Welcome back.

Writer: Coeur al'Aran

Director: College Fool

Cover Art: Kegi Springfield

Chapter 10

It was strange how lonely one could feel after just a few days in company, even lonelier than before. Ren no longer even had his little cave, and without Jaune leading the way the only semblance of safety he had left was his own semblance. Even the idea of going back to the cave to hole up in no longer seemed reassuring, not with Mouk around. Ignorance had been a bliss of its own, or at least would have been until the giant monster crushed his cave and buried him alive with a single stomp.

More than an hour after they'd separated, Ren picked his way over some wet logs by the stream and followed it down, looking for Jaune's pack or bow. Everything looked the same to him and he didn't have Jaune's experience in the wilderness, so he'd started at the water drop they'd washed over and gone downstream from there. After not finding anything or determining that there was nothing to find anywhere nearby, he could follow the stream back upstream before returning to the cave and waiting for Jaune like expected.

And, of course, he'd need to trust Jaune to go back into the very belly of the beast and recover anything upstream, all without a huntsman to aid him or the training required to deal with any of the Grimm he came across.

"Trust," Ren whispered to himself, half a mantra and half a quiet rebuke. "You wouldn't have let him go if you didn't think he'd return."

Maybe. It was… hard, and not just from having spent so much time with other Huntsmen and Huntresses. He'd tried to accept that Jaune could survive without him. He had to believe that being a civilian didn't mean one was useless. There was a lot about the wilds he didn't know.

But he'd known hunters too, once upon a time. And no one knew better than him what could- would- happen if a Grimm caught a hunter alone. Hunters weren't Huntsmen. There was a reason Remnant needed Huntsmen.

"Trust," he whispered to himself again, before reaching for his semblance once more to sooth the familiar fear and pain. He had to reach deeper than normal to touch that power, and pulling it took longer than usual, but in time his chest relaxed and he was… if not comfortable, at least not as uneasy.

Just in time, too. A snuffling up ahead was followed by a loud splash. Ren was moving a second later, pressing his back against a tree. His single Stormflower came to his grasp and adrenaline flooded his body, even as his attention narrowed with a Huntsman's razor-sharp focus. A Beowolf, bedraggled and wet, was beside the stream. It might have fallen in, or just been drinking. He peeked around the tree. It was medium-sized at best, not an alpha but no juvenile. Just the one, however. An easy kill… assuming it was alone. A glint of metal made his eyes widen, however, as he realized what it had drawn from the river.

Jaune's bow, still intact, and even now being poked and prodded by the monster.

Ren felt a mix of shock and excitement. It must have seen it and recognized it as belonging to a human and dragged it out of the water. What luck! Not only did finding it make this entire down-stream detour worthwhile but finding it would no doubt put Jaune at ease when he failed to locate it upstream. It would be a much-needed bit of good news, and a perfect peace offering to make up for having nearly drowned him hours before.

Now, however, the Beowolf was nosing about it, even plucking at the string with a wicked claw. Ren crouched low and readied to rush out and slay the creature. If none of its pack had come to share its curiosity, it was probably alone. It would be an easy kill for a Huntsman of his calibre.

But he paused.

Jaune was on his own further up-river. Going by what he'd said before, if Ren killed this Grimm, then its pack would notice the absence and go on alert. If they were alerted, so would Mouk. So soon after their last encounter, no doubt the monster would come bounding down the river that even now Jaune was moving up on, putting the hunter in incredible danger.

Ren's lips thinned and he put Stormflower away. He leaned back behind the tree and let out a short breath. No one needed a reckless Huntsman right now. He needed to start thinking like a hunter, like a survivor.

Jaune wouldn't attack a Grimm he didn't have to, he thought. Why? Because Beowolves hunt humans, not their belongings. This one shouldn't have much interest in the bow once it realises the wielder isn't around.

That seemed likely to be proven true. The Beowolf continued to poke and prod at the bow, sniffing around, but what Jaune had said about senses seemed right. Despite a huge huff of air, there was nothing to suggest it had caught Jaune's scent upstream… or caught wind of Ren, hiding meters away behind a tree. At one point it reached down to grip the bow in its claws, and Ren prepared himself to move if he had to, but he didn't. The Beowolf simply tossed the bow away, not even into the stream, before it growled and lifted its head, ears perked in some random direction.

It howled once, and then loped slowly off into the brush.

He gave it a minute or two even so, if only to be sure it hadn't stuck around or that it wasn't drawing more Grimm to investigate. As the river rushed by on his left and the trees rustled to the right, Ren drew a deep breath and held it, listening for any sounds of Grimm.

None. He was alone.

Perfect.

Jaune's bow was where the Beowolf had left it, but aside from a superficial scratch along the grip it looked much the same as the last time he saw it. The compound materials were wet with water, obvious, and the bow string soaked, but it was whole. With a test of the string and a frown- that was Hunter wire for sure, no homespun makeshift bow string to go slack from the water- Ren took it and placed it on his shoulder. It was intact, and that was all that mattered, even if it dripped water constantly.

Still, killing the Beowolf wouldn't have made it any less soaked. It might have been quicker to kill the Beowolf, but he'd managed to reclaim the bow without issue or expanding any energy… and considering how hard Jaune was likely to push them tomorrow, that was probably a good thing.

"Slow and steady wins the race," he whispered, looping it onto his back. He shivered as water ran down him, but it wasn't much cooler than the drizzle coming down from the sky. He was already soaked to the bone as it was. He looked back upstream, questioning.

"He said he'd find me, but he probably didn't think I'd come this far downstream," Ren mused. "Would it be better to follow the stream back to the waterfall, or try to cut back to the cave from here?"

Probably the former. He was pretty sure he could find the cave from the waterfall by retracing his steps, but if he cut through he could pass it without realizing it. Jaune might find him in time regardless, but it'd take a damn time longer and Jaune would be in a much fouler mood if he had to come as far as Ren had gone before finding where Ren had turned back.

That… could be troublesome. Ren had been willing to trust Jaune wouldn't get in trouble, but Jaune hadn't exactly trusted the same, or else he would have let Ren come with him. Jaune had probably expected him to stay in the cave, and if Ren wasn't back by the time Jaune returned…

Ren winced, even as Jaune's bow was slight comfort on his back. He'd been so focused on doing something productive, he hadn't thought what might happen if Jaune returned before he did.

"It's not like I promised to stay in the cave or anything," Ren rationalized aloud. "I can just say I needed to stretch my legs and took a look around. That's not technically a lie," he defended. "Besides, he should have any cause to complain when he sees his bow again. It's all good as long as I don't get into any trouble, right?"

Right?

Gods, is this what Team RWBY was like whenever they were off getting into their latest adventure?

Ren face-palmed.

"Now I'm talking to myself. That isn't exactly a good sign," Ren muttered. It hadn't even been a week either. Yet, who could blame him? Given his sort of friends, he was used to a bit more… volume in his environment. As it was, the absence of anyone to talk to was…

How did Jaune put up with the deafening silence all the time?

Never mind. Ren shook his head, trying to get his thoughts back on track.

"It's no good thinking about it. I need to move on." If he beat Jaune back to the cave, all was well. If he didn't, he'd explain himself and use a little of his semblance to ensure Jaune didn't get out of sorts. As long as he didn't get into trouble along the way, Jaune wouldn't have cause to complain… and would even have to drop that annoying nickname.

That would be something to look forward to.

"If he tries to back out of that, I'll make him eat his bow," Ren vowed.

Alone once more, he set out east.

/-/

Halfway back without a single encounter – good or bad- made him nervous. There being no sign of Jaune looking for him was good in one way, and bad in a lot of others that all had 'Grimm' in common. Either he had suffered a bad case of tunnel vision when he'd been focusing on the creek on his way downstream, or there had been whole packs of Grimm closer than he thought.

When he'd been going downstream, he'd heard the Beowolf because he'd been focused on the creek. Coming back, though, and trying to conceal himself in the thicker underbrush… broken brush, split logs, and paths through the undergrowth were so obvious even he could read them. A lot of it was recent too- though whether before or after his and Jaune's little swim was unclear. Like an Ursa in a pottery store, the Grimm had made a mess of the forest they claimed as their own the moment they'd been driven into a frenzy. It seemed to show that even out here where humanity held no sway, the Grimm were still destructive, if only to nature instead.

Ren sighed and took a deep breath. Fatigue had started to kick in a while back, but he'd forced himself on and on. Jaune's bow wasn't heavy, just a little uncomfortable, but even without the water weight it made him wonder about his absent companion once more. He'd thought Jaune's pace was hard when he'd just been carrying his tote bag. Carrying the bow, and not even having to worry about Jaune's much larger pack… he hadn't wanted to take a break before he returned, but enough was enough.

Ren pulled off the bow and his own bag and set them down by a log before sitting down himself as he fished around his bag for a water canteen. Odd to be so thirsty after falling in a river, but the monsoon's humidity was doing him no favours even if the rainclouds kept the any blazing summer sun away. Ren found his canteen and swallowed greedily from the flask, before wiping his lips clean with the back of one hand. His thirst satiated for the moment, he took time to take in the sort of forest he hadn't seen since his early childhood.

There were no still ponds or floating flowers, but there was a strange peace to the forest… at least when the Grimm weren't around. It looked much the same as his first days stranded, except back then he'd been fighting the fear of being stranded. His Semblance helped suppress it, and the survival manual had helped rationalize the need to wait, but he'd known it was there by the way he'd limped to the closest hillside he could. He'd holed up in his cave and simply tried to survive.

Looking back, he had to wonder if that had been the wrong choice. It was what the survival manual told him to do, but he'd made more distance in the last two hours here than he had in the first seventy-two. Sure, he hadn't had as clear a destination, but waiting for death – or rescue – had been exhausting in its own right. Maybe what they said was right, about how doing nothing when someone needed help was the antithesis of being a true Hunter. Even if the person needing help was himself, he still could have done something to keep his mind focused. Just moving his beacon regularly would have shown everyone he was still alive.

Or, he supposed, it was also possible he'd have run into Mouk.

The cries of some distant birds interrupted his thoughts. He watched through a crack in the canopy as several dark shapes flew overhead. They weren't Grimm, at least judging by the sounds, but they'd been spooked by something.

He had a feeling it wasn't Jaune. Something told him the ornery hunter wouldn't be causing that much of a ruckus out here in the open.

"Time to go," he said, sweeping up his bag with ease. He looked at the bow a moment longer, though. It was… uncomfortable and had been a distraction. Jaune had had it out and extended almost the entire time they'd been walking, alert and on guard in the Grimmlands, but if he remembered right…

Maybe if it worked like it's sister weapon…

Ren knelt down to grasp the bow and worked his hands up and down around the shaft as he searched for release. With a grunt he found it, and with a hiss the bow shaft relaxed and compressed, shortening until it could be folded over and fit into his pants.

Like other pieces of Arc family junk, it was easier to carry that way.

His burden eased, Ren looked around to ensure he was still on the straight path. A quick check for the river ensured he was still hand railing it back upstream, even though he was far enough away that no Grimm at it would see him. By the angle of the afternoon sun, the stream was to his west. To the east, somewhere, was the cave he was trying to return to. He couldn't see it now, but over the ridge it was based at he could see the even larger mountain range far beyond. The Lunar Cry Mountains…

Ren wondered how close they'd be by the time they actually escaped Mouk's domain. They were likely only days away, but by how the last few days had gone it felt like weeks.

A sound somewhere south of him made Ren remember that he needed to move. He walked north again, keeping an eye out for the signs that should lead him back to the cave.

Minutes later- or maybe a half hour- he began to get nervous. The trail, and the waterfall, were nowhere to be seen.

The waterfall was supposed to be his landmark. It'd definitely been where he'd started going downstream. Where was it? He didn't exactly have clock to check, his own scroll having died long ago, but surely he'd already walked back upstream as long as he'd walked downstream to find the bag. And he wasn't meticulously looking for anything washed ashore either. That should mean he was walking faster now, right?

Had he walked past it without realizing? Been too far east of the stream, moving through the thicker forest so he wouldn't be seen, and not seen the waterfall in turn? Was he now upstream of where he'd started, having walked faster since he grabbed the bags? Or was he still short of his destination, and slowed down by the bags weight or the slight slope of going uphill?

Was he… lost?

In that moment, Ren was wracked with indecision even as he let out a muffled curse. A step forward, to continue his path, faltered along with his resolve. Turning around to go back was met with hesitation. Keep moving forward, or go back? Upstream, or downstream? Suddenly the fact that he'd recovered Jaune's ruck meant little. Even if he dug out Jaune's maps, he wouldn't know where 'here' was. He knew he was near the same river, but not which stream it was on the map. Or where the cave was. Or which valley they were in. Would a six-foot waterfall even be labelled on a map?

Ren's heart began racing, even as he fought to keep his breathing even. It was still the same stream. He could just go back down to a point he'd know he recognize, and then start upstream again from then. That should work, right? Even if he couldn't remember any particularly unique parts of the flood-stream besides the waterfall itself. Worst come to worst, Jaune would find him as long as he stayed near the river, right?

But if that were true, why hadn't Jaune found him already? Was Jaune's journey longer? Had he been slowed by the Grimm? Was he himself still looking for the bag Ren already had?

What was taking Jaune so long? Why hadn't he caught up yet? What was he doing? Had he left too vague a path? The questions warred in his mind and `trust` became ever harder to maintain. What if Jaune had been driven away? What if he couldn't find the cave either? What if he'd already returned to the cave, but gone out searching for Ren but missed him in the underbrush?

What if what if what if?

There has to be a way, Ren thought, fighting for control. Some way to get my bearing. If I could just get my bearings and figure out where the waterfall was…

Ren's gaze drifted east, to the next ridgeline of this little valley. It was slick and steep and nothing but stone, but it was high enough to clearly see over the valley…

Nothing should sense me if I keep my semblance up, he thought. His eyes burned, and his vision swam a little from having maintained it for so long without pause, but he could still go on. Just a peek above the treeline, he thought. If I see even a hint of Mouk, I'll get back down and just go back down the river.

A particularly strong-looking tree provided a good means to climb higher, the boughs just low enough for him to reach. Normally such a thing wouldn't have caused him any trouble, but exhaustion, not to mention the lack of food, had robbed him of his normal strength reserves. Conserve what strength I can, he thought. You never know when you'll need that energy next. That was what Jaune would say as he stepped around rather than forced his way through obstacles. It took less time to find an easy tree than it did energy to scramble up a harder one.

He tested the ground a few times before he hopped up, catching a bough with both hands. He hung there for a second, just to make sure it would hold, before he pulled himself up when the branch didn't crack or splinter. His feet landed atop it and he shimmied over to the trunk, wrapping one arm around it to steady himself. It still wasn't enough for him to break the canopy, that thick layer of green that smothered out most of the sunlight. He made his way higher instead, testing each branch with a foot before he dared put any more weight on it.

He didn't make it to the top. One hand gripping a branch and the other holding the trunk, he stepped around to reach for a bough with one foot and found himself staring into a pair of red eyes and a beak.

The Nevermore looked as surprised as he – and it was a small thing barely a foot across with its wings extended. There were two others as well on branches behind and they all stared at him, he staring back. With his hands in use he couldn't reach for his weapon.

"Don't make a sound," he pleaded.

The juvenile Nevermore flapped their wings wildly.

"Caww!"

"Caw!"

The moment the Grimm pushed off and flew through the trees he knew he'd made a grave mistake. Mouk's roar split the forest some distance away, and the ground began to vibrate with the force of his approach. He'd let his guard down. Damn it!

A scan of the surroundings provided nothing in the way of cover. If he tried to lay low and hide with his semblance out of sight of the Grimm, then there was a chance Mouk would crush him, even if he didn't see him. One foot slid back down the tree as Ren looked in the direction of the noise, watching the very trees themselves shake. There could be no more waiting, though at least Jaune would have a clear path to follow.

With a lurch, Ren threw himself out of the tree, jumped off the next, and within moments was already atop the eastern ridge before the Nevermore above circled back. He only went fast as gravity helped him accelerate down the other side of the hill.

He reached the trees at a mad dash, leaped over a fallen log and pushed through bushes with reckless abandon. The only hope was to find somewhere to hide. This ridgeline was out, what with the Nevermore seeing down the slope, but if he hurried through the trees he could lose them. If he could build distance from where he'd been spotted then that might be enough, just like last time. Mouk would need to look around or wait for another Grimm to spot him and relay the message. As much as it hurt to say, Ren would have to hope Jaune could follow the trail and find him later. At the moment, there was nothing else he could do. Survival came first.

Ren's pace, unnatural by the standards of a regular person, wasn't quite a terrified sprint, but the full speed of an amateur Huntsman. That didn't keep his eyes from widening in in shock when he looked behind him when the sun seemed to dim, however. Hidden behind the clouds as it was, the sky still seemed darker- and the reason why filled him with real dread.

In that moment, Mouk was jumping off the ridgeline much as he had, and about to crash into the forest below with all the power of a meteor. The roar was almost as powerful

Ren just barely kept on his feet when the ground beneath him shook, though his hands touched the ground at one point trying to keep him. This time his legs were moving with the power of fear, but they didn't give any advantage. Far from it, as Ren never even noticed his semblance slip away from him.

Why would he? Mouk was gaining on him. The beast's stride was too large, and the uneven terrain hardly bothered it, while branches tugged and snagged at Ren's clothing and gnarled roots seemed to tangle about his feet. Every time some tree branch or vine tripped him, he powered through and kept moving even as he stumbled. Nothing slowed Mouk down, though, and when Ren had to leap over another stream in the middle of this valley, Mouk didn't even get its paw wet.

Ren reached the far side of the valley and the next valley ridge-wall the moment Mouk reached him. There was no time to hide after he cleared the tree line. A steep rock face faced him, a wall of wet stone and tangled roots – but before he could even consider climbing, the forest behind him exploded. Mouk's huge foot powered down, splintering trees beneath it and causing the ground to shatter.

Ren was thrown forward by the force of it, and barely had the presence of mind to angle his arms to take the force of the fall as he slammed into the valley wall, and right through a crevice into an interior cave.

A rock stopped him - or tried to. He bounced off it, aura flaring, and a gasp thrown from his lips. He landed face-down on the stone floor, but there was no time to savour it. His hands slammed down even as Mouk roared. A brief glance back told him everything he needed to know.

Mouk's single eye bore directly into his, straight through the narrow opening of the cave mouth.

The eye disappeared, but this was no cause for relief. In a matter of moments the black mass outside rose, and then fell so hard that when it landed the ground bucked and Ren was thrown up into the air, hitting his head on the roof of the shallow cave. He twisted and tried to land on his feet on the way down, gasping in pain as his ankle twisted on the uneven ground. He sagged, and caught himself, and then limped deeper into the cave. There was no light, and he had no clue of how deep it went, but there was no other path to salvation.

Mouk wasn't inclined to give him even that, as a massive paw bigger than him crashed through the cave mouth and caught him from behind.

"Arghh!" Ren screamed as the claw caught his leg from behind, tearing through his aura and hitting between his knee to ankle. A few feet up and that would have torn through his bag with ease. As it was it was a glancing blow at best it didn't cut, but from something of Mouk's size even that was enough to crush his aura. The force of it sent him the rest of the way and he slammed against the back of the cave wall, slumping to its base. The only mercy was that his bag cushioned much of the impact, it's soaked contents compressing easier than his bones. One hand clamped down on his wound, even as his head swam too much to even grasp at the edges of his semblance. The fact that his aura was likely too low to use it mattered little since Mouk knew exactly where he was.

And worse, the cave was not all that deep. It was barely six meters at most, and as Mouk's claws grasped at the entrance, tearing up dirt and rock, Ren pressed himself up against the back wall as best he could considering the bag, arms pushing him further back as he tried to make as little noise as possible. Despite that his chest rose and fell in harsh pants.

Mouk snorted and snuffled. Its snout poked at the entrance but it couldn't fit in, much to his relief. A red-eyed glare was almost welcome in its displeasure. Less so was how it growled and pulled back – and two claws appeared after, teasing around the cave in search of him.

Ren held his breath – and even tried to stop his heart from beating. The claws were gargantuan and reaching for him. They wavered a scant few feet from him. It couldn't get any further, however. The cave was just deep enough.

But only for now. A Grimm's Mouk size and age didn't get that way without having at least some intellect. It roared angrily, and dust rained down on Ren's head. The claws came back, but not to search for him this time. They scraped and shovelled at the entrance – and Ren's eyes widened as he saw swathes or rock being dragged away.

It was trying to dig open entrance, so it could get in deeper!

If it did that, he was dead. No doubts. He couldn't escape, either. The moment he tried it would kill him, and his leg was hardly good enough to stand on, let alone run.

Calm down. I mustn't be afraid. Nothing's going to work if I'm afraid.

Gods, but he was afraid. He hadn't been this afraid since-

No. Even then, there'd been a way. There was always a solution to every problem – so long as you knew the variables and had the right tools. Mouk was something he'd never faced before this week, but all Grimm had weaknesses. He wracked his mind for this one's. Was there something from the legends? Anything he might use?

Ren's hand frantically thrust inside his bag, trying to find anything amongst the clothes that might be of use, even as Mouk's red eye once again lowered to look into the cave.

There was a way.

The Ren who had spent most of his life in the city of Mistral, and recently in Vale, was dismissive. Legends and folklore from frontier folk weren't going to be strictly true or historically accurate, and so were usually only worth their weight in gold. The Ren that had no options and was desperate disagreed. Something didn't have to be true to be useful.

Jaune was no idiot and had filled the silence on their long trek with a few more tales of the monster outside, including the one of a hunter in a very similar situation to his right now. Huntsmen and Huntresses had tried to kill Mouk and died, but a hunter had gotten away not because he'd tried to win, but because he'd fought to survive.

And the proof of his victory had been…

Ren's pack was full as he pushed his hand into it, one eye on the entrance in case Mouk tried to reach for him once more. It did, its claw reaching further than ever, but not far enough. Clothing and supplies were shoved around as he searched for the one thing that could help him. Mouk's paw remained in the cave, and there was a mighty crash as a titanic mass came down. It was trying to look inside the cave again, only this time with a paw still in the widened opening.

Ren's fingers found a slim, plastic object wrapped in a water-proof wax-seal. Wordlessly, he tore it free, and then ripped the cap off with his teeth. Hot air washed over him as Mouk's snout appeared – and then his giant, crimson, eye. It locked onto him with deadly intent.

And then it widened, in obvious alarm, when Ren snapped the flare in two and dark black smoke followed bright red fire.

The eye would cringe when the first smoke hit it, but that wasn't what made it cry, or made the beast roar in something less than pain but certainly not anger. No, that was when Ren swiped the flare like a knife and lit the furthest of Mouk's hairs on fire.

The deafening squeal that followed was anything but intimidating. The way the mega-Ursa tried to rear away - would have left completely were it not for the paw now stuck in the cave - only drew attention to how fast Mouk removed its face from the cave mouth.

Desperate, vindictive glee spread across Ren's face.

"You're scared of fire, huh?" he yelled, even though there was no chance Mouk could actually hear or understand him. "Then let's see how you like this!"

With a Huntsman's precision, Ren threw the flare behind Mouk's claws, trapping the fire-starting pyrotechnic beneath Mouk's paw.

Mouk reared back with a ferocious cross between a roar and a squeal, titanic muscles trying to yank the paw free and away from the source of the inflammatory pain. When it did, it nearly tore half the cave out with it, an explosion of force that sent the mega-Ursa so far back that it actually wobbled on its back two legs for balance. For once, Mouk's attention was far from Ren, and entirely on the flames licking its paw.

"It worked!" Ren half-laughed, half-shouted, even though the encounter wasn't over yet. Still… it worked! Just like the legend with the hunter, who blinded Mouk's other eye with smoke and fire. Now, like that hunter of old, Ren would have to make his escape too- before any of Mouk's retinue could find and follow.

But before Ren could move for the entrance and escape into the woods, Mouk fell from his two-legged hobble and slammed both paws to the ground outside the mouth of the cave.

It didn't seem to be a planned move to stop him so much as part of the beast's frantic thrashing or attempt to put out the fire, but the air pressure blew him back. The paws were gone a second later as Mouk bucked – but something, a part of the mountain itself, gave way. There was a mighty crack and a groan, and the very ground beneath him rumbled and shook. Ren was sent sprawling back, rolling to the back end of the cave.

The mad thing was causing a quake! Its throes of agony were going to bring the entire mountain ridge down on his head, and without the stupid thing even realising! Dust and splinters of rock already rained down on him. Ren threw a hand out to grasp a rock and drag himself forward, the shaking too much for him to find his footing on his bad leg. As another particularly violent shake hit the mountain, something beneath him groaned ominously.

Ren looked beneath himself, suddenly aware of a fissure that had opened up between his hands, running the length of the cave. His eyes widened. Had he been in his right mind, less injured, not stunned, and perhaps a thousand other things, he might have had the strength to escape. As it was, he stared down at the fissure as it splintered.

"Oh, come on…"

It gave way with a mighty crack.

The ground beneath him disappeared. The sudden moment of weightlessness ended as he plummeted down, spinning and twirling as he tried to correct himself and land on his feet. His eyes saw the open cave he was falling into – some kind of subterranean cave – but that was thrown aside as something caught his head from behind.

Another rock fell from above, and his balance was shot as he tumbled down.

The only silver linings were that Mouk was far above and ground below looked more wet than solid, and then the world went black.

/-/

Far, far away, in the little town called Edge, a miserable ginger-haired girl groaned in her sleep.

"Ren," she cried. "Ren! It's dark! Don't go!" she pleaded. "There are monsters in the dark! Don't leave me!"

Beside her, two girls traded worried looks as another looked closer.

"She's having another nightmare," a brunette bunny-eared girl, the very girl leaning over, said. "She's been having a lot lately. The suppressants don't keep away the dreams, or… other things."

The other two witnesses traded more concerned looks.

"Maybe… maybe we should wake her up," one said, blonde hair visible in the dim light.

"No, don't," the other disagreed, her red ponytail shaking. "The Doctor said she needed to rest, and besides, if she sees you again-"

There was a pause, but then the blonde shook her head.

"I'll deal with that," she said. "I'll take responsibility, like I should have in the first place. That's my job, right?" she asked, voice cracking.

Neither other witness said anything. Red-hair could only extend a hand in support as Blonde looked down as the Ginger-haired girl who was twisted and turning in misery.

"Besides… I can't just sit here and do nothing seeing her like this," Blonde admitted. "No one should have to deal with their nightmares alone." A fist curled, and voice strained. "No one."

Cerulean conviction shined in her eyes.

"Wake her up."

The other two nodded, and the closest one leaned forward, putting a hand on the unconscious girl's shoulder as gently as possible.

"Wake up," a gentle voice urged. "We're here for you. Wake-"

/-/

"-up."

Something shook him. There were hands on his shoulders and they pushed again.

"Get up, you idiot! Don't be doing this to me now!"

"N-Nora…?"

"Who?"

The caustic voice wasn't quite feminine enough, nor excitable or even remotely happy enough to be his partner's. Memory didn't so much flood back into his mind as it did babble and spill across his brain, sending waves of pain through a skull that felt cracked in a million places. He groaned and tried to reach up for it but a hand caught his before he could.

"Steady," the voice said. "You took a real knock there. Here, drink this."

Something was pressed against his lips and as the cool sensation of fresh water touched them he opened his mouth and swallowed. The refreshment was enough to bring the world back into focus, slowly at first and then with increasing clarity. His eyes slowly opened to reveal a dirty and tired figure crouched next to him, one arm under his shoulders to prop him up, the other holding a canteen to his lips. Having had his fill, Ren pushed it weakly away.

"I'm alive, then?"

"No, you idiot, you're dead and I'm here to haunt you."

"That explains a lot," Ren quipped, words slipping out before he realized it. "Maybe I never made it off the bullhead."

Jaune dropped his shoulders, though made sure to keep his head from hitting the ground and took the canteen away in a huff. "If you're good enough to crack jokes, maybe you didn't' crack your head after all. Good. I'm not letting you die until after I see the looks on your friends' faces when I drag you back."

Ren's laugh was more of a weak cough. Was there any concern for him there? It was honestly hard to tell sometimes.

"I see you're in one piece too, unless you died and I'm haunting you," Ren managed, lying down and looking straight up.

"I'm not that bad," Jaune muttered, even as he busied himself to the side. Turning his head, Ren could see him working on his bag, which itself was set up beside a body of water. Unground lake? Just a pool? Jaune must have found and dragged him to it.

They were in a cave, that was clear. He could see the roof, which was weird because that meant there must have been light. From above? Around a bend, there might have been the evidence of such. There was certainly the sound of water.

"I see you found your bag," Ren rasped, mouth still waking up. The water Jaune have given him was good, but for some reason the rest of mouth felt… salty?

"Yeah. It was upstream. Imagine my surprise when it was right where I left it before you threw me in." He looked back, and this time Ren could feel the tart glare being thrown his way. "Also imagine my surprise when I came back and found that you weren't where I left you. What the heck were you doing?"

The disapproval was obvious. Ren ignored it.

"How did you find me?"

"The mountain-sized bear running around with its paw on fire was a clue. So was the crater in the middle of the hillside. Luckily, I found a hole instead of a smear of blood and huntsman, and you were at the bottom. Easy. At least you were floating face-up," he said.

Yeah. Easy. And Ren was a mythical faunus. Still…

"Swimming's not hard. Some of us can do it in our sleep."

Jaune's brow wrinkled. "Now you're trying to piss me off," he recognized, before narrowing his eyes further at a realization. "And distract me. Won't work. What the heck did you do to get Mouk to level a mountain?" he demanded.

"I remembered your story about the hunter and re-enacted a bit of it with a flare."

Jaune blinked.

"That worked?"

Well, this was awkward. Almost surreal, really.

"Yeah. Turns out he's afraid of fire. Who knew?"

Jaune should have. Then again, Jaune hadn't said Mouk was afraid of fire per see, just that the hunter used it to blind Mouk. Was that what he'd intended? But then, why did Mouk care about fire specifically? In the legend…

A thought crossed Ren's mind.

Jaune had shared that the 'trick' to distract Mouk had once been to set diversionary fires elsewhere. Had that stopped working not because Mouk was smart, but…

Had Mouk grown afraid of fire just by poking its nose one time too many in a fire pit? No hunter, or anything else?

That's what you get for believing in legends, the city-civilized part of himself sang.

"That's… good to know," Jaune said, looking at Ren seriously and without anger for a moment. "I knew he was sensitive about his last eye, but this… when we get out of here, we need to spread the word," he said, deadly serious.

"I'll be sure to write it down," Ren said, even as he finally pulled himself up from laying on his back to a sitting position. His head swam, but it was worth it as his senses came back.

Jaune's sudden frown wasn't, though.

"Of course you would," he snapped, suddenly turning back to ire. "If you don't get yourself killed first. What were you even doing out to be found by him in the first place? You had one job, to not get in trouble, and I told you to stay put!"

"Technically, you didn't," Ren said, having expected this. "You just said you'd find me. Which you clearly did."

Jaune frowned more. That was… true. He visibly reigned in his mood, at least for the moment.

"Then why?"

"I had to stretch my legs and look for something."

The moment didn't last long, clearly.

"That's it? What could be worth so much that you'd risk running across Mouk? You know what? Never mind. I don't care what it, whatever it was wouldn't be worth your life and-"

"Did you find your bow?" Ren asked, reaching down to pat his pockets.

"No," Jaune admitted, grudging and unhappiness clear. "But that has nothing to do with-"

Ren pulled out the compressed, folded-down version of Jaune's bow from his pocket. "You went upstream to check if it was still there. I went downstream to see if it washed away. I was right," he added, almost as an afterthought, before extending his hand to Jaune. "Here."

Jaune slowly reached out to take it, and his hands visibly shook as he took it.

"I- you shouldn't have," Jaune rejected, even as he took firm hold of it. He at least tried to keep consistent. "It wouldn't have been worth-"

"A Hunter's weapon is their life," Ren said simply. "So yes. It was."

Weapons weren't mere pieces of equipment to be discarded or exchanged, but a part of someone, and their identity. Ren's Stormflower represented memories as much as a means to protect. Jaune's bow was his method, and his way of life. Even Crocea Mors, a shield to protect and a means to fight for one's dreams…

"Is that what they teach you at Beacon?" Jaune asked, voice tight.

Ren closed his eyes. "No. My father taught me that."

There was no rebuttal to that, and Jaune seemed to accept that. Even if Ren's decisions were… questionable, that didn't mean the overall choice was indefensibly wrong. Jaune himself had said how much the bow mattered. Ren had made a call, and it… mostly worked out.

"If it helps, I didn't even run into Mouk when I got it. I only stumbled into a Grimm when I got lost on my way back." He paused, and hoped he was convincing. "It was bad luck, that's all."

"Ha," Jaune breathed, and for once it seemed almost sincere. "Ain't that the truth?" The hunter's lips thinned. "Here, then. I guess you'll want this back then. Seemed to keep me lucky - I never even saw a Beowolf," he said, handing back Ren's other Stormflower.

But he held onto a moment longer when Ren reached to accept it.

"And… thanks, you idiot Huntsman."

Ren sighed. "I thought you said you were going to stop calling me that."

"And I thought you were going to stay out of trouble for more than five minutes! Instead I come back and find an empty cave with Mouk running right by and-"

Ren tuned out Jaune's squawking about how much of an idiot he'd presumably been and just what the other guy must have thought during all this and looked around the area. They were in a cave system, that much was clear, and the reflecting light gave at least some interior lighting. It wasn't bright, but it was soft, and the walls almost seemed to… glow? It wasn't just the sunlight filtering in- there was something else, something glinting in the soft white walls.

"Jaune?" he asked, cutting Jaune off even as he shakily stood on his feet again. His leg ached, but there was something calling him. It was like… wind…

"Yeah?" Jaune said, shifting beats as fast as ever. Sometimes that was annoying, like walking into a prickly thorn bush. Other times it meant no nonsense what so ever.

"Where are we?"

"Welcome to the caves of the Lunar Cry mountains."

"You know this place?"

"Nope."

"But you just said-"

"It's a cave, and it's in the mountains," Jaune pointed out. "Past that, what do you expect? I stick to walking above the ground, not below. I hate caves," he said. "Nothing worse than a Grimm between you and the exit."

That was something, but not what Ren was hoping for. Now that he was listening for it, he could tell what he'd barely heard before. He could feel it. He'd never experienced it before- only read it- but it was unmistakable.

There was wind. A breeze, really. And not just from the hole in the ceiling a way away. Something like that meant…

"You're not getting light-headed on me, are you?" Jaune said, popping into his field of vision again. "If you need to rest a little-"

Ren had barely realized he'd been walking, and Jaune was looking at him with careful concern even as Ren turned one corner and then another. But that wasn't important, because the wind was getting louder, because-

Ren focused on the path ahead as they reached what appeared to be the end of the tunnel. The ground spread down before them and the walls opened wide – even as the ceiling vanished far above. Far from finding a smaller cave, it looked like they'd managed to find an even bigger one.

"Jaune, you sure you've never been here before?" Ren asked, stopping.

"Never," Jaune denied, eyes widening. "I'd never forget this."

Crumbling stone and piles of rubble, not to mention all of the edges and straight lines that could not have been made by nature, morphed into square-shaped structures of a clearly human-construction. Above them, across the cavernous ceiling, carefully placed glittering jewels shined like a subterranean constellation, giving the cavern a soft lit glow.

"I don't believe it," Jaune whispered.

Ren didn't blame him. He couldn't either.

"It's an underground city."

CF's Notes

Dun dun dunn!

An end to a chapter that was… surprisingly difficult to put together in so short time, since we only had 3 days to do so. Real life time crunches have a way of doing that. But I think Coeur did some nice action, and I slipped in some comedy (and the dirty joke), and all in 8k words? It's a miracle.

But, hey, something new. But what does it mean for the future? Speculation ahoy.

Next Chapter: 3rd February

P a treon . com (slash) Coeur