said. "There is still some unclaimed land. We decided, that for your service up now, we shall grant this land to you and your people."
The sage made to protest, but no one heeded his words.
And so, on this day, the Queen and her people finally had a place to call their own. But this blessing turned out to be a curse. For there were no farmers among the Queen's men. No builders, or fishers, or merchants.
They were all warriors.
They tried to call to the other kingdoms for help, but it was not enough. Some gave up on building their new home and returned to the old profession of hunting Harrowed. Some others decided to take by force, what they believed they deserved.
And the Queen grew stronger. She never put away her sword, instead she took to the one thing she knew how to do - fighting. At first she said it was to help her people, for even though wars had mostly ended, roads were full of bandits ready to plunder villages and caravans. Harrowed, even though less in number, continued to appear. From time to time, someone claiming to be a heir to the throne of one of fallen kingdoms appeared, rallying people to revolt.
She would happily agree to hunt them all down. And with every kill, she would grew faster, stronger, her senses would sharpen. After many years, she didn't even care about money, or reason anymore - she would kill just for the thrill, and the rush of power she got from it, and the more she killed, the more her bloodlust grew. She took to executing prisoners personally, just so she could enjoy this rush when her balde ended their life. She would execute those of her men that offended, or failed her.
And her hunger grew more and more.
Her hair and skin turned bone-white. Her eyes turned the colour of blood. The very land she walked upon seemed to recoil in fear and disgust. All plants withered in her kingdom, and all animals fled or died.
But the dark queen didn't care about that. The only thing she cared for was humans, and the sweet, sweet taste of their sorrow, pain, and death. Her men, those who didn't flee, or get killed, were just like her, ready to bring despair and death whenever, and wherever their Queen demanded.
Other kingdoms didn't believe the tales spoken by those who fled the Queen's lands. Until, many years later, she left her land, to bring war and ruin to all of Remnant. Her appearance still resembled that of a human, but brought terror to the hearts of any who laid their eyes upon her. Her army - no longer humans, just puppets blindly following their Queen's orders. Their bodies changed into those of wild beasts, for they were no better than them. Their skin turned pitch black, the color of the fear and despair that they brought."
Jaune ended his tale with a sigh. His friends remained silent for a few moments, absorbing the story they just heard.
"So… you mean that those people… turned into Grimm because they killed too many Harrowed and other people?"
Jaune shook his head.
"I doubt it's actually possible for a person to turn into Grimm if he absorbs too much corrupted Aura. This is just legend, after all. It isn't supposed to be treated as fact."
"So, what's the moral of the story?" Asked Ren.
"That power has a price, and that having too much of it will corrupt you, probably without you ever noticing."
"But… none of us would do the things the Queen did!" Ruby protested.
"Really?" Jaune shook his head. "Think about it - at first she only wanted to help her people out. It's only when she gathered too much power she started to get corrupted. And she didn't stop, because there was nothing, and no one, to stop her. If someone very important to you was in danger, would you resist temptation to get more power to help them? And if said that person would get hurt, or worse - how tempting would be to gain more power to get revenge. Especially if there was no immediate price to pay for it?"
More silence fell over the four Hunters. Eventually, Jaune sighed, and shook his head.
"Ok people, let's start packing. There Is only a few more formalites I need to take care of, and we are good to go. Let's not test the good sheriff's patience."
They nodded, threw away the blanket and got to work. It didn't take them long - they hadn't brought many things, and hadn't even had a chance to fully unpack. When they gathered in the tavern's main hall, Ruby nuged Jaune's arm.
"Hey, about Rias…" she swallowed, then took a deep breath and slowly let it go. "What happened with her after we… I…"
Jaune considered her for a few moments.
"She was buried in a local graveyard. It was a closed casket funeral, of course. Official version is that she was killed by the same thing that killed all those other people." Jaune sighed. "Not that far from the truth."
"Oh…" Ruby deflated.
Jaune winced, and sighed. HE really was bad at this whole comforting thing. How had Leon done it again?
Oh, yes, he didn't do it. Because the only amateur he ever worked with was Jaune himself. And that meant the young boy had little to no experience with how one should cheer up a teammate that had to kill their own friend.
Everyone he knew just kinda shrugged it off and moved on. Sometimes they would get themselves drunk, but he somehow doubted it was good idea to suggest that to Ruby. Yang wouldn't be amused if she learned about that.
"Hey Jaune?"
He looked back to his fellow team leader. Ruby considered something or a few moments, then asked in a low voice.
"Could we visit her grave?"
"Sure. You guys wanna come too?"
Nora shook her head.
"No, we will stay and guard our equipment. You two can go alone, and take your time."
Jauned nodded, and walked off towards Dragon's Maw's graveyard, an oddly quiet Ruby following close behind.
"It's here." He said around half an hour later, pointing at a fresh grave. It was simple, nothing more that a mound of upturned earth, with stone plate informing visitors who rested there. Ruby walked forward and placed one hand on the cold surface.
Jaune remained a few steps behind, watching his friend.
Now… what should I do?
Ruby wasn't her usual self - it didn't take a genius to figure that out. Problem was - what could Jaune do to cheer her up? Or better yet - should he be doing anything at all?
"Hey, Rias." Ruby's small voice sounded.
Jaune sighed. No, it was better if he didn't get involved. Ruby was a Huntress, she was a strong girl. She would be fine.
"Sorry I wasn't here to see you off." The red Huntress chuckled. "I guess I just wanted to say that…" her breath hitched at the end, and Jaune tensed.
Ruby was strong, he knew it, but did that really mean that he should let her deal with it on her own? He caught himself taking a step towards her, but paused, and instead took one back.
Yes, Ruby was professional, probably more so than most of his friends at Beacon. She was also somehow the most idealistic of them, and he really had no idea how that worked, but that was beside the point. Ruby didn't needed his, or anyone else's pity. Showing it to her would be an insult.
"I… I'm sorry Rias." She whined, her voice raspy. Jaune clenched his fist.
Just leave her alone. It's best thing to do.
It had to be. Leon never bothered comforting any Hunter they were working with. After all, this wasn't a profession for someone who couldn't deal with a little grief.
"I… we didn't knew each other for long" Ruby continued, now openly crying, "but it was fun talking with you. Walking with you. Having fun with you."
Jaune's hand moved forward to rub the head of the crying girl on its own accord. He scowled, and drew it back. And when did he even got so close to her anyway?
"I guess… what I'm trying to say… is that I.. I.." Ruby took a deep shuddering breath, and smiled through her tears. "I'm happy I got to met you. I'll never forget you Rias - we will always be friends."
Jaune closed his eyes and for a moment, he was somewhere else. A dark, damp cave. Sword in his hand, its weight so familiar, but at that moment almost too much to lift. The calm face of man he started to consider a friend. Warm blood dripping down the black blade, staining his shaking hands.
Come to think about it… I never visited Clay's grave. Haven't even thought about him much since then.
He opened his eyes and looked at the kneeling and sobbing girl in front of him, and for some reason, he couldn't' help but notice how similar to Rubin she was. It wasn't so hard to imagine…
Ruby didn't even noticed when he kneeled next to her and wrapped one arm around her shoulders. Only when he pulled her closer, she stiffened, but soon relaxed, resting her forehead on his chest. Jaune pulled her even closer, and started rubbing her head. To hell with professionalism. He'd be damned if he let a little girl cry like that.
"It's all right Ruby. It's alright." He kept whispering in her ear.
"She was my friend." She said between sobs.
"I know."
"We only knew each other for two days, but I still thought of her as a friend."
"I know."
Ruby chucked desperately. The sound made Jaune's heart ache.
"I'm so stupid. We would have had to leave soon anyway. We would have probably never seen each other again. "
"It's not stupid Ruby. It this just makes you a great person."
"But it hurt so much!" She cried out, her small fist hitting him in the chest. "I hurts so much, even though we knew each other only for a short while! Why does it have to hurt so much? Can.. can you make it stop?" She asked, her eyes pleading.
He shook his head slowly.
"No. And even if I could - I wouldn't."
"WHY!?" Her desperate cry almost broke his heart.
"Because this pain is what makes you human."
"But… but…" she clung to him desperately, " it hurts so much…"
Jaune hugged her closer.
"I know."
"You… know?" She repeated quietly, then her head shot up, her silver eyes boring into his blue ones.
"How can you know?" She asked. He made to answer, but she didn't let him. "She was my friend! And I killed her! How can you know how that feels?! Have you ever had to do something like that? Have you?!" She screamed, with much more anger than pain this time.
Jaune waited for a moment just to make sure she was done screaming, and smiled at her sadly.
"Yes Ruby. I did." He said calmly, gently stroking her hair. Ruby's mouth, already open for another tirade closed with an audible click. She just stared at him wide eyed.
"You remember the time I went to Spring valley?" She nodded, still staring at him.
Jaune chuckled.
"Yeah, stupid question. So there was this one Hunter on my team, his name was Clay. We… were getting along pretty well, I guess. I never met him before, but we just kinda hit it off." He chuckled. "Well, I guess fighting for your life together does help in forming friendships."
He shook his head, then sighed.
"Anyway, as you know, the whole mission went to hell. At the end, we thought it was just the two of us left. We were wounded, exhausted, hallucinating, and surrounded by some new type of Harrowed. I was sure this was it for us. Clay, he…he decided to stay behind to buy me time to escape. He got wounded in the leg, he couldn't run. It… it was the most logical choice."
"Jaune…" Ruby whispered.
"But it didn't work. Turned out the exit was blocked by some rocks, so I went back, grabbed him and dragged his useless ass to the far end of this cave system. They had an underground river there, with some boats. We planned to use them to escape, but when we reached the last cave, we were attacked. We killed the Harrowed, but it did… something to him."
Jaune took a deep breath, and slowly let it go. Why was talking about it so hard? He was sure he was over it already.
"He told me that he saw it happen to someone else from our team, and the guy changed into a Harrowed. He asked me to help him, and we both knew there was only one way I could help him. I did just that. Helped him by allowing him die as a human."
Jaune chuckled.
"And you know what the best part is?" Ruby shook her head. "It's that the rescue party arrived only a few moments later. If I waited a bit, not even a minute, he could have lived."
"Jaune…" Ruby hugged him tightly. "I'm so sorry!"
The blond Witcher chuckled.
"Hey, I'm pretty sure I'm the one who is supposed to do the cheering up here."
Ruby chuckled, it was weak one, but much better than the pained sobs from earlier.
"Well, we are friends. There is no reason we can't cheer each other up, right?"
Jaune smiled, and shook his head.
"I guess. Now.." he coughed to clear his throat, "are you two going to stay there, or join us?"
There was some shuffling in the nearby bushes, and Ren and Nora walked out slowly.
"We…" Ren began, but was interrupted by his partner.
"Group hug!" She cheered, dashing towards her friends. Ren, knowing better than to try and resist, allowed Nora to drag him along. She crushed both team leaders in a bearhug. Ren just shrugged, and wrapped his arms around his friends. They remained like that for almost a full minute before finally separating. All eyes focused on Ruby, who chuckled and sent them a smile.
"Thank you." She said, wiping her eyes. " I feel better now."
"You're welcome Ruby." Said Ren with a nod. "But I think we should get going. By the way, Regis was looking for you Jaune."
The blond nodded.
"Let's go then. It wouldn't do to keep our employer waiting.
"Thank you for your help Jaune." Said Regis, shaking the hand of young man. Jaune smiled and nodded.
"No problem. I couldn't ignore the fact that my favorite supplier was having trouble." Regis laughed at that.
"Speaking of which. Here are those herbs you asked for. And remember, if anyone asks…"
"I didn't get them from you. I know." Jaune said, rolling his eyes.
Regis chuckled, and turned to face the rest of team JNRR.
"And thank you all too. I know that Dragons Maw is neither big, nor important, but I really love this place. If any of you are in the area, please, don't be strangers and come over to visit."
"We will for sure, Mr. Regis!" Nora called out with a big grin. The older man nodded and
looked them over, his eyes stopping on Ruby. He sighed, and walked up, placing a hand on the little read reaper's shoulder.
"This might be too early for you, but I wanted to thank you in particular. For what you did for Rias. She was such a nice girl, she would never want to hurt anyone. So, thank you for releasing her from this torment. Even if it doesn't feel like that right now, know that you did a good thing. So, thank you, on behalf of myself, Rias, and her parents."
Ruby smiled weakly, and nodded.
"Thank you, Mr. Regis. And please, give my regards to her parents. I will try to come over and say hello sometime."
After the finished their goodbyes, they boarded the cargo bullhead that was waiting for them. Not the most comfortable ride, but cheap, and would get them to Value relatively quickly.
It as already dark when they saw Vale's lights. Most of the trip had passed in silence. Not an uncomfortable one, but rather somber, all lost in their own thoughts. Jaune out a tired sigh. He should be satisfied. The job was a success, they managed to identify and hunt down their target before the situation escalated. His friends did well too. By all accounts - it was a success.
Too bad it felt so bitter.
Like most Witcher jobs. Jaune mused. He really prefered for his friends to not learn lesson Ruby learned so early, but hey, what didn't kill them, will make them stronger.
He spared a quick glance at the young Huntress. She appeared lost in thought. He still could see the pain on her face, but there was no doubt. When her head rose, and her silver eyes meet his blue, there was steely determination in them.
Jaune smiled and nodded, and Ruby return the gesture.
Well, she will definitely grow stronger. Thought Jaune, pulling his scroll out to check the time. They were back a bit later than he expected, it being almost ten, but they should still make it before curfew if only…
His scroll rang, the face of his partner appearing on his screen. Jaune's eyebrows narrowed. This call came as soon as they entered Vale's local network rage. A quick check revealed he had multiple pending messages - not only from his partner, but also
weiss, Yang, and even Blake of all people.
With a shrug, and under the curious gazes of his friends he accepted the call.
"Pyr? What…"
He paused, listening for a few moments.
"Pyr… Pyrrha! Calm down, you are not making much sense right now. Calm down and tell me what happ… WHAT?!"
His friends' expression turned from curious to worried. They moved closer to him, hoping to hear what going on.
"Wai.. No, wait, how?... what do you mean 'ran away'? Ok, I see. We will be landing in Vale shortly, I'll contact you as soon as we hit the ground."
"What happened?" Asked Ruby as soon as he ended the call.
Jaune groaned.
"Apparently Blake and Weiss had an argument, and Blake decided to run away."
They stared at him for a moment.
"Wait, what?" Asked Nora, surprised.
"I know, right?" Jaune groaned, massaging the bridge of his nose. It looked like it was going to be a long night.
"I see. I assume we will be helping the others look for her?" Asked Ren, calm as always. Jaune just nodded.
"Any idea where to start?" Asked the black haired boy.
As if on cue, a massive explosion shattered the peaceful night. They turned in the direction of loud noise - only to see fire, and pillar of black smoke raising towards sky in Vale's docks.
They looked at each other, sighed, and started checking their weapons.
You had one job Blake! They thought at the same time.
And that wraps up Dragon's Maw arc. Team JNRR successfully completed their mission, but taste of success was far more bitter than they expected.
Unfortunately, they will not get some well deserved rest, and all because of one stray cat. Poor Ruby, the one person she trusted to keep her team in check turned out to be the one to cause trouble.
Until next time!
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