Disclaimer: RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and Monty Oum, not me. This is merely a fanwork meant for entertainment purposes only. Cover image courtesy of Simon Howden. All rights reserved.
"-aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"
Finally, after what seemed (to Weiss especially) a very long time, Jaune stopped screaming. He was still falling, of course, but perhaps that was the point...it had been almost a minute now, and he hadn't hit anything yet. Perhaps he had reached terminal velocity at some point, but if not for the dank air that relentlessly whooshed past his face, Jaune would have been none the wiser. Eternal darkness kind of did that to you after a while.
"Jaune?" a slightly concerned voice echoed from above.
"Weiss?"
"Oh, good. I thought that the screaming stopped because you'd hit something."
"Thanks for the concern?"
"Hey, what was I supposed to think? That this was some kind of bottomless pit? As if!"
Jaune waited around half a minute to drive his unspoken point home.
"...though we certainly are falling quite a way." Weiss admitted grudgingly.
Come on, Jaune, time to get your brain in gear. What do we have with us that might help?
The first order of business would, at first glance, be to stop falling, but there were only so many ways of doing that when you got right down to it. If there was any room in this hole, he could perhaps draw Crocea Mors and embed it in the wall...nah, that was dumb. Assuming that the sudden stop didn't instantly break his arm, the general lack of vision would mean staying still would just cause a collision between himself and Weiss. Terrible idea, terrible idea! Almost as terrible as picking up Myrtenaster that one time.
Ah, nostalgia. No, wait, wrong word...soul-crushing regret. Yes, much better.
Jaune heard Weiss cursing under her breath above him but, otherwise, it didn't seem like the snow angel was offering much in the way of assistance.
You know, this would be a lot easier if we could see what we're doing.
Well what am I supposed to do about that, huh? I lost my scroll!
Doesn't Weiss still have hers?
"My scroll?" Weiss parroted after Jaune sent the question her way, "Huh, that might actually work. Hold on…"
It wasn't easy given the conditions but, after a little fumbling around, Weiss managed to retrieve the portable device, opening it up to reveal…
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me!" Weiss exclaimed in disbelief.
"Is it out of battery?"
"No, that can't be it! The bar said that it was fully charged before we fell in here!"
Weiss sighed.
"It was actually a decent idea, too…"
"Hey, don't worry about it!" Jaune replied encouragingly.
"Are you serious?! We're falling down into infinity! How am I not supposed to worry about this?!"
She had a point there, but really, freaking out would get them nowhere fast. Well, okay, it would continue their descent into the hole, and they were probably falling incredibly quickly, but it wouldn't get them anywhere useful fast.
All they needed was a light, like a torch, or…
Wait a minute…maybe I don't need a torch. Maybe I just need me!
It would have made quite a spectacle, if it had been light enough for anyone to see it, at least. Sort of like a sputtering fire, struggling fiercely against an unrelenting wind that was ruthlessly attempting to put it out. But, like the fire, Jaune wasn't smart. Jaune wasn't even particularly strong.
Jaune was simply very, very determined.
"Dust…" Weiss muttered quietly.
I'm glowing. I'm glowing! Man, wait until Pyrrha hears about this!
Then, all of a sudden, the off-white glow Jaune was now emanating became even brighter.
Of course, it's aura, a representation of our soul! All I need to do is think about things that make me feel good, right?
Slowly but surely, thought by thought, Jaune's glow slowly morphed into an incredible shine.
"I'm not sure how you're doing that, Jaune, but to be honest, I couldn't care less at this point. Time to find out where we are..."
As Jaune had suspected, the tunnel was the same width that it had appeared on the surface, just being big enough for one person or so, but not much more. However, the walls were made of cool grey stone, not dirt as he had predicted, so sticking Crocea Mors in there would definitely have been a bad, bad plan. What could they do with this information, though? Sure, it was nice to see where they were going for a change, but there was still absolutely no sign that the pit had a bottom.
"Gah, this is hopeless!" Jaune lamented, his light dimming slightly.
"No, wait, turn it back up!" Weiss snapped, "I think I see something!"
Re-activating the 'happy thoughts happy thoughts' maneuver, Jaune returned to his previous brightness level, allowing Weiss to continue her scan. After a couple of seconds, the heiress shouted excitedly.
"Yes, I think I get it now!"
"Get what?"
"It's a glyph, Jaune! We're trapped in a looping glyph! Stop looking at the walls and look down!"
Obeying Weiss' command for once, Jaune turned his eyes downwards, focusing very carefully as yet more stone rushed past. Yet, once he'd grown accustomed to the walls zipping by, he began to notice an incredibly faint purple circle that kept zipping past.
"I think I see it too! But uh, what is a looping glyph?"
"Well, glyphs, technically. It's a kind of short range teleport; when you pass through one glyph, you are transported to its partner, as long as said glyph is still being powered while you're trying to use it. In this case, as we pass through the glyph at the 'bottom', we're teleported to the one at the top, making it seem like we're stuck in a bottomless pit!"
"So can you disable it?"
"Pah, of course I can! It's just...we might not survive afterwards."
"Ah...I can see that being a bit of a problem."
"Wait a minute...Jaune, stay as still as you can. I have an idea!"
"Um...okay."
"Also, don't look up."
"Why?"
"I'm wearing a combat skirt, you dunce!"
Jaune blushed furiously, bowing his head.
"Yes ma'am."
While he couldn't look up, Jaune could certainly hear that something was going on. VROOM. VROOM. VROOM.
"...this is harder than it looks!"
"I'm not looking!"
"Good!"
VROOM. VROOM. VROOM.
"Ah, there we go!" Weiss cried triumphantly.
"Gah!"
Through an inverted use of her white glyphs, Weiss had managed to increase her speed going down the hole, eventually ending up right in front of Jaune. This was good, in a way; Jaune wasn't the biggest fan of cracked grey walls, after all.
However, this was a small tunnel.
A very small tunnel.
"I feel like I made a miscalculation here…" Weiss admitted, averting her eyes.
"Uhhhhh." Jaune groaned, keeping his arms very, very straight. He didn't want to think about what Weiss would do if they wandered.
"Jaune?"
"Y-yes?"
"I need you to grab my hand."
"Uh…"
"Please, Jaune, trust me. I don't want to do this, and you don't want to do this-"
"Actually, I-"
"-but this might just save our life." Weiss finished, carefully cutting off Jaune's intermittent comment.
"R-right...here goes?"
...SMACK.
"That's not my hand, you pervert!"
"Sorry!"
"...right, that's better. Try not to let go, Jaune. You're a handy torch at the moment, and I'd hate to lose you."
"What a lovely sentiment." Jaune responded dryly.
"Quite. Now, hang onto your head!"
Weiss extended her free hand below her, the bladeless Myrtenaster glittering magnificently in Jaune's glow. All of a sudden, a series of small white glyphs began to shoot out of the weapon's dust exhaust port and, little by little, the entangled pair began to slow down. Soon, Weiss had managed to pause them in mid-air, suddenly finding the strain of holding onto Jaune being a little more than anticipated.
"You need to...lose some pounds…" she grunted, sweat pouring down her face. If not for her near-exhausted look, Jaune would have snarked back, but he knew whatever she was doing was taking an enormous amount of effort. It was her show, now; all he had to do was play along.
"Dust...dispel!"
Upon Weiss' furious command, all six dust colours began shooting out of Myrtenaster, zooming downwards like a sharp blade to cut right through the loop glyph.
"...Jaune?" Weiss whispered hoarsely.
"Weiss?"
"...I'm sorry."
CLICK. CLICK. CLICK.
Myrtenaster was out of dust...and this time, as much as he wish he couldn't…
Jaune could see the bottom.
Come on, Jaune! Think, think! You can't come all this way to just die in a hole! It's not fair!
Then it struck him; his aura would save him at this speed.
Yes! But...what about Weiss?
Just from looking at her, Jaune knew she was absolutely exhausted. What was it Professor Port said once?
No doubt some of you brave hunters and huntresses will have already discovered your semblances...and if you have, you should be very proud of yourselves! However, take heed; extended use of your semblance depletes aura rapidly. Keep this in the forefront of your mind! One day, it might just save your life!
Or cost you it, Jaune thought bitterly.
There was probably around twenty seconds until the two of them hit the ground, if that.
I...I can't just let her die!
"Jaune…"
Not here!
"I'm sorry…"
"Not now!" Jaune yelled at the top of his lungs, pulling Weiss into a rough embrace.
BOOMF.
I...I don't hurt.
Weiss had kept her eyes tightly shut ever since the enormous crash had surged through the very rocks themselves and, while she would never admit it afterwards, had still clung to Jaune like he was the last man on Remnant.
Shouldn't I be dead right now?
Letting her eyelids slide open, Weiss finally got to have a look around what she presumed to be the bottom of the hole. The previous stone of the tunnel had become yet more organised, this time forming very definite brick shapes...well, apart from in the impact crater, anyway. To her left stood a proud wooden door, meticulously engraved with an all too familiar white snowflake.
So this is really it...I never thought- wait, why am I still holding Jaune?
As much as Weiss would have liked to drop Jaune like a sack of potatoes at that moment, she supposed a more dignified lowering was required here, especially considering the boy's state. There were no cuts, or at least, none immediately visible, but Weiss still wasn't sure he had escaped the crash unscathed, or even how she had. She had felt her aura essentially hit zero...if the fall hadn't killed her, it should have at least broken her legs or something.
Yet here she was, absolutely safe and sound.
"Rrgh…" Jaune groaned, having been moved to a rough approximation of the recovery position.
"Jaune?"
Weiss began leaning closer to the bumbling hunter, still looking for injuries all the while.
There's not a scratch on him! What gives?!
"W-Weiss?" Jaune's croaky voice returned quietly, "I...I can't feel my aura..."
"Shh." she said soothingly, "Try not to move, okay? Dust knows how we survived the fall, but I'll be willing to say that you have something to do with it. Could you roll onto your back for me please?"
He complied as best as he could, but Weiss noted clinically that he only used his arms to accomplish the feat.
"Like this?"
"Mmhm." Weiss confirmed, "Are your legs alright?"
"I'm not sure I can move them right now…"
"I thought as much. Now, stay still for a moment, Jaune. I need to confirm something."
"O-okay…"
Soft as silk, Weiss placed a delicate hand onto Jaune's chest, searching desperately for an aura signal. You couldn't lose aura, after all...or at least, that's what she'd been taught at Beacon.
It's there, but it's incredibly faint. Whatever he did, it must have used up his aura reserves even more than mine.
"Do you have any idea what you did, Jaune?"
He smiled faintly.
"Is that...a rhetorical question?"
"Not this time, you dolt! I mean, I know what you did for the first part which, by the way, was absolutely foolish. Let's get you sitting up…"
Her aura regenerating faster by the second, Weiss found it easy enough to pull Jaune up to a better position, despite her struggle with him earlier.
"So what'd I do?" Jaune asked, his voice tinged with anxiety.
"It's called the Aurora technique, Jaune. Essentially, you amplify the brightness of your aura to the point that it becomes bright enough to see by."
"Sounds okay so far…"
"That's because I haven't finished yet, you dolt! See, the Aurora technique is only supposed to be used as emergency lightning, with the sustain on it usually only being possible for around five seconds or so. I don't know how long we were falling for after you used it, exactly, but I'm willing to bet it was a lot longer than five seconds."
"So?"
"So you should be unconscious right now! I guess you slept through that class too, huh?"
"Um...absolute aura exhaustion causes you to go unconscious?"
"Yes, Jaune! The only way I can rationalise you being able to hold the technique for so long is that ridiculous aura regeneration rate of yours. Somehow, you managed to gain the same or greater amount of aura than you were expending with the Aurora."
"Oh...so how did we survive the fall?"
Weiss frowned, turning back to the Schnee-emblembed door.
"Honestly, I don't know, Jaune. I really, really don't."
Hisssssss…
"Uh, Weiss?"
"Hm?"
"Do you hear that?"
HISSSSSSSS…
"Jaune, don't move!"
Weiss couldn't stop herself from moving closer to the door as several serpentine shapes began easing themselves out from beneath the brickwork, their jet black bodies contrasting heavily against the bone-white masks and cruel red eyes.
"Grimm…" she breathed, drawing Myrtenaster as the beasts began wrapping themselves around Jaune's limbs.
"H-hey! Get off of me!" he roared helplessly shaking his arms in some futile attempt to get the snakes off but, alas, the Grimm were hanging on tightly.
CLICK. CLICK. CLICK.
Oh, right. Out of dust. Fantastic.
"Hang on, Jaune, I'm coming!"
Weaving her way through the increasing numbers of tiny snakes now littering the floor, Weiss finally managed to make her way over to Jaune, his face twisted in utter terror. With surprisingly little difficulty, Weiss managed to pry Crocea Mors from the poor boy's waist, putting the shield portion aside as she grabbed the sword in both of her hands.
"Mmph!" Jaune cried, the snakes having tied themselves along his mouth.
I've got to be careful here…
Using her surgeon-like precision, Weiss agily sliced through as many of the Grimm as she could, pulling Jaune to his feet as she did so. Still having little control of his legs, it was all Jaune could do to hold onto Weiss' arm for dear life.
"There's more of them, Weiss!"
Glancing down, the young heiress saw that her terrified team-mate was speaking the truth. Yet more fell to Weiss' deft hand but, whether through some trickery or simple superior numbers, the snakes didn't seem to stop their mindless charge.
"This isn't helping...Jaune, take your sword back. If any of the Grimm try to crawl up me, cut them off."
"B-but, what if I hurt you?"
"Oh for dust's sake, just shut up! My aura's almost completely recovered, so any of your pathetic little strikes are going to be deflected off, alright? Now get to work!"
Given little choice in the matter, Jaune began frantically chopping away at whatever Grimm he could see. In the meantime, Weiss was confronting the (theoretical) way out.
"I am Weiss Schnee, heiress of the Schnee Dust Company, and I demand you open!"
"Uh, Weiss, doors don't-"
"Weiss Schnee." a robotic voice echoed from nowhere in particular.
"-open like that?"
"SDC Order 32!" Weiss barked.
"Order received. This unit will open upon a correct answering of the criteria."
"Give me the criteria, now!"
Jaune's arm was beginning to tire from chopping down this apparently endless horde of snakes, but the possibility of escape gave the hunter an extra reserve of resolve.
"Yeah, take that! And that!"
A low rumble emanated through the 'room' as an ice blue virtual screen was projected from the Schnee logo. Written upon it, in white capital letters, was...a riddle?
I AM DEAF, FOR I CANNOT HEAR.
I AM BLIND, FOR I CANNOT SEE.
I AM DUMB, FOR I CANNOT THINK.
YET, I ALWAYS TELL THE TRUTH.
WHAT AM I?
Weiss frowned, turning the words over in her mind. Like all riddles, the subject matter seemed like an impossibility, but it was all about thinking outside the box, as it were.
Given its attributes, this doesn't seem to be a living thing...so what is it?
"I don't want to be 'that guy', Weiss, but we're running out of time!"
It cannot see, hear or think, yet we go to it to find the truth…
Of course. What else would it be?
"A mirror!"
After a short pause, the Schnee company door flew open and, not wasting a minute, Weiss grabbed Jaune by the collar, pulling him through the escape route and closing the door with a solid THUD.
Silence.
An earthen warrior drops down the abyss. The glyphs already dispelled, it simply lands at the bottom, its near-indestructible stone armour easily absorbing the impact. It confronts the Schnee door, demanding entry.
I BIRTH FROM FIRE BUT DO NOT BURN,
I STAND UP STRONG BUT DO NOT LEARN,
GRAINS I HAVE THAT ALL CAN SEE,
BUT FARMED I'M NOT AND MINED I'LL BE.
WHAT AM I?
Granite, it answers.
…
The warrior enters.
I'm super duper happy that everyone's liking the story so far! Seriously, guys, when you leave a review, that is my day made right there ^^ . Anyways, woohoo, fourth official chapter of In A Grimm Manor! As usual, next one will be making its debut on the coming Sunday (13th April), with the continuation of The Cakes of Wrath coming around Wednesday the 9th. Hope you enjoy!
P.S - If anyone's been keeping a close eye on the chapter titles, you may be wondering...what's going on with them? Why are they so random and strange? Welp, there's a reason for that; every single one is a reference to a piece of classic literature!
- The Vital Importance of Being Clumsy is an allusion to a famous line from 'The Importance of Being Earnest' by Oscar Wilde.
- Pride and Jaunedice is a reference to the Jane Austen novel 'Pride and Prejudice'.
- Sense and Liability references 'Sense and Sensibility', also by Jane Austen.
There are the other titles, of course, which I may cover in the next chapter's commentary, if anyone's interested. See you soon!