The wait is over! It's finally back! Please enjoy and leave a review!
Chapter 6: Alliance
It had begun to rain. Large wet droplets fell from the night sky onto Jaune's head. He looked up into the clouds. Looks like a thunderstorm's coming, he thought anxiously. As a child, he'd always been afraid of thunder, and of the dark. Whenever there was a storm at night he'd crawl under his bed and cry himself to sleep. His sisters had made fun of him to no end for it. Well, soon he'd have no reason to fear anything ever again.
"What are you doing, just standing there? Hurry up!" His Servant's voice interrupted his brooding. Jaune turned to her, smiling sheepishly. "Sorry, Weiss," he said.
"I thought I told you to call me Saber!" the girl snapped at him. Jaune didn't really understand why she was so determined to avoid him using her real name. If that was the case she might as well have not told him to begin with, let alone her whole life story.
Weiss Schnee. In another world, she would've been born into a wealthy aristocratic family, blessed with every privilege she could have ever wanted. Yet she had grown up bitter, insecure and lonely, with her father's authority looming over her like a dark shadow her whole life. Training herself to use a rapier, Weiss had longed to become a Huntress-a sworn protector of the people-one day, and prove her independence.
It sounded like something out of a fairy tale. Jaune remembered how his younger self had always lamented that life couldn't be like those stories. In fairy tales, everyone won. The good and the just, no matter what hardships they faced, always got their happy endings. No matter what…
Saber was right in his face now, with a scowl that didn't do her pretty face any favours. "Do you always just stand around and stare blankly into the sky? Come on!" She pulled his arm with surprising force, almost knocking him over.
"Ow, ow, okay!" Jaune grumbled, pulling away from her. "Where are we going, anyway? You didn't say anything."
"It's…" Saber faltered for a moment. Angrily, she beat herself over the head several times, muttering, "try and remember, remember, you're a Schnee, you need to know everything…"
"…You don't know either, do you?"
"I-I do! Really!" she spluttered desperately. "I don't know why, but I just have this feeling in my head…like it's leading me somewhere. I know where it is, I just…I…I can't remember for some reason!" She stamped the wet ground in frustration, getting specks of mud all over her white dress.
Jaune frowned. Weiss-or Saber-seemed to be perfectly genuine, at least. I guess it's a Servant thing…maybe they're just…magically guided to…somewhere? He honestly wasn't sure. It wasn't like he knew what he was supposed to be doing now either.
Likely too late, Jaune reflected on the fact that he knew relatively little about the Holy Grail War itself. Seven masters, seven servants, and the last pair standing would have any one wish granted. It seemed a single concept at the time. But…now what? He glanced at his hand, where a red symbol had now manifested-the mark of a Master. He had his Servant now, but how was he supposed to track down the other contestants? Was there some trick that he hadn't come across? Were his enemies on their way to him right now? Jaune glumly decided that re-reading The Hunger Games five times hadn't really prepared him in any way for this.
Saber had calmed down now. "I guess if we keep moving it might come to me," she said miserably, as raindrops fell onto her head, soaking her beautiful hair. "I-I…I think we need to go north for fifty metres, and then…" Her eyes widened. "Wait…do you hear something?"
"Huh?" Sure enough, Jaune could hear a faint rumbling sound coming from somewhere behind them. It sounded like the engine of a motorcycle. Who the heck is riding a motorcycle in this area this late at night, and in this weather? Saber drew her rapier. "Get behind me!" she hissed.
The motorcycle, a garishly yellow affair with bright flame patterns, came bursting onto the scene. "YEEEEEEEEEEEHAAAAAAAWWWWW!" The rider yelled excitedly as she leapt off her vehicle. Jaune frantically dodged to the left as the motorcycle flew past him, barely avoiding getting his head lopped off. Who is this crazy chick?!
"Hrahhh!" The crazy chick met Saber's sword with a punch from her right arm, which Jaune realized was covered in a bright yellow gauntlet. "Hey, Weiss! Small worlds, huh?" she grinned. "Man, I never thought I'd see you here of all people!"
Saber scowled at her, knocking the strange girl away with a swift stab. "What? Who in the world are you? I think I'm right in guessing that you're the Rider-class Servant, though your fighting style is similar to a Berserker. At any rate, I've certainly never seen you before."
Another Servant?! Jaune backed away from the girl in fear. He hadn't expected that he'd have to deal with enemies this soon.
"What? Seriously?" Rider's eyes widened. She flipped her long blonde hair. "C'mon, Ice Queen, it's me, Yang! Your friend! Don't tell me you've never met me here, either!"
"First off, do not call me that," Saber grumbled. "Second, I would never in a million years be friends with someone wearing such an unseemly outfit." She pointed her rapier at the girl. "You seem to know my real name, though. I am the Saber-class Servant, and I intend to win the Holy Grail War. Even you know what means, hmm?"
Rider smiled wearily. "Still as cheerful as you are over there, huh? Some things never change." She readied a battle stance. "Alright. Lemme see what you can do, Weiss."
"Saber." With that, the girls began their duel.
Saber and Rider were very evenly matched despite their fighting styles being different. Every time Saber struck at her opponent with graceful swings from her rapier, Rider blocked them with her gauntlets. Stretching out her arms, small shotgun barrels protruded from the gauntlets, firing short-range pellet rounds. Saber summoned a glowing white glyph from her sword's end, causing the bullets to bounce off harmlessly.
They're awesome… Jaune was amazed despite himself. So this was what Servants were capable of.
"Not bad, Weiss!" Rider grinned, reloading her shotguns. "Time to get serious, then!" Letting out a furious yell, the blonde fighter engulfed herself in a wave of golden energy, as her hair began to glow and flicker like it was fire itself, and her violet eyes became red as blood. Charging at Saber, she began pummeling her glyph shield with punch after punch.
"How classless," Saber said disgustedly. Dropping her shield, she raised her sword upward, and a large spike of ice shot up from the ground, launching Rider into the sky. Before she could react, Saber sent herself flying upward with a speed glyph, striking her opponent in the chest several times before forcefully propelling her back to earth with a downward lunge.
"Ow, ow…" Rider groaned.
"Well, that was hardly a challenge. I guess not all Servants can be truly great," Saber smirked. She raised her sword, ready to deliver the final blow.
"Waaaaaaaaiiiiiittt!" A high-pitched voice rang out through the dark. There was a loud gunshot that barely missed Saber's head. "What?" she gasped. She pointed her rapier in the direction of the shot.
Wait a minute…that voice sounds familiar, Jaune thought, as he came to a realization. "…Ruby?" he called out.
"Jaune?" Ruby Rose walked into view. "What are you doing here?" She was carrying a large red…thing over her shoulder, something Jaune could only assume was the unholy offspring of a scythe and an AK-47. He had no idea how she could carry that.
"That's my line. How did you get a Servant? Did you know about the Holy Grail War all along? And what are you carrying?" Jaune asked her, still in shock.
"Umm…that's a long story," Ruby said sheepishly, glancing around nervously. Jaune could tell she was shivering in fear, and he couldn't really blame her.
"You know this girl?" Saber asked, blade still to Rider's throat. "…Yeah. She's a friend of mine," Jaune nodded. "And…if that blonde's her Servant, I think you probably shouldn't kill her."
"Hmph. As you wish, Master." Saber pulled Rider to her feet.
Rider grinned at Jaune. "Heeey, so you're in this world too, huh? You at least remember me?" Jaune shook his head nervously. "Eh. Guess I should've expected that," she sighed.
"Sooo…" Ruby fidgeted with her monster scythe. "Are we not gonna kill each other?"
Saber put her rapier away, a dissatisfied look on her face. "Sadly, no. Against my better judgement, Master seems to prefer the four of us form an alliance. I suppose working together could have its advantages."
"Teamwork it is!" Rider laughed, then flinched, scratching her neck. "Ow. Felt like a bee sting…well, whatever. Let's be on our way!"
"On our way?" Jaune asked. "Where?"
"Uh, the same place you guys were going?" Rider held out her arm, and her motorcycle materialized next to her, good as new. "All Servants should've gotten its location planted in their minds once they landed in this world. Wouldn't surprise me if some pairs are also making their way there."
"…What? But I only know the general direction, not the exact location," Saber snapped angrily. "Where are we going?"
"To the house of the person who holds the Holy Grail," said Yang. "To Ozpin."
From atop a nearby hill, Blake put away her dart pistol and took out her tablet. On the screen, a bright yellow dot was moving farther and farther away. Got you.
"Well, that worked, I guess," Caster murmured from beside her, brushing rainwater off her skin. "You sure you don't want me to interfere?"
"Tracking them will be enough for now," Blake replied. "With the GPS chip I planted, we'll be able to follow them almost anywhere. Right now, I assume they're headed to the chapel."
"And so are we, I assume?" Caster asked.
The cat Faunus nodded solemnly. "Yes…but from a distance. As long as there's a chance that Adam's there, I need to stay out of sight. We'll observe what happens there, but I don't want to get directly involved. Don't do anything without my order, Emerald. We will stick to the shadows."
"Hmph, well we're certainly good at THAT, now aren't we?" Emerald Sustrai laughed bitterly. "You sure this will work, though?"
"Don't worry," Blake smiled. "They'll never see it coming."
