II swear this was already over 10k when I got it. I tried to make a short plan for Coeur, I swear!
Writer: Coeur al'Aran
Director: College Fool
Cover Art: Kegi Springfield
Chapter 8
It was an odd scratching sound that woke Ren up.
His eyes blinked at the rocky ceiling of the cave above, and he struggled to recall where he was or why he'd be in a cave in the first place. Memories rushed back the same moment his aches did, pain from sleeping on hard rock and from the cold that had seeped into his bones despite the sleeping bag and fire.
But the scratching continued – and as the severity of the situation struck, Ren shot into a sitting position. Claws on stone? On rock? Had Grimm reached them?
The scratching stopped.
"You're awake." Jaune said, nearby and fully clothed once more. He was sitting on the other side of the dead embers with that looked to be a notebook or diary before him. Though Ren couldn't see the pages, he noticed how oddly Jaune gripped the pencil. Was he sketching something?
Did it matter?
"I guess I am," he said. "No Grimm came?" It really shouldn't have been a question, and he almost expected the obvious retort, but Jaune passed on it this time.
"Not in this weather. It's still raining out." Jaune's words drew his attention to the shower outside. It wasn't quite as fierce as it had been the night before, but only because of the lack of wind. It was still a near-solid sheet of water, but it fell downwards instead of diagonal.
Kind of like Jaune's expression, really, which had only dropped further since Ren had awoken.
"Get up and get dressed. We've already wasted enough daylight today already. We'll move out as soon as you're ready."
"In this weather?" Ren looked out again. True, it was light enough the see the rain now, but… a shiver passed through him just at the prospect of emerging once more.
"Yes. Now get dressed." The hunter made it a command this time and Ren followed it, huddling his blanket – or Jaune's, he supposed – close to his body as he drew the dry clothes nearby. He changed beneath the blankets and ignored his companion's roll of the eyes.
Once he was done, he passed it to Jaune, who was waiting. Jaune took it and began to put it inside what looked to be a water-proof bag, before pausing and reaching in deeper. Jaune withdrew something and tossed it to him as he returned to stowing the blanket. "Here, eat this. If you need to do your business, do it now. We're not coming back here, and you'll just get soaked if you wait to do it outside later."
Now that Ren thought about it, there was an odour from the other side of the cave…
"I'm fine," Ren said, deliberately not thinking about it as he opened the measly ration bar from the bullhead and bit into it. It was chewy and thick, packed with artificial protein and carbs. It tasted like cardboard and had the consistency of a car tyre. His stomach protested. "I haven't eaten enough to need to pass anything."
"Is that a complaint, city-boy? We're in the middle of the Grimmlands now. We need to ration what we have. You people of all people should be able to skimp meals."
"It wasn't a complaint." At least he hadn't meant it as one. "And I'll be fine. I won't drag you down."
Jaune shot him a long and clearly doubtful look. "We'll see…"
It looked like his guide and companion was back in fine fettle this morning. He wanted to ask him if he'd woken up on the wrong side of bed, but the answer would have been an obvious yes. Jaune had slept without a blanket so that Ren wouldn't have to. Ren had to remind himself that right or not, Jaune had every reason to be in a poor mood. Jaune wouldn't be out here at all if it wasn't for him getting stuck in the Grimmlands.
Patience wasn't just a virtue here. It was the least he could do, even if Jaune wouldn't appreciate it. He likely wouldn't even notice it, if the way he was talking was any clue.
"We'll be pushing hard today," Jaune warned, even as he picked up his over-sized backpack. It was significantly larger than Ren's small tote-bag. "We'll only stop if there's something I can hunt or forage. Take those breaks for what they are, because it's all you'll be getting."
"I am a Huntsman, Jaune. Endurance won't be a problem."
The reminder of his calling did as little to endear him to Jaune as always. "Yeah, well, that's what the last group thought. They aren't here."
Again, Ren chose not to rise to the bait. In that regard it was fortunate Jaune was out here with him, and not someone more hot-headed like Yang or Nora. Even Pyrrha would have been affected. He even manages to try my patience at times and that's no easy feat.
His thought took longer than he realized, because when he looked up again Jaune was already at the mouth of the cave.
"Oi, you day dreaming? Come on, city-boy. We have limited hours in day, and each one of them gets us a bit closer to getting out of the Grimmlands. Move!"
With a sigh and a nod, Ren stood and checked his meagre supplies to make sure he hadn't left anything behind. Jaune had apparently already done most of it, packing the dried wood they'd left by the fire. A pity he couldn't pack away the cold as well. The cool damp night, and the dreary situation, made every limb feel as heavy as a log. The rain outside continued to pour and as he stepped up beside Jaune at the entrance, he couldn't help but once more. The forest canopy would offer little cover, just a constant procession of drops. He'd made the mistake of thinking that the day before.
He wanted to ask if they were really going to travel through this, but he doubted the irate hunter beside him would respond well. The stocked backpack looped over his shoulders, not to mention the bow collapsed and stored away, spoke of a long and arduous journey.
"We've got until sun down," Jaune said, stepping out into the torrential shower. It pelted and ran off his hood, but he seemed to not feel it. Already Ren was envious, even as he pooled his semblance to prepare for travel. "Come on, city boy. Time to go."
"I have a name, you know. The least you could do is use it."
"Sure thing, city-boy."
Ren sighed.
/-/
Weiss sighed too, far away but no more comfortable.
Weiss palmed her face, drawing her hand down in a futile effort to brush aside the exhaustion she felt. Lack of sleep had left her skin sunken and sallow, and the bags under her eyes could have been designer. She scrunched her eyes shut but refused to let herself fall asleep. When she opened them a moment later they were ringed with red. Not tears, though. Ruby had had enough for both of them.
Her head shot up when the door nearby opened, a desperate sort of relief bloomed when she recognized who it was.
"Doctor," Weiss said, rising to her feet. "How is she?"
The man jumped a little. "Oh, Miss Schnee. You're still here? How long have you been waiting?"
All night, she didn't say. She just repeated her question, not really having the energy or patience for pleasantries.
"How is she?"
"You mean Kalie?"
Weiss' hand tightened on the chair behind her and the metal warped slightly. Who else could she possibly have meant? Who else had she delved into her finances to hire this doctor to see? Of course she meant Kalie. Was the man an idiot? Did she need to hire another doctor, just in case? Did Edge even have another doctor?
All those questions and more flitted through her mind, followed with a surge of tired anger. She bit down on it and nodded. "Yes. Is she alright?"
The bespectacled man paused, but eventually nodded. "She's stable," he said.
"Stable?" Weiss repeated, wary and reluctant to feel excited just yet. It would only leave her further to fall. "Will she get better? Were there any complications? I paid for you to see her, doctor. I would appreciate a full diagnosis!"
"I understand that, Miss Schnee. It's just that it would be easier to show you. Would you like to come through and see for yourself?"
Weiss nodded, because why else had she been waiting here all night? But if this man was going to take her inside, crush her spirits and then tell her the girl was never going to recover because of their foolishness?
Well, better she be the one to deal with it first rather than Ruby.
Weiss followed the doctor inside the room, and saw her. Kalie.
An unconscious girl had never seemed so frightening before, but she had no idea what she would see beyond those white sheets. An IV was beside the medical bed but it looked old-fashioned and flimsy, nothing at all like the ones Beacon had. But she was alive, and just seeing it herself took a weight off her chest. Bloody bandages to the side were evidence of the doctor's hard work, and a thick gauze covered half of Kalie's face, obscuring it from view, but there was an undeniable rise and fall of the sheets as the girl breathed.
"Miss Kalie will survive, and should even regain full mobility in time," the Doctor said, and Weiss let out a shuddering breath she hadn't realised she was holding. "The injuries were… I would not say light for they weren't, but few of them were life-threatening. It was more the culmination of all of them and the blood loss. I suppose the closest term would be that she had a catastrophic amount of minor injuries, like she had been fed through a woodchipper but somehow kept alive at the end of it."
Her eyes closed. She could have done without the metaphor, especially since she could still remember holding the girl down as Blake pulled out the feathers. Kalie had begged for them to just let her die at one point. Weiss had wondered if it might have been a mercy to grant it.
She refused to forget, or forgive herself, for that selfish thought. It hadn't been Kalie's pain that had made her think it. It had been her own guilt at seeing it.
"She will recover?"
"Physically, yes…"
"But mentally?"
"Please, Miss Schnee. All I can do is treat the inside and outside of the body. What this experience has done to her mentally, emotionally… that is not something a physician can tell you. At the very least, all I can tell you is that this sort of situation changes people. How they see themselves… and how they are seen by others. Whether that's good or ill, or is something that can be 'recovered' from, I cannot say."
Weiss closed her eyes, took a fortifying breath, and made herself nod. "I understand," she said. "Her physical recovery, then?"
"It will be easier to see for yourself." With care, the doctor withdrew the sheet. Weiss did her best not to flinch, and mostly succeeded.
Kalie was alive, she reminded herself. Her breasts rose and fell, wrapped in bandages that were stained lightly with blood. Bandages seemed to wrap every other extremity as well, some thicker than others. Every bloodstain on the white bandages stood out to Weiss, etched in her memory as a proof of her- their- failure. Then there were the casts- immobilizing both hands, and a knee…
The gauze still hid half of Kalie's face from view. Weiss wondered how she's react when she realized that her days walking and hunting in the wilds were over, at least for now.
Again, the primitive nature of the bed and medical equipment stood out to her. Again, she reminded herself it shouldn't have. Edge was nothing more than a community that cropped up around an SDC Dust Mine, a few hundred at most. Who would pay to bring top-tier medical equipment out here, when the worst that was expected was the occasional broken bone? When, in one bad year, everything could be lost to a Grimm invasion? It didn't make economic or political sense. Or at least that was her father's train of thought.
It had been her thought, too. But just because it didn't make 'economic' sense didn't mean that no one was affected by the lack. How many people out here on the frontier lived without ever seeing the clean hospitals or life-saving medicine that was safe but far away in Vale? If you added up the tens of hundreds of villages, each with tens or hundreds of citizens themselves…
"Miss Schnee…?" a voice intruded in her thoughts.
"Y-Yes? I apologise. You were saying?" Weiss asked, returning to the present.
"As you can see she is capable of breathing unassisted," the doctor explained. "I'm providing her nutrients and she will have some difficulty eating whole foods for a while. If possible, I'd like her to be placed on a specific diet for a while…" He hesitated. "I-If the SDC or someone else is willing to pay for it, that is."
"We are. I am," Weiss said instantly. She should have felt offended he dared suggest otherwise, but she knew better. He had every reason to doubt her, and probably had precious few supplies to waste on charity anyway. Unlike in the cities, where the Kingdoms might handsomely pay a doctor directly, there was only so much a private practitioner could charge in a community of impoverished miners. The poor could only pay so much. "I want you to include the cost of liquid food on my bill. If she requires any physical therapy afterwards, I also want that charged to me."
"Really?" That clearly surprised him. "A-Are you sure, Miss Schnee?"
"Did I stutter?" she demanded, glaring at a man likely two or three times her age.
"No! No. I'll see it done. Thank you," he said swallowed audibly. "When- when she is awake, I will send reports on her progress to you regularly. I am sure Kalie-"
Kalie's fingers moved, and a low groan emanated from her.
Weiss' breath hitched.
The doctor noticed, and rushed past her to hover by the awaking woman's shoulder. "Miss, can you hear me? Can you hear my voice?"
"Y-Yes…?" Kalie sounded worn, weak, confused, and also afraid. Her body began to twitch, spasming slightly as it tried to rise but found it couldn't. "W-Where am I? I can't move! I can't see! I-" her voice raised in fright, panic waking her up.
"It's just a bandage and the medicine, Miss Kalie," the doctor soothed, voice calming. "You're back in Edge. You are safe."
"H-Home?"
"Yes. Home. You were hurt, but the Huntresses brought you back. They saved your life. I had to give you a paralytic during the surgery, so don't be alarmed if your body doesn't respond as you'd like, but you will recover. Do you understand me?"
"Yes…" The panic in her voice faded, and as Kalie allowed herself to breathe, Weiss stood by wordless. When she dared to breath, though, Kalie's head quickly turned, the lower half of her mouth clearly taking a confused frown. "Is there… is there someone else there?" Kalie asked.
The doctor looked at Weiss, and Weiss looked back, each uncertain of how to respond. The doctor rallied first, turning to his patient.
"Yes, Kalie," he said. "It's one of the Huntresses who saved you, Miss-"
Weiss couldn't bear to hear him continue, and stepped forward herself.
"Hello, Kalie," she said softly, far gentler than she'd addressed the doctor earlier. "It's good to see you awake again."
"Weiss…?" the other girl hazily recognized. Weiss stiffened as the bandaged eyes turned towards her, but there was no anger in her voice. Not yet, anyways, she thought.
"I'm here Kalie," she said. "We… We got you back to Edge."
"You saved me?"
Weiss tried to say something but couldn't. Her voice failed. No. No, they hadn't saved her. They'd been the ones to get her in trouble in the first place. Weiss' hesitation wasn't missed, but at least that answer was obvious.
"What about… what about your friend? Or Jaune?" Kalie asked, thinking of others. "What about everyone else? Did they get back safe? Is everyone alright?"
Weiss's throat clenched. "Kalie, I-" she began. "Worry about yourself."
"Huh?" Kalie answered, not quite hearing, and still not having seen the state of her own body.
Thankfully, the doctor stepped in.
"What Miss Schnee is trying to say is that you've taken quite severe damage, but you should be okay," the doctor said. "Right now your body will be weak and you need to recover. You have one leg in a caste, and your hands will have to be immobilized for some time to recover. Given time, however, you should hopefully eventually have full use of your hands again."
Kalie sagged with relief at the optimistic assessment. "Thank you…"
"There is another issue, however…" he reluctantly broached. "You will regain full mobility in time, but the damage elsewhere… was more extensive."
"Doctor…?" Kalie asked warily, a sentiment Weiss echoed. What hadn't he told her, before Kalie woke up?
Weiss's eyes drifted to Kalie's face-obscuring bandage. One of Kalie's cast-covered hands did as well, the barely emerging finger tips brushing against the gauze. Right over where a healthy eye should be.
Weiss remembered a flurry of wings and capricious caws and claws that just wouldn't stop as the hunter girl hung helplessly, caught in the underbrush amidst the murder as the too-proud heroines of Remnant tried and failed to reach her in time…
"Am I-?"
"Your left eye is intact and escaped the worst of the damage. Your right eye… I'm sorry. Your mobility will return, but without depth perception you will likely never shoot a bow well again. Your career as a hunter is over." He closed his own eyes and bowed his eyes.
"I'm sorry. There was nothing I could do to save it."
Weiss looked at the basic equipment and primitive tools he had available, and would always wonder.
Kalie, though…
"Can I… Can I see…?"
"I really think you ought to wait until you're a little stronger." There was not a hint of doubt in his voice.
Kalie shook her head, and feebly tried to raise her other arm up, so that she could use fingertips from both hands. It wasn't enough, and she turned towards where Weiss had been watching.
"Weiss, could you…?"
Weiss tried not to let her discomfort show, even if Kalie couldn't see it. "You should listen to the doctor," she whispered, hoping that Kalie would.
But she knew the other girl wouldn't, any more than she would have had it been her in that position. Some things had to be seen, to be believed.
"Weiss, please…"
Weiss didn't answer, but couldn't refuse. She silently approached. Not so silently that Kalie didn't hear her coming. Wordlessly Weiss raised her own hands towards Kalie's bandaged face, and her own fingers shook as she grasped the edges of the gauze. With a final, barely audible "I'm sorry," she pulled it free.
Kalie endured the removal without complaint. When Weiss saw what was behind the gauze, it was all she could do not to say anything either.
Any words she'd had of empathy, of thinking she knew what the other girl would be going through because of her own scar, were pitifully inadequate.
Kalie had not been a beautiful woman, not by the standards of Beacon, but she'd been attractive and pretty in a girl next door kind of way. Saying she'd been the prettiest girl in Edge wouldn't have been saying much, but she'd had nothing to be ashamed of. No doubt boys had once upon a time lined up hoping to have her look at them and smile.
No longer, and never again. Her face was bright red, and blood still oozed lazily from several lacerations, the reason for the gauze. Ugly red gashes, still too new and too red to be called scars, criss-crossed her face. Deeper pock-marks suggested where the Nevermores had pecked and taken away what they could, and nothing had been done- could have been done yet- to replace what had once been a beautiful and charming eye.
She said none of that, but the next thing Weiss heard was a bitter laugh.
"That bad, huh?" Kalie asked, having nothing to go on but the expression on Weiss's reaction. An eye- the good eye- tracked her clearly, and clearly was taking in the expression on her face.
"It's not- given time-" Weiss began to lie.
"Show me," Kalie asked, and for the first time her tone dropped any hint of kindness or request. It was a demand- or maybe a debt to be paid in full.
Thoughts of echoing the doctor's suggestion, of telling Kalie to wait until she was stronger, died. Weiss wordlessly reached into her skirt and withdrew her scroll. She brought up the camera, reversed it so that the person holding it could see their face, and then handed it to Kalie, who held the edges of it with her un-casted fingers.
Kalie's breath sounded harsh and heavy in the small room as she took in what she'd look like for the rest of her life.
The girl's last eye gently closed.
Weiss stepped forward. "Kalie, I'm- we're- we are so-"
"Thank you, for being honest," Kalie interrupted with a whisper. It was soft, but too heavy with indescribable emotion to be stopped. Kalie let her hands fall softly too her lap, and the scroll from her fingers, leaving it for Weiss to take. "Thank you for showing me. Showing me what I am."
"Kalie-"
"I'd like to be alone now, please," Kalie asked, voice cracking on the final word.
Weiss couldn't refuse her.
/-/
Weiss wandered in a daze, barely even noticing the rain. Technically she supposed she was heading to the inn, but there was no urgency, or even direction as she wandered through the rain. Too many thoughts, and none at all, spiralled in her mind. Kalie was alive. The doctor had promised to stay behind and watch after her. What else was there to do?
Weiss didn't even realize she'd reached the SDC store until she nearly walked into the door.
Standing inside, the cool air of a summer air conditioner- no doubt the greatest advertisement a store like this could have- chilled her through her soaked clothes. A puddle of water was forming beneath her, and no doubt someone would have to clean it later.
That someone, though, was the only person in the store.
"Welcome! I'm sorry, but we're not… oh. Miss Schnee."
Her name was an insult. That was the only way to put it, and the only reason a warm greeting had turned harsh and grudging mid-sentence. Weiss looked up at the man, and saw a youngish face with brown hair. He looked bored, nervous, but also incredibly frustrated, already ignoring her as he looked at a clock every few seconds.
"I remember you," she said. "You work at the store." The very store she was standing in.
"Conway. I'm Mr Mann's son." Maybe he sounded angry because he was reminding her his name. She doubted it. While Mr. Mann, the SDC's senior officer in the area, would have no doubt been horrified to hear his son being so abrupt with his employer's daughter, Conway likely didn't care. This sounded personal.
"You're waiting to see Kalie, aren't you?" she asked, tired mind putting together scattered memories.
Conway immediately turned his full attention to her, a frantic energy apparent. "Have you seen her? Is she awake? Is she alright?" he immediately asked, almost leaning over the counter. "I tried to see her earlier, but Doc Mitchell wouldn't let me in, and now I have to man the counter and-"
His torrent of words rocked her back. Weiss tried to answer.
"I just saw her. She's awake now. And she's… not alright."
"What's wrong? What did you do to her this time?"
It wasn't shouted, but Weiss flinched at the accusation regardless. She couldn't refute it, so she said nothing. Conway tsked, before he slammed a fist on the counter. "
"Damn it!" he shouted, looking at the clock again in frantic energy. "Damn store- damn Grimm- damn Huntresses!" he cursed, looking at her and the clock and all around in impatient energy. "Can't do anything right! And now I'm stuck watching a desk because YOU-!"
"Go, Conway."
Both Weiss and Conway turned at the new voice, and new presence. It was Mr. Mann coming in from the back.
Despite his previous words, a flash of guilt crossed Conway's face as he looked not just at the clock and the door, but also the counter. A terribly mixed expression settled on his face. "Pa- are you sure?" he began. "The store-"
Mr. Mann put a hand on his son's shoulder.
"Go," he said again. "I could say you're not doing any good here so distracted, but…" the father gave a look Weiss couldn't recognize, having never seen it from her own. "I'm sure I can hold the store and let you clock out early, just this once. Unless Miss Schnee here has any objection to it?"
Despite his words, it didn't sound like he was asking for permission. Weiss wondered if with just one word she could lose her father a valued and experienced manager… but shook her head at the thought, and his question.
They took that as consent. In a flash Conway grabbed a cloak from a hook, and made his way towards the door. As he was passing, though, Weiss reached out to him.
"Be careful," she warned, voice subdued. "She's… not okay right now. She might not want to see you."
"I don't need to hear that from you," Con Mann snapped, before pushing past her and running out the door. "Kalie!" he shouted, running into the monsoon.
Weiss watched him run into the monsoon. She wondered if she should have stopped him. Would Kalie want to see him? Would he want to see her, once he got a good look at his girlfriend's face? Guilt gnawed at Weiss either way. If she was afraid of what his reaction might be, what would Kalie feel when he arrived.
They'd already cost Kalie so much. The possibility it would cost her this as well was too much. Weiss looked down once more, tired eyes glazing as she looked at the floor.
"Ms. Schnee, did you want to talk about anything else?" Mr. Mann asked.
It was surprising how quickly she'd forgotten his presence. She looked up, and saw him looking at her. The look in his eyes… it was as different today from yesterdays as hers must be. She looked away, remembering… too much.
"I'm sorry, it's nothing," she murmured. "You must be busy." There wasn't another person in the store.
"I doubt any customers will be coming today," Mr. Mann said, moving towards the door and flipping the sign to 'closed.' "And I have things to say to you. Now come. We can talk in my office," he prompted, inviting her to follow him to his office. "I'm sure you came here for more than just to share the word about Kalie."
Had she? Weiss's mind was swimming in exhaustion and other thoughts. Given how… non-differential he was treating her now, compared to yesterday, she wondered what was going on in his head. Behind his constructed mask as an employee, was he angry too?
They reached the office and sat, though not before Mr. Mann pushed a warm cup of coffee before her. There was silence at first, which Weiss did nothing to fill. When it was clear she wouldn't, Mr. Mann spoke first.
"President Schnee rang in your absence," he informed, which made her look up.
"What was the nature of the call?"
"He asked about the result of your expedition, and also about some medical supplies that had been requisitioned from the company."
Weiss' hands tightened into fists. Those medical costs had been nothing compared to the day-to-day running costs of the SDC, and likely not even compared to the suit he'd no doubt been wearing. Replacing them would be costly, but not unreasonably so. Still, it didn't surprise her that he'd noticed such a small and innocuous cost, nor that he apparently hadn't cared for its implications.
"Those medical supplies were for Kalie," she explained. "The cost will be reimbursed from my own account when I return to Vale. I won't have him step back on this now, Mr Mann."
"You won't have to," Mr Mann replied. "President Schnee agreed to resupply those items from company stock the moment he realised what they were for."
Weiss paused. "What? You're sure?"
"Yes, of course." Mr. Mann took a sip of his own coffee, simultaneously providing a pause and hiding his expression from her. "He was reluctant to provide charity were Beacon in a position to cover the costs, but he changed his mind when I conveyed it was for one of our local hunters on the expedition."
"Because he knew she was a hunter?" Weiss asked. There was no way her father actually cared about Kalie, or the people of Edge. There was more to this. "Why would that matter? What interest does he have in the hunters of Edge?"
"In all honesty very little, but he believes otherwise. His true interest should be in one hunter in particular, maybe two, but Mr Schnee is… not interested in the details. He did not ask, and I did not see fit to tell him otherwise." Something twisted in Weiss's gut, even as Mr. Mann put down his mug and looked at her straight over the coffee table.
"Was there something else you came here to talk about today, Miss Schnee?" he asked, looking her even as she tried to avoid meeting his eyes. "Something other than the status of my son's girlfriend?"
Weiss looked down. Maybe, even if she hadn't realized it, she had.
"Jaune Arc is missing," Weiss admitted. "Left behind in the Grimmlands." Probably dead, went unsaid.
Mr. Mann said nothing for a moment, letting the tick, tick, tick of a nearby clock fill the silence. Then he let out a slow sigh.
"I'd heard," Mr. Mann admitted. "I'd heard, but… I'd hoped they were wrong." Tick, tick, tick filled the silence, and Weiss said not a thing.
"Did you come here because you felt bad about that, Miss Schnee?" Mr. Mann asked suddenly.
Weiss looked up at that. "Of course!" she protested, as if that had ever been in doubt. "Not just him, but Kalie-"
"Kalie was your guide, but Kalie is alive," Mr. Mann said. "You didn't come here to talk about her, did you?"
Tick, tick, tick. Weiss looked down again, and wrung her hands silently. Anxiously.
"Is this your first time losing an employee, Miss Schnee?" Mr. Mann asked, not unkindly.
Weiss startled, and looked up. Mr. Mann… Mr. Mann was looking at her with the pity of experience.
"He wasn't an employee," Weiss said, voice tight. "He wasn't even my guide. He was just-"
"-a contractor," Mr. Mann finished. "I know."
"I knew it was dangerous to take civilians on a mission to the Grimmlands," Weiss said, voice rising, defending against some unsaid charge. "I knew it! That's why I wanted professional Huntsmen! That's why I didn't want him. I didn't-" her voice fell, even as her head fell into her hands.
"I didn't want anyone to get hurt," she confessed. "I wanted everybody to be safe. I wanted professionals because I didn't want to risk anyone."
"Then you're in the wrong business in the wrong world, Miss Schnee," Mr. Mann said, not unkindly. "Risk is a fact of life, even for professionals like us. I take pride that our mine is one of the best in the kingdom, with the fewest safety accidents in the region, but accidents do happen. Timbers break, rocks collapse, and people get hurt, even when we do everything right. And believe me, even your father wants the mines to be safe - a collapsed mine is bad for everyone."
"And that's just in the mines- in other places, other things can go wrong. Bullheads can crash when they were supposed to fly. Feelings can be offended without meaning to, and potential friendships ruined. I shiver to think what can go wrong for Huntresses like you," he said. "No one is completely safe from risk, no matter how much we try, but without taking a risk we can't move forward. We can only take the risks we think best- and understand that, sometimes, bad things will happen regardless."
Weiss said nothing, and Mr. Mann sighed. Audaciously, he reached forward and put a hand on his employer's daughter.
"Miss Schnee," he said, trying to look her in the eye, "taking guides on your expedition wasn't a mistake. It was the right decision that didn't go well, that's all."
It wasn't quite absolution, but it helped, in a way. She looked up at Mr. Mann, a man she'd dismissed as a minor store-keeper just the other day.
"Mr. Mann, how many employees have you lost?" she asked.
Mr. Mann gave a small, sad smile. "Too many, and today one more," was all he said. "This one, though… bad tidings."
There was another moment of silence, of the tick tock tick of the clock, but this time Weiss was ready to speak.
"Tell me about him," she asked. "Jaune Arc. What did he do here?" she asked. "Why should my father care about him? And what do you mean, bad tidings?"
"Does it matter?" Mr. Mann asked. "He's gone. Let the dead rest in peace. Soon enough it won't be your problem anyway."
Weiss curled her hands. "One day I will be in charge in of SDC, and when I am this town and its welfare will be my problem," she said.
Mr. Mann looked at her evenly. "Chances are, Miss Schnee, Edge will be tapped out and long gone by the time you inherit the company."
Weiss's hands curled tighter.
"That doesn't matter. I want to know," she insisted, hands shaking just a little. But there… there was something else, wasn't there? The other reason she'd come here, to someone who'd know, and not just gone to bed and a ill-deserved sleep.
"I want… I need to know what to tell his sister, when I see her again," she admitted, even to herself. "It might make things easier for her if I can. Please tell me."
Mr. Mann looked at her before sighing and leaning back.
"Jaune Arc… I remember when I first met him a couple years ago, when he was still just a young lad," he began. "Back when he and that sister of his would sell game outside the mines at closing time. Those evenings, you could never find one without the other."
"That was before his mother let him free to hunt, of course," he added as an errant aside. "Back when she at least tried to keep him around town."
"But then came the Frontier Fever, and when Mr. Arc found Sample Seventeen and likely saved this town in the process…"
/-/
Ren gasped for breath as he hauled himself up and over a log, almost slipping off the bark that was covered in moss and rain. He landed hard on the other side, feet sinking into the ground as the sodden water pooled around his ankles and drenched his already wet feet. He shivered and tried to shake it free, but had to give up when he noticed Jaune several paces ahead, already pushing some leaves aside. He staggered after him, determined not to break his promise of dragging them down.
Jaune weathered the situation with a stoicism that had gone far beyond admirable and become ridiculous. He rarely spoke, and even when he did it was to reprimand or give some instruction. Be quiet, hurry up, get down… over and over, the only words he received were clipped and sharp. After the third time they'd had to press their bodies down into cold and wet mud and plant matter while a Nevermore flew overhead, Ren had given up on staying dry. It was a hopeless endeavour.
There was no way the hunter was fitter than he. There was no boast there, only fact at the harsh training they went through at Beacon. He was stronger, faster, and had more stamina than most people who weren't hunters. He could throw fully grown men around with just a bit of aura. If anything, it was just that his silent companion either didn't register the pain or was blatantly ignoring it.
He had no idea what to make of that.
A little more food wouldn't go amiss either, Ren thought as his stomach grumbled. They'd had some green berries along the way – tart and sharp-tasting, but which Jaune had promised weren't poisonous. True to form they'd been safe enough until now, but whatever they were, they hadn't been filling. Even that had been eaten on the move and it was late evening now. It'd been… it'd been over a decade since Ren had walked this long in a single day.
How many hours did that make it? He wasn't sure. Did it even matter? There was something morale crushing about their journey, namely the fact that deep inside he knew all the work they put in today wouldn't end in any satisfactory manner. There was no light at the end of the tunnel, nor a soft bed to rest on. Instead, the most he could look forward to was another wet night in a cave. Rescue, if they would ever find it, was days away yet.
"Keep moving," Jaune said, breaking the silence with a rare comment. "We'll try to find another cave at dark. There's some cliffs just an hour or two away; if we're lucky we'll find somewhere unoccupied to rest."
"And if we're not?" Ren dared to ask.
"Then we make a shelter in one of the trees."
He waited for the punch line, but realised a second later there wasn't one. He scanned one of the nearby trees, a huge and powerful thing with vines, moss and other flora wrapped about it. Great green leaves made a large canopy. While the boughs certainly seemed sturdy enough, the lowest ones were at least twelve or so metres straight up. Factor in the rain, humidity and all the insects – and then the fact that they probably wouldn't be able to make a fire in the open for risk of Grimm who might see it…
Ren shivered at the thought. "Let's hope we find a cave," he whispered.
Jaune heard, of course. He made a sound halfway between a scoff and a `tut`, but didn't say anything. He didn't have to really, since they both knew he was unimpressed with the sentiment and was probably thinking something derogatory about his capability. It was that or his status as `city boy`, whatever that was supposed to mean. Even frontiers people didn't live in trees.
In the end, he decided not to comment on it, instead forcing himself onwards in the hopes they'd find some shelter more substantial to use. Even if it had Grimm inside, he'd rather kill them and take it over than risk a berth out in this storm. The wind had started to pick up again and he clutched his jacket close to himself. If it wasn't for the hood and rain coat he'd taken from the dead pilot, he didn't think he would have made it this far at all. Pink eyes were about the only thing that were a sullen, soaked mess at this point.
When Jaune clambered up the next knoll, a simple incline of rocks and broken logs that nearly rolled on Ren twice over but caused the hunter no issue, he paused on the top and held a hand out. Ren thought it was to help him for a second, but realised after that it was for him to stay quiet. He paused halfway up the climb, panting slightly.
"Damn it…" Jaune hissed.
"W-What is it?" he gasped, still struggling to keep his breathing calm. The pause, even if it was only for a second, was welcome, and he slumped against one of the rocks. A millipede trotted by his face but he couldn't even find the energy to let that bother him.
"Mouk is shadowing us…"
Ren's heart turned to ice. He slammed his Semblance into place before he could panic and the familiar feeling of his emotions being washed away soothed him. There was nothing to worry about, at least not imminently. Jaune would have had a far more pronounced reaction than a simple `damn it` if that were the case. "Does he know where we are?" he asked.
"No, otherwise he'd be over here already." Jaune motioned for Ren to come up beside him, and although it took a minute or two he managed it.
The knoll had brought them onto a small rising through which a parting in the trees ahead spelled the dip of a ravine. While there was no way they'd be traversing that, it did create a break in the thick trees all around them, giving him an uninterrupted view of the Lunar Cry Mountains to the east. This time, he didn't mistake the large shape there for the mountains it stood in front of.
Mouk took his breath away again, but this time – with the vast distance between them – there was a chance to feel awe instead of terror. Some details were hard to make out, not just from the distance but from the rain as well. As it scythed down on the forests below and around them, humidity kicked up mist and steam like smoke floating several metres above the canopy. That continued onwards for a while until it reached the mountains where the forest lessened and stopped. From there, the large shape could be seen, looking faintly at the sky and letting the rain wash against it's face.
"It's incredible," he said.
"It is," Jaune agreed. It was a rare moment of agreement between them. "Easier to think so when he's not tearing up the ground all around you. The big bastard is keeping in line with us, though. That's going to be an issue since we need to cut past the mountains."
"How does it know where we're going? I was so sure we hadn't been seen."
"We haven't. Damn thing's either lucky or smarter than anyone's giving it credit for." Jaune's tone said he wasn't quite willing to rule out either possibility. "It could just be patrolling the mountains. It might just be a coincidence, especially if this is its newer terrain."
"Do you believe that?"
"I don't know," Jaune admitted with a sigh. "I think it's best to assume not. Like Uncle says, better to be pleasantly surprised than unpleasantly dead."
Ren chuckled at that, agreeing with the saying. While he was no pessimist himself, there was a certain logic to preparing for the worst-case scenario. Hopefully it wouldn't come to it. I wonder what the others would think of that. I can't help but think Team RWBY would relish the challenge of facing him. No doubt they'd see it as a reprisal of their initiation, as heart-pounding as that had been at the time.
He was glad they weren't here in that case, and even more so his own team. In a straight up fight, he was sure Mouk would kill them. Strength and skill just wouldn't matter against something that gargantuan. All it had to do was fall in the right direction to crush them. The best even Ruby's scythe could probably do was shave its hair a little.
"What is our worst-case scenario?" Ren asked. "If we have to deal with him, I mean."
"We'll hope it doesn't come to it, but if it does?" Jaune sighed and pushed off the rock, taking them deeper into the forest and away from the intimidating sight. "Some sort of diversion to bypass him. The old trick used to be lighting a fire to draw him away and then going through when he was distracted. That doesn't work anymore."
"He learnt what it meant?"
"Maybe, but I think it's more he goes away from them myself. Like he knows it's NOT food, but food is somewhere else. The best bet is not to make any fuss at all and to try not to alert him to the presence of anyone nearby. A fire will just get him excited. We'll just-" Jaune froze. His arm snapped out, preventing Ren from stepping past.
"What is it?" Ren hissed.
"Shh!"
Jaune reached behind him with one hand, slowly bringing forth the bow he'd collapsed earlier. The string should have been soaked, but it looked oiled, or some sort of other water-proofing. A good choice, and Ren briefly wondered where Jaune might have picked up some Huntsman tech like that, or if it was some frontier secret. Despite that, Jaune drew forth a long shaft from the quiver at his hip and nocked it. The wire drew back, glinting faintly in the late evening sunlight.
He took a cautious step forward, arrow aimed in the direction of something he'd detected. Ren tried to figure out what it was but sensed nothing. A normal Grimm would have attacked them by now, but there was no telling if Mouk's presence wasn't somehow affecting that. Stormflower slipped down into his hands. He only had a bit of ammo left, but he could still use the blades to devastating effect.
Jaune suddenly surged forward, half-stepping, half-lunging, and loosing his arrow at the same time. It whizzed into a bush some distance away, and something squealed. Jaune broke ranks, charging after it with not a care in the world. Ren cursed and followed after him, arriving right in time for Jaune to reach in and draw the arrow out. On the other end, a cute rabbit hung, speared through the skull and quite obviously dead.
If Ruby or Nora were with them, they'd have surely cried.
"Got it," Jaune said proudly, drawing out the arrow with no thought for the blood and brain matter that spilled out with it. He shook the corpse, spilling blood and rainwater on the floor. The poor thing was soaked. That was probably the least of its worries now…
"Was that entirely necessary?" Ren asked, sheathing his weapons. "I thought we were under attack."
Jaune rolled his eyes but didn't reply to that. He hooked the rabbit onto his belt instead and patted it down. "Necessary? That's your call, I guess. I just figured you might like some food that isn't military rations, but hey, if you don't want it then more for me."
"I didn't say that."
"Didn't say what?" Jaune pressed.
"That I didn't want any…"
"I'm not sure I get what you're asking."
"Do you have to be so difficult?" he snapped, before pinched the bridge of his nose. "Thank you for shooting the rabbit. Please may I have some of the meat?"
"Well, I suppose I can share." Jaune laughed, apparently pleased with having won the concession out of him. "We'll cook it tonight. You know how to gut an animal?"
Ren's stomach lurched. "In theory, yes."
There was a moment of silence, during which Jaune's face went through several complicated expressions. Eventually, he sighed.
"I'd… rather not leave it to theory, no offence. I'll handle it."
That was probably for the best, so he didn't take any offence at it. It seemed like such a long time ago that he and Nora had been left to fend for themselves in the wild after fleeing the destruction of their home. He could only vaguely recall what they'd eaten at the time, but it had mostly been tubers, roots and berries. Children their age hadn't been equipped to catch wild animals, and probably wouldn't have known what to do with them if they had.
It took a while for them to find a cave. It might have been somewhere between forty minutes to an hour, but without battery for his scroll Ren was unable to really tell. The dense canopy and denser clouds made reading by the sun difficult, if he'd even been proficient at it in the first place. How Jaune spotted the cave he had no idea, for it had a door of hanging vines, moss and plant-matter and camouflaged perfectly with the green-covered ravine walls on either side of it.
"I'll go inside and check it out," Jaune said. "Wait out here."
A day ago, he would have cautioned against that, highlighting that as a civilian, Jaune should be the one to wait outside. Now, miserable and cold, not to mention his legs shaking, Ren nodded and remained silent as the hunter entered. Ren barely had the time to wonder whether he was safe or not when he stuck his head back out.
"Yeah, it's safe."
"That didn't take long."
"Not a big cave," Jaune said, pulling the vines aside so that Ren could stumble in. "Lucky for us, I guess. Means the heat won't be spread over such a big area."
Yes, that would be good. Ren collapsed to his knees and slung his pack before him, gasping as he peeled off the sodden top and drew out some logs – this time wrapped carefully in other items to keep them dry. He'd learned from the last time. He worked in silence to stack them into a fire pile, pulling some rocks about to prop up the logs.
Jaune sprinkled some moss he collected from the walls on as well, saying to use it as tinder, but also smoke to ward off biting insects. "The monsoons have made the air humid," he explained. "If the rain lets up they'll be out in force tonight, and a little protection is better than nothing."
"As long as it burns, I couldn't care less."
The hunter laughed and brought out some flint, striking his metal knife against it and generating easy sparks. It took a few for the tinder to catch, but catch it did and the flames licked hungrily at the logs. Ren gasped in pure relief as the warmth washed over him, and was surprised to find that Jaune did much the same, slumping down to warm his hands. Maybe he wasn't as invincible as he made off, and the way he worked off his boots and massaged his feet certainly suggested so.
Ren glanced towards the entrance and hummed. "The elevation is against us this time. If we set our clothes by the entrance to dry, the water will run down on us."
Jaune paused to watch him, apparently surprised to see he'd absorbed the lesson so quickly. "True," he admitted. "There's s dip at the back of the cave, though. We'll lay them on the rocks, let the water drip there, and then sleep away from it. The fire will dry them out."
He nodded and began to peel off his clothing, looking away for modesty's sake. Jaune did the same on the opposite end of the fire. Once again Jaune was clothed again before Ren, and by the time Ren had pulled on the pilot's clothes - quickly becoming his sleepwear - and turned around, Jaune was starting to gut the rabbit.
Ren was too tired to feel bothered by the fact, and Jaune wasn't paying attention anyway, busy gutting the rabbit he'd caught earlier off to the side. He flicked some bits of it outside that Ren pointedly didn't look at, and cut off some slivers of meat, placing them on a small metal plate removed from his bags. That was then balanced on some rocks by the fire, where it would slowly heat up. Almost like a pan of sorts. As the bloody meat dripped and began to sizzle, Ren's mouth watered. He was looking forward to it more than he thought he would.
"Is every day going to be like this?"
"Stiff muscles, complete exhaustion and sodden feet?" Jaune asked. "No. The rain won't last forever, so we'll have dry feet."
That he didn't address the other two hardly filled Ren with confidence, not that he'd expected anything better. Even though his body felt like he'd gone through ten consecutive rounds with Nora, there was no denying the fact he was, in essence, alive. Not comfortable, but still breathing. In that regard, as long as they made it from point A to point B, point B being the safety of civilisation, Jaune's gruelling pace was justified. The more distance they covered, the sooner they'd be out of this mess.
"Is this how you normally travel when you're hunting?"
"You kidding me?" Jaune asked, laughing just a bit. "No one would want to be a hunter if that was the case, not even me. When I'm normally out, I take things slow, and I don't rough it in the rain if I don't have to. Sure, I might be out in the Grimmlands for a few days longer, but not even I'd want to travel like this every day." He flicked his knife as a gesture, carelessly getting a little blood on Ren. "Like, that hill with the fallen trees earlier? I was worried we were about to get rolled over the whole time."
"Really? You act like it doesn't bother you."
"Act," he pointed out, and began to massage his legs, wincing whenever he hit a sore spot. "Uncle used to tell me to'fake it till you make it real.' No point complaining, and we need to cover as much ground as possible. Doesn't mean I like it, or that I don't feel the burn. What about you? I thought you Huntsmen were meant to be super-human or something."
Ren chuckled. He certainly didn't feel super-human right now, but he could understand why people not used to them would think that way. "We are trained to be resilient, powerful and skilled, but our way of fighting is more high-intensity over a short period of time. We look to kill Grimm as soon as possible."
"Not ones for endurance?"
"Some of us are, but it's a tricky prospect. Aura is our energy and our protection. The longer we're in a fight, the longer we can be hit and lose more aura. Huntsmen are dropped into the worst fighting, but fights with Grimm are fast and bloody. Grimm don't exactly take it slow when attacking. Even if we had a series of fights, there would be periods of rest to catch our breath in between. Nothing like the continuous slog we just went through."
"Rain made it harder," Jaune said, maybe as nothing more than a statement but maybe – if Ren tried really hard to imagine it – as a small excuse offered to make him feel better about himself. "Once the monsoons are over, it'll be drier. Easier."
"I'll look forward to it."
"You won't be the only one," Jaune grumbled.
The rabbit meat began to crackle and burn, so Jaune fished the metal plate out with his knife and the rabbit skin from earlier, using the skin as a make-shift oven mitt despite the still-oozing bits on the inside. In terms of cutlery to eat from there was only their bare hands and Jaune's knife. Ren ended up taking two reasonably strong-looking twigs, wiping them on the side of his clothes, and using them as makeshift chopsticks… if only if only to keep his hands from burning. Still, the meat smelled real, and most importantly warm, and he bit into it with relish.
Jaune did the same, but with much less enthusiasm before chewing mechanically.
Ren was barely able to swallow his. He only did because Jaune was watching him, waiting for a response.
"It's… well…"
"If you don't want it, don't eat it. It's not like I cooked it for you or anything."
"No, no. It's fine." It really wasn't, but Ren fought past his taste buds to swallow the offending article. He'd been expecting something worthy of a cookout, like hotdogs over a roasted fire. This was just…
Jaune sighed and put his down, before looking off to the side. "Fine. I can't cook. Happy?"
"It's better than ration bars, at least," Ren offered.
Jaune just glowered, probably recognizing just how low a bar that was. Still, for all it's… taste… it was definitely cooked enough to be… safe… that much was certain. And it was warm, which was even better. The only issue was the taste, which was distinctive in its rancidity. The phrase `tastes like chicken` could not have been any less apt.
"I can't cook," Jaune said, again. He sighed and tore off a small piece between his teeth, grimacing as he swallowed it. "Yes, I am aware how bad it is. I can hunt, kill, skin, and gut with the best of them, but I can't make the meat taste like anything other than death itself." He glared over as Ren smothered a chuckle. "What's so funny?"
"Nothing, nothing," he lied. When Jaune's frown tugged down even further, he surrendered with a smile. "Well, I suppose it's just me being surprised, that's all. You always seem so certain and sure with everything else. It's nice to know you're not good at something." Besides tact, of course.
Jaune certainly didn't seem to think so, and muttered something disparaging under his breath. The two of them still polished off the meat, even if it wasn't very good – but when Ren began to reach for another of the ration bars, just to round it off Jaune stopped him.
"Don't eat that," his guide warned in his more usual disapproving tone. "Save that for when you need it. It's better we eat what we can while we can, in case food becomes an issue later on. We can get more meat over the next few days - but nothing more where that came from," he said, indicating the ration bar.
Ren's stomach protested, wanting more, but willpower won out for now. Regretfully he put it away. When they were finished, the two sat before the small fire, both cast in shadow and light from the flickering flames. This time, at least, they both had blankets- something Jaune was no doubt happy for, even as he'd pulled out a journal. He was making scratches in it, even as he held his pencil in an awkward fashion, and Ren considered pulling out his own.
With little to do but wait for sleep to claim them, Ren spoke. "Where did you learn all of this?"
"This?"
"Living in the wild, hunting, staying hidden from the Grimm…"
"I learned it in the wild," he said, "but I doubt that's what you mean." His tone was as brusque as ever, but if he truly hadn't wanted to speak he would have remained silent. "Uncle Jacque taught me."
"Jacques…? Like Jacque Schnee?"
Irritation flickered across Jaune's face. Ren didn't feel too guilty, and even relished it for a moment as Jaune began to talk.
"There's more than one Jacque in the world, you know," he complained. "Uncle Jacque is a hunter like me, though I guess I try to be more like him. He's probably the best in Vale, and even beyond. He ended up taking me under his wing and passed on what he knew to me. Even took me out into the Wildlands back when Mom and Dad were against it."
He paused to chuckle and prod the fire with a stick, pushing some burned branches aside.
"He taught me just about everything I know about hunting. He's still the best hunter in Edge, no matter how hard I try to catch up. He might have been the other one to go with the Huntsmen if… well…."
"What?" Ren asked, curious.
"If he was here," Jaune evaded. "He went off with mom a month or two back and asked me to look after things while he was gone. I was second best with him gone, so the job fell to me."
"Do you think he would have done a better job?"
"Hard to say," Jaune said, but laughed. "Maybe Cardin and his lot would have listened to someone older, but he probably would have ditched them even faster than I did. No telling where that would leave those idiots." He laughed again, though leaving people alone in the Grimmlands wasn't exactly a laughing matter at this point.
Ren chuckled all the same as something came to him. "But would the rabbit taste better?"
"Worse."
"You're joking…"
Jaune laughed. "I'm really not. I at least picked up a few cooking lessons from Dad, but Uncle Jacque didn't. I suppose you'd say my cooking is basic, but his can be poisonous. At least I know how to tell if the meat is good or not."
"He undercooks it?"
"Not after that one time. Now he errs on the side of caution, so you'd be eating charcoal. But hey, at least it wouldn't be undercooked."
"He sounds like a character…"
"He is." Jaune settled back against his rucksack and linked both hands behind his head. "Whole family is, really. Uncle'd bring back the game and Mom would butcher it like it stomped her daisies, but then she would also take the skins and tan the hides and make 'em into clothing. Basic stuff like bags, cloaks and blankets, but stuff that Edge could use, and people would pay more for than just the skins. I picked up more from those two than anyone else."
"And she would cook for you?"
Jaune laughed again. "Not if she could help it. She can make a decent stew or soup, but only because you can't mess up burning ingredients in a pot of water. Dad was the cook of the family. He always wanted to teach, but I was always out with Uncle Jacque, so I never really got the chance."
"And you never thought to learn?"
He shrugged. "Never exactly brought a pot out with me to the wildlands. Otherwise, meat's too valuable to just experiment on like that. What game I brought back wasn't just for us, but other people I sell or trade with. If I ruin food trying to learn to cook, it means we're a few lien poorer and someone else a belly full hungrier. Besides, I could always just let-" He paused, frowned. "Someone else could do it better anyway. That way I could focus on hunting or trading off game for spices and other things."
Ren noticed the pause but let it be. "A shame there isn't any seasonings out here."
Jaune hemmed. "It's not that there aren't any, but I'd just end up making the meat taste like grass. Like I said, I can't cook worth anything. Adding herbs will just be an extra ingredient for me to mess up."
"But do you know which ones are safe?" Ren asked. Jaune nodded, almost affronted. "I can cook in the future, then."
"You can cook?"
"Is that so unbelievable?"
Apparently it was, for Jaune watched him warily. He wouldn't claim to be the best cook in the world, but necessity was the mother of invention and he and Nora had been together for a long time. A lot of that hadn't had modern grills or temperature-controlled ovens either. While Nora was enthusiastic and eager to help, cooking required patience and that was an aspect she lacked. He'd had to pick up the slack, and learned more over the years.
"I'm not the best in the world, but I know a few recipes and I also know how to make good stews and spice meat. If you can tell me what herbs are what, and gather the safe ones, I'm sure I can make something that tastes better than that in future." The absent `it can't be much worse` didn't need to be said.
"You didn't know how to gut a rabbit," Jaune pointed out.
Ren chuckled. "We get our meat pre-gutted in Vale."
"I know that. I'm not an idiot." Jaune flushed and looked away. "Fine. I'll see if we can't find something tomorrow. Good food is worth its weight out here. We'll see how good yours is."
"I'll look forward to proving it to you."
It wasn't only because it would be a chance to show he wasn't useless, but also because it would give him some way to contribute. So far he'd relied on the other man for everything, and that was galling. While he was no Yang, he was still confident in his skills and respected himself. It wasn't a good feeling to know you had nothing to offer. Cooking the meat Jaune caught would be a small thing, but it would be something. Perhaps it would be the first of many things he could do.
It was, if nothing else, a start to him being more a help and less a hindrance.
"That's for another day, though," Jaune said, and Ren understood that it wasn't just the cooking, but also their conversation. While he'd been forthright, there was still a limit to how far he was willing to reveal about himself. "We should get some rest. Tomorrow is going to be-"
"Just as hard, if not harder, than today," Ren finished.
Jaune blinked, but slowly allowed a smile – cruel as it was – to blossom on his face.
"Maybe you're learning after all," he said. "Not bad for a city-boy, city-boy."
"It's-" He gave up with a sigh. "Never mind." Ren rolled his eyes and lay down, drawing his dry blanket up over his body. The rock beneath him still wasn't comfortable, but he felt warmer than he had the night before. There was less hunger, too, and despite the taste of it, the warm rabbit sat warm in his stomach and heated him up from the inside.
Were it not for the Grimm, the rain, the general despair of their situation and more, he might almost have imagined he was out camping. Well, out camping with the most ornery and demanding person he'd ever known.
"Good night, Jaune."
Jaune grumbled something back that might have contained something similar, but certainly didn't include his name.
/-/
"That's all, headmaster," Ruby finished, holding the long-distance communications device against her ear.
"I understand, Miss Rose. You did the best you could in the circumstances."
She remained silent.
"Rest and recover for now. I shall see to making arrangements on Mr Lie's behalf."
Making arrangements. Ruby's throat caught.
"T-Thank you, sir," she croaked.
Ozpin noticed, but evidently decided not to comment on it, and for that she was grateful. As she put the device down, the man at the communications building pointedly did the same, not meeting her gaze as she shuffled out like a zombie.
"The best we could, huh?"
She didn't think they had.
"You didn't need to do that, Rubes." Yang said, arms crossed as she leaned on the outside of the building. Her face was full of sympathy, but Ruby did her best not to notice it. She didn't need sympathy, and didn't deserve it.
"I'm the team leader. I'm the one who's supposed to…"
"Coco already did, though. Ozpin knows what happened."
Ruby's head lowered. "He was my friend…"
"Our friend. You shouldn't be beating yourself up over this alone."
Ruby's gripped her skirt with both hands and took several quick breaths. Didn't she have every right to beat herself up? They'd come here to rescue Ren and save the day and they hadn't even seen him. They'd failed much earlier, getting injured along the way, nearly killing Kalie and losing an innocent to the Grimmlands.
Some team leader she was…
"Don't," Yang said.
"Don't what?"
"Don't go putting this all on your shoulders." Yang gripped her by them and turned her around. Her big sister's eyes were stern. "We all messed this up, Ruby. You didn't once tell us to keep pushing on and you didn't order us to do anything. We all wanted to push ahead and ignore Kalie's advice, and we're all responsible for what happened. Don't bottle this up."
"Maybe I should have…" Ruby's eyes clenched shut. "Maybe I should have ordered you all. Maybe I should have ordered us to listen to her, to sit still and not be idiots. Maybe if I'd been a proper leader I'd have known to listen to the person who knew more about the area than I did. Then we'd have made it through and found Ren."
"We have no idea if he's still alive out there," Yang said softly, "or if he was when we went…"
"Well at least Kalie would be okay!"
"She's… alive…"
Ruby didn't even look at her sister for that, and Yang surrendered with a sad sigh. Kalie was alive, sure, and they'd all been relieved to find that out when Weiss arrived. Their attempts to see her had been rebuffed, however. She didn't want to see them, apparently. Apparently she hadn't wanted to see anyone. Considering all that had happened, Ruby didn't blame her.
Kalie was alive, but alive didn't mean well.
"It's easy to look back on mistakes and think you could have done better," Yang said. "Trust me, I do it as well. Hindsight is twenty-twenty like that."
Ruby knew that, she really did. It didn't make her feel any better, however. Her eyes stung but she wasn't crying, mostly because she was too drained to cry any more. She'd barely eaten in what felt like a day and her stomach growled. Despite that, the thought of food left her sick to her stomach. No matter how hard she tried not to think on it, it always came back to one question.
"When did we stop caring about normal people, Yang?"
Yang blinked down at her. "Eh?"
"We knew Kalie was more familiar with the Grimmlands than us," Ruby said. "That was why she was there with us. It was why we needed guides in the first place. We were told that by the people running the operation. So, why did we ignore them? When did we start thinking people that weren't Huntsmen or Huntresses didn't matter?"
"They do matter. They're who we protect. It's just… well…"
"They don't matter as much as we do… or their opinions don't, anyway. We ignored her because she wasn't a Huntress, because we were the 'experts' on Grim. Because we were from Beacon, and she just lived here. The moment she came up and said hello, we treated her like someone we had to look after. She's older than me, but I treated her like a child to protected, but not listened to."
Yang had no response to her words, and Ruby's voice wavered between righteous inward anger and a confused depression as Yang held her.
"Why did we even take her if we were just going to ignore her? Even the military guy who told us about the mission said we'd need them, but the second he was out of sight we ignored him. Was that because he wasn't a huntsman? Would I have cared more if he had a cool weapon?"
By the sound of it, she honestly wasn't sure. Yang said nothing, and just let Ruby release.
"It's just… it wasn't supposed to be this way. Now Ren's gone, and Nora can't even leave her room, and- and-…" Now, finally, Ruby cried, and Yang felt near tears on her front.
"I can't even say 'I'm sorry'!" wailed Ruby. "Pyrrha won't let me! She told to stay away! She hates me, and I- I-"
A bawling cry broke off anything else, and Yang could only hold her tighter.
"It'll be alright, Ruby," Yang comforted, not knowing for sure if it was true or not. "No one hates you, everyone's just upset right now. that's all. Pyrrha's just trying to give Jewels space right now. Give it some time and then you'll see. She doesn't hate you." Yang hoped.
Ruby cried, and cried some more. It wasn't something to look down at her for, and Yang just stroked her hair as she let it all out. It was times like that that reminded her that- as strong and smart as her sister could be at times- in other ways, she was still a little girl. And this little girl not only faced a personal failure, but feared losing a friend.
There was nothing they could do but let time prove Yang right, or wrong. Nothing that Yang could think of, anyway.
Eventually, Ruby calmed down. And eventually, she fell asleep too, head on Yang's lap. Yang didn't move her. After so long worrying and trying to be responsible, letting Ruby sleep again after letting more out seemed like the best thing she could do.
"It'll be alright, Ruby," Yang whispered, looking down at her sister tenderly. "It's not your fault. I promise."
"Not your fault either," a masculine voice came from the door. "You're looking a little dim yourself, Firecracker."
Yang looked up, recognizing that voice. Her eyes widened in disbelief.
"Uncle Qrow!" she exclaimed, though careful not to wake Ruby. "But how? I thought the Bullheads were downed for the monsoon!"
"Heh. Bullheads might be, but I have my ways," Qrow claimed with a flippant wave, before sinking into the doorframe for support. "Sorry I'm late," he apologized.
Late was one way to put it. Impossible was another, but there he was. Exhausted, bedraggled, and dripping with water, but leaning against the door with a smile that survived despite all that.
"Never mind that," Yang hissed, still trying not to wake Ruby. "What are you even doing here?"
"Heard my girls ran into some trouble, and being the amazing Uncle I am I came running. Why else would I be here?" he asked, before letting the cocky smile fade just a bit.
"It's alright, Yang," her Uncle-slash-Huntsman reassured. "I'm here. It might not be easy, but it really is going to be okay now."
Despite not seeing how- despite not seeing a way to change the past and everything that had gone wrong…
Yang believed him.
/-/
It's strange how much can change in forty-eight hours.
Two days. A period of time which feels so short and yet also spanned such a great amount of time and distance. I'd come to learn truths about myself, some less comfortable than others, but it was also a time where I came to learn more about my reluctant companion.
I said he was not an easy man to get along with, and that was true. When we talked, it was against a suspicion I could not fathom the depths of. I thought at the time, and still think now, that he was lucky that it was I he found in the cave. Others would likely have taken greater offense, and who know where that might have led in the Grimmlands.
But as we spent those nights huddle around small cave fires, I learned other things about my companion as well. Discoveries that were not so malign as surprising.
He shifted between stoicism so severe I was left wanting, and an openness of emotion and feeling I had not expected. He took pride in his knowledge of wild, but seemed well aware of his weaknesses and failings. That he delighted in proving his superiority was clear, but I soon wondered if his mockery of my limitations was as malicious as it first appeared
But what I learned most of all is that while he was, and still is, a hard and demanding man, he asks no more of others than he expects of himself. In that, at least, he is unfalteringly fair.
He was even then a man of some contradictions. He is experienced and mature, yet quick to taunt and resort to nicknames. He is comfortable and practiced in all aspects of wilderness survival, yet cannot cook the most basic campfire fare. He could be amicable and conversive when asked, or go hours without speaking beyond the most basic commands. He is a man who can laugh, and smile, and then suddenly glare at someone in the space of the same conversation. Trying to understand what affected him frequently felt like a long, painful path of verbal abrasion.
He was confusing. He was contradictory. He was complicated. He was nothing like his sister, and I did not understand him. Perhaps that was why I began to look closer, eventually. If there is one thing I could never stand, it was to not understand.
But understanding requires introspection, and introspection requires contemplation, and at that time I had precious little time or energy for either. Our path would be more grueling than either of us knew. Things would get worse before they got better.
It is said all trials have a reward. To share a campfire deep in the Grimmlands, to be trusted to cook… even though I had not realized it then, I was starting to obtain mine. I was in rarified company… even if many rare things are often unpleasant and abrasive.
As you shall eventually see, the tarnish we had started with would not go away as easily as the rain.
- The Diary of Lie Ren
CF's Notes:
Another chapter. More stuff. More feels, one hopes. And Qrow arrives.
A mostly RWBY-centric chapter, focusing getting the rest of the team feel outs. With the RWBY-cycle done, and the arrival of Uncle Qrow, we are not… 'done' with the Edge arc, but at least moving into another phase. And more focus for Ren and Jaune, in theory, as they near approaching the great challenge of the arc- escaping Mouk's domain.
In other news, KegiSpringfield has created the first fanart for this fic! Please search Kegi out on DeviantArt and applaud.
Alas, no tvTropes page yet, but any day now, Coeur fans, any day now…
Next Chapter: 6th January (3 Weeks due to my week off)
P a treon . com (slash) Coeur