The story continues...
"Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well-trained, well equipped and battle-hardened. He will fight savagely"
General Dwight D. Eisenhower
Chapter Twenty-Three—One way ticket to Hell
They'd left him.
Such a simple sentence. So short. Just three, little words that upended Finnegan's entire world. That shattered everything he'd trusted in until now.
They'd left him.
The realisation whirled around Finnegan like a vortex, hurtling through his mind and trashing every other sensical thought so that only one, damning phrase was left behind. One phrase that Finnegan had never once imagined he'd be forced to face.
They'd left him.
After everything they'd been through, after all they'd accomplished together, Finn had been tossed aside the moment they'd no longer needed him. They, the people Finn had almost been stupid enough to call his friends. They, who had been lying the whole time; who hadn't given half a shit about him. Who had decided they didn't want his traitorous arse anywhere near them. Who had probably never felt an ounce of affection for him. Who had left him behind.
Finn surged to his feet from where he sat on his bed and lashed out with a foot at its metal frame. The bed rattled loudly in the too empty dormitory. He stormed out of the room and into the brightening pre-dawn sky, not knowing or caring where his feet were taking him, just needing to be out of that damned dorm.
Finn had awoken some time in the early morning to find himself utterly alone in a suffocatingly silent dormitory. It had taken him a few minutes to realise it hadn't been a joke. Then a few more to realise his section wasn't coming back. They'd taken their few belongings with them, leaving the room a barren reminder that his team had abandoned him. He couldn't be reminded of that fact for a second longer.
As Finn walked, his anger stewed, his thoughts feeding the molten vat of resentment in his stomach. He'd been an idiot. A god damned, sparkly-eyed idiot. He'd let his guard down; let himself grow attached to the people around him, even forming what might have resembled a friendship with them. And then they'd turned around and spat in his face. He should have known better. He should never have gotten so close to any of them; all it had done was make him easier to hurt.
How could he have fooled himself into thinking they actually cared about him? Everything they'd done together, all that time they'd shared, it had all been a charade. An act. He wasn't a part of the group. He wasn't a real member of Beta section; at best he'd been an unwanted tag-along, and now that they didn't need him anymore they'd ditched him the first chance they'd had.
Well fine. He didn't need them. He didn't need any of them. Let them go running off to god-knew-where to do god-knew-what. He didn't care.
Unconsciously, Finn's feet had been carrying him towards the colonel's bunker. He noticed the two guards who normally manned the entrance were nowhere to be seen. Finn ignored it, his mind too preoccupied to pay much attention to anything other than his smouldering rage. But as he passed across the entrance to the bunker a voice drifted out to him. It wasn't what it said that caught Finn's attention; he couldn't even make it out. It wasn't even that the voice was raised, almost to an angry shout. No, what caused Finn to pause, then duck into the bunker and slink closer to the colonel's open door, was who the voice belonged to.
Field Sergeant Winchester.
Finn edged closer to where the voices emanated from, straining to make out the conversation.
"Me an' Georgie tried to stop 'em," came a muffled voice. "But they jumped us. By the time we came to they'd already nicked the ship, sir."
Finn scowled. He had absolutely zero uncertainty as to who had stolen the ship. Who else would have been crazy enough to do such a thing except for Jaune and the others. He could only imagine what madness they'd decided they needed a ship for. Well now they were traitors, deserters and thieves. Good riddance to the lot of them.
"Requesting permission to go after my section, sir." That voice was definitely Winchester, who sounded even more pissed-off than usual. Perhaps not surprising, considering the fact that Jaune—and Finn had no doubt it was Jaune leading them—had stolen the section that was supposed to be under Winchester's command.
"Negative soldier, we can't afford to spare another ship for a single section," replied what must have been the colonel.
"With all due respect, sir, if we don't apprehend these deserters, others may find the coward's option increasingly attractive," argued Winchester. "One or two soldiers deserting you may be able to sweep under the rug, but a whole section? Word will travel, and if you don't take action to track down and punish the perpetrators, some of the weaker soldiers may take their chances and follow their lead. Before long, you might have half your army up and leaving."
So Winchester was trying to go after Beta section? Finn couldn't say he was surprised. Winchester clearly had a bone to pick with Jaune, and after Cat had humiliated him yesterday, he wouldn't be surprised if Winchester was trying to get even with them. Not that he cared, of course.
"That is a possibility," hummed the colonel.
"Sir, give me one ship and thirty-six hours, and I'll have them back here for you. Surely the army could spare that little to retrieve seven soldiers and to remind others that desertification will not be accepted."
The colonel paused to think, then relented. "Very well then. Field Sergeant Winchester, I give you the authority to bring in the rogue members of Beta section. You can take your pick from the airships we have available here."
"Thank you, sir. I won't let you down."
So that was that then. No doubt Winchester would stop at nothing to find Jaune and the others. And once that happened he'd drag them kicking and screaming back to base.
Well see if Finn cared. They could be brought back in chains and it wouldn't make an ounce of difference to him. He didn't have the slightest scrap of pity for them. They meant nothing to him. Nothing.
"And Winchester," added the colonel. "If they do resist arrest… you have my permission to execute them as traitors. We cannot allow others to follow their example."
Shit.
Finn spun around and hauled arse out of the bunker. He stood in the pre-dawn light, gasping deeply. Holy shit. The colonel was insane. He was sending Cardin to kill Beta section. And he would have to kill them. Finn had spent weeks with those people. They wouldn't come quietly. Not at all.
It didn't matter, he told himself. They were already dead to him. They didn't give a damn about him, so he didn't give a damn about them. He didn't mind… letting them… die…
"What are you doing out here soldier?" a voice demanded. Finn froze, then turned around very slowly. Behind him, Field Sergeant Winchester stood in the doorway to the colonel's bunker, his arms crossed and clearly waiting for an answer. "Hey, you're from Jau—I mean my section? What are you doing he—?"
"You're going after Beta section," Finn blurted out. Idiot. Stupid, stupid idiot.
Winchester's eyes narrowed. "How do you know that?"
Finn tried to keep his mouth sealed shut, but he couldn't stop himself from asking, "Are you going to kill them?"
"Were you eavesdropping on m—"
"Are you?" Finn demanded.
Winchester pursed his lips. "That depends."
Oh shit.
That… that was fine. He… he didn't care. He didn't give a damn. So what if they died? So what if—
"I want to go with you," blurted Finn.
Winchester faltered. "What?"
"I know Beta section better than anyone. I know what they're likely to do and how they're likely to do it. I also know how slippery they are. If you want to stand a chance of catching them, you need me."
Winchester regarded him suspiciously. "How do I know you won't try to help them?"
Finn laughed bitterly. "Because they hate me. Why do you think they left me behind? I don't owe those pricks anything, least of all my loyalty."
Winchester appraised Finn long and hard, before finally nodding once. "Fine then. I'm sure I can find a use for you."
Those pricks owed him. Big time. He was sticking out his neck for those jerks, bending over backwards to keep them alive. And for what? Finn wasn't even sure. He knew he didn't owe them anything, but goddammit he couldn't just let them die. For whatever reason, Finn couldn't let it end like this.
"So how exactly do you plan on finding them?" inquired Finn.
"We put a tracker on the Atlesian ship before they stole it. It was too valuable a find to leave without some means of finding it. We're going to follow that."
Finn nodded, and the unlikely duo went to find a ship. As they boarded a sleek looking vessel and Winchester began to go through the pre-flight checks, Finn felt himself steeling himself for what was to come. Whether they wanted him or not, Finn would be with Beta section again. And when he got there, he'd have to make sure Winchester didn't go all trigger-happy on them.
Finn scoffed silently at the irony of it all. They'd left him behind, and now he was coming to save their sorry arses.
God damn it all.
"How much longer until we reach Salem?" asked Jaune.
"A couple of hours," answered Phil, looking up from the console he was working at. "We should be there around dawn."
Jaune collapsed into the pilot's chair in the cockpit of the airship. He was exhausted, and not just from the lack of sleep the night before. For the longest time he'd felt like he'd simply been bouncing from one danger straight into the next. Just how many more times could they escape Death's clutches before it finally caught up with them? "Where even is Salem? Someplace in Atlas?"
"Huh? Nah. The signal I traced during our call came from somewhere on Mimar."
"What?"
"Mimar. Y'know, the continent West of Atlas. The one that kinda looks like a wyvern, dragony, thingy."
"Oh right." Jaune had never exactly been the best at geography, but even he'd looked at a map before and noticed how the north-westerly continent had sort of looked like a dragon. He'd also noticed that it was the only large landmass without a Kingdom on it, excluding Menagerie, of course. At the time he'd overlooked that small fact, but if they were right about Salem being there, maybe it wasn't such a coincidence after all.
"Hey Jaune, you do have a plan for what we're gonna do once we're there, right?" asked Phil.
"We'll improvise," replied Jaune.
Phil sighed. "The usual, then."
Jaune grimaced. They really had been far too lucky so far. No matter how Jaune looked at it, logic and reason dictated they should have all died a gruesome and painful death in the forest. What if the universe had simply been holding its hand, letting Beta section go on clinging to life for a short while longer, only to then abandon them to fall at the last hurdle, just when the end was in sight. Jaune didn't really believe in fate or destiny, but if there was such a thing he wouldn't be surprised to find it had a wicked sense of humour.
"You should probably try to catch some Z's before we arrive," advised Phil after a while.
"I don't think anyone's getting any sleep tonight," replied Jaune wearily. Despite Jaune's exhaustion, his mind was far too active to even consider sleep. Anxiety gnawed at his insides relentlessly, and his thoughts were a jumbled heap of semi-intelligible plans and half-conceived ideas that melded together into one giant blank.
"You nervous?" asked Phil.
"A little. You?"
"Definitely. One double oh percent."
"You don't look it," noted Jaune.
"Practice," explained Phil. "I always got the jitters before Huntsmen missions. I guess I just learnt to hide it better. Believe me, on the inside I'm freaking out like all heck. I mean, this is a bad idea. Like, a seriously bad idea. Like, straight up idiocy. Brave idiocy, sure, but still idiocy. I'd be surprised if we even succeed, let alone survive the whole darn thing. Like, I'm pretty sure the odds dictate we should all die in the first five minutes. And what chance do we even have if… sorry, I'll shut up now. But you get the idea."
That was exactly the problem. Jaune got the idea all too well.
"Y'know, some of the others might be feeling the same way right about now," said Phil after a pause. "They could probably do with some encouragement. They're scared. Heck, I'm scared. But I'm pretty sure some of them don't really believe we can come back from this."
"Can we come back from this?" Jaune asked.
"I choose to think so," Phil informed him. "I mean, I have to. If I can't imagine a scenario where I come home after this, then how can that ever happen? Pessimism never led to success."
"What should I even say to them?" asked Jaune. "Should I give them a grand speech? I might not be so good at that."
"You don't have to give them a speech. Just… talk to them. Be with them. I think they'll take courage from that."
Once more, Phil was right. Jaune was the leader of this section; it was his job to keep them motivated. But more than that, they were his friends, and he wanted to make sure they were alright.
So Jaune excused himself from the cockpit after making sure Phil was ok to keep flying, then went to find the rest of his section. He found Naomi first, sitting in a compartment just behind the cockpit. She had her eyes closed and seemed to be sleeping, but when he sat next to her, her eyelids fluttered open. Looked like he wasn't the only one struggling to sleep.
"Hey, Naomi. How are you holding up?"
"Well, considering our current predicament: flying several hundred meters above sea-level on a collision course with an enemy of unknown capabilities and with little more of a plan than 'shoot her up', not to mention our less than favourable odds of success and immense probability of death; I suppose I could be doing worse," she answered.
Jaune sighed. Naomi's assessment was as stark as ever. "Aren't you worried about this?"
"Oh I am," she replied. "But not for me. I'm more anxious about the team. I… I don't want to lose anyone else."
A weight settled in Jaune's stomach. He was worried about that too. No, he was terrified of that happening. But Naomi probably had it worse than anyone. Her own brother had died in her arms. Jaune couldn't even begin to comprehend what she was going through, and it was a testament to how strong Naomi was that she was able to keep going after all that. But if she had to go through losing another person who was close to her… Jaune wasn't sure how much more Naomi could take. He wasn't sure how much more he could take. He'd already lost too much.
"I'm sure the others are afraid of that too," Jaune told her. "I think deep down, none of us mind dying for the others. But it's the thought of being the one that survives that terrifies us." Jaune knew that, because it was the exact same fear that he had.
"I think you're right," agreed Naomi. "But what can we do about that?"
"Nothing," answered Jaune. "But if these are going to be our last few moments, then I think they'll be better spent together."
Naomi smiled. "You know Jaune, you're incredibly poetic when you want to be."
"Am I?" Jaune had just been speaking from his heart.
"I think you're correct though. I assume that's why you're here. Showing your face to the troops, letting them know their commanding officer will fight with them to psychologically motivate them to keep going despite their fear."
"Something like that."
"Well good luck with that."
"What will you do?"
"I shall take a page from your book; if these are my last few moments on Remnant, then I want to spend them with someone I care about."
"Cat?" guessed Jaune.
Naomi nodded. "After all this time I swear I'm getting testosterone poisoning. I need to be around more oestrogen."
Jaune smiled to himself as Naomi walked out, then got to his feet. He still had a job to do. Being a leader didn't come with breaks after all.
"Hey Cat," Naomi greeted.
"Nuke," replied Cat curtly. Cat was sitting with her back ramrod straight and shoved against the wall behind her. Her fingers clutched the worn seat underneath her tightly, as if she were afraid to let go. Her breathing came out fast and shallow, and her eyes were clenched shut. All this Naomi noticed in the time it took to approach her.
"Hey, are you doing ok?"
"I'm fine," Cat lied.
"Are you positi—?"
"I'm fine," Cat insisted. Naomi hovered near her, unsure whether to push or not. Cat was evidently not fine. She was panicking, and only just managing to keep herself together. But Naomi wasn't sure whether pressing Cat for information would be a suitable course of action.
"You know I'm here for you if you need to talk."
"I don't need you," Cat spat, fear turning her words sharp. "Why would I ever need you?"
Naomi took a step back. Cat's words stung. Probably more than she'd meant them to. "If that's the way you feel…"
Cat finally opened her eyes, and they instantly widened as she realised she'd actually hurt her friend. "Wait, Nuke, I'm sorry," she rushed to apologise. "I didn't mean that. Don't go."
And there was something so fragile in that plea, so small and desperate, that Naomi hurriedly comforted, "I'm not going anywhere." Naomi sat next to Cat and took her clenched fist in her hands. She pried apart the vice-like fingers and interlaced them with her own, squeezing Cat's digits comfortingly. Cat squeezed back, almost enough to crush Naomi's bones, but some of the tension in Cat's body finally unwound at the point of shared human contact. Slowly Cat's breathing slowed and deepened, slipping back onto the right side of hyperventilation.
Naomi sat like that with Cat for a long time: how long, Naomi wasn't aware. But eventually, in a small voice, Cat mumbled, "You must think I'm such a baby for this."
"Not at all," replied Naomi truthfully. "You don't have to be the strongest at everything, Cat. You're allowed moments of weakness too."
"You seem fine."
"I'm not. I'm terrified of what's to come."
"Well at least you're keeping it together better than I am."
"And you kept yourself together better when we were first attacked by Atlas. And when we were trekking through the woods. And probably a lot better if we ever come across a snake." Naomi shivered, but continued. "Point is, everyone has fears, and we're entitled to them. That includes you too."
Cat didn't say anything at that, so Naomi just continued to hold her, gently brushing her finger over the back of her hand in what she hoped was a soothing manner.
"I didn't use to think that," Cat mumbled.
"Pardon?" asked Naomi.
"I used to think fear was your enemy, and that if you didn't conquer it, it would conquer you." Naomi looked over at Cat, but Cat was staring at the floor. "When I was a kid, I used to do everything I could to beat my fears. When I was scared of the dark, I spent a whole night awake in the pitch black of my room. When I was afraid of heights, I made myself climb to the top of every tree I could find. I ended up with a few broken bones, but it worked. I overcame every fear I had. Until one day I decided to face my biggest fear yet. The biggest fear of humanity."
Naomi's stroking stilled. "You didn't," she breathed.
"I snuck away from home when my parents weren't looking and went searching for it. I grew up in a village just outside Vale, so I didn't have to travel far to find one. I just went off into the woods."
"Oh Cat."
Cat took a shuddering breath. "The thing about my other fears was when I went to face them, they never fought back. The darkness was always just dark, and heights were always just high. But this time… this time when a little kid was too proud to tell anyone where she was going and too stupid to realise she was going to die… this time the fear attacked me. And this time I couldn't beat it."
"Cat…"
"I should have died that day. It should have killed me. It almost did. Only a nearby Huntress who by sheer dumb luck had been in the area dragged me back from the edge of the grave. I had to be sent via airship to a hospital in Vale it was so bad. The doctors didn't know if I was going to make it. But when I did recover, when I could finally get myself out of my own bed again, I knew… I knew I'd gone to fight my fear and had lost… and that no matter what I did, I'd never be able to beat it. I still have nightmares about that now."
"But you did beat it," insisted Naomi. "When we were attacked at the Atlas outpost, you fought them. You won."
"No I didn't!" shouted Cat, turning to face Naomi, and it was only then that Naomi realised how wet her eyes were. "I was still so afraid I almost didn't fight them. And when I finally did, I didn't do enough. I didn't go back for you or Jaune. I let my fear paralyze me. And because of me, Buzz died." A great, heaving sob wracked Cat's body. "Your brother died because of me, Nuke, and I can never ever, ever forget that."
"Cat…" Naomi didn't have the words to say what she wanted to say. So instead she simply wrapped her arms around Cat's shaking shoulders and enveloped her in a hug. Cat burrowed deeper into the hug, needing the contact, needing to be sure that she was here in this moment, and not there in the memory, watching helplessly as Buzz was killed. "I don't blame you for Buzz's death," Naomi tried to reassure her.
"You should," murmured Cat into her shoulder.
"I don't, so what does it matter what I should do?"
Eventually, Cat's shaking and sobbing subsided enough for her to pull away from Naomi and wipe at her eyes with her sleeve. "Now you know," she mumbled. "You know why I fear the Grimm so much. The one fear I could never overcome."
Naomi's heart was tearing open inside her chest. Tendons and muscle and tissue ripping apart as her heart bled for Cat. Cat, who was the bravest of them all, who had done so much for Naomi after her brother had died. Who was now reduced to little more than a small, terrified girl. It wasn't fair. It wasn't right. That someone as strong and caring as Cat should be forced to do something that reduced her entire being so completely. And yet she'd still come regardless. She'd still risked her life, still gone to face her worst fears. For them.
"Why?" Naomi asked. "Why did you come?"
Cat's blue and green eyes looked directly into hers as she said, "I lost one brother because I let my fear paralyze me. I won't lose another sibling to the same mistake."
Naomi pulled Cat into a second hug. Cat was wrong. Cat wasn't a baby because she feared the Grimm. She was a woman because she was willing to face them. To go up against her nightmares despite everything that had happened to her.
The second hug lasted longer than the first, less a hug of comfort and more a hug of unity. Of sisterhood. But eventually Cat pulled away and held Naomi's shoulders. "Nuke… there's one more thing I need from you. A favour."
"Anything," promised Naomi.
"Nuke… I don't want to die by the Grimm."
"It won't come to that," Naomi reassured her. "We'll be fi—"
"No," Cat interrupted. "You're not listening. I don't want to die by the Grimm."
What? What did Cat mea—
Oh.
Naomi looked deep into Cat's steely gaze and saw nothing but resolve there. "Why me?" breathed Naomi.
"Because you're the only one I trust to be able to do it if the time comes." Cat took a shaky breath and tried for a watery smile. "Like you said, it probably won't come to that. But if it does… if I'm about to be eaten by a Grimm… you know what to do."
Naomi nodded, her eyes vision blurring as her eyes filled with water and she looked upon her sister for what might be one of the last times ever.
Whilst Naomi went to find to Cat, Jaune decided to talk to some of the others. He found Aiden first, the wolf Faunus as stoic as ever, calmly examining his new wrist blade with meticulous care. Aiden barely needed any encouragement at all; he'd made his decision to stick with his family, and he would see it through to whatever end, he'd told Jaune. But just before leaving, Aiden pointed Jaune towards Terry, who he claimed wasn't coping so well. Jaune found him scouring through every cupboard and container on the ship, muttering to himself about lacking supplies. It took Jaune a long while to calm him down enough to even sit down. Lastly, Jaune went in search of Bounty. He found the bearded man slouched in a seat in the cargo bay, his jovial mood unusually glum. Jaune didn't get very far with him before Bounty ordered him out, telling him to let him brood in peace if he so wished.
Just as Jaune was walking away from that conversation, Phil's voice filtered down from the cockpit, "Uhh, Jaune? You might wanna see this." Jaune hurried back to the cockpit to find Phil looking worriedly through the front cockpit windows. "Does, uh, does that look normal to you?"
Jaune peered through the glass. Below them, stretching endlessly in every direction, was a stormy grey ocean, vast and ancient as time itself. But just on the edge of the horizon in front of the airship, a dark shape began to materialise. A black smudge that began to grow and grow as the ship approached, gobbling down the sky and enveloping their view. As they got closer, Jaune was finally able to make out what it was. What had looked like a single ink splotch morphed into two distinct features: one, a shifting front of dark, brooding clouds that choked the air with soot and ash, and below that a mighty rampant of dark, glassy mountains. Obsidian, Jaune realised with a start. It was an obsidian keep. Hanging precariously between the two dark forms was a narrow patch of clear sky. The gap between the hammer and the anvil. The only way into the island fortress.
Jaune glanced at Phil worriedly, his gut churning uneasily at the sight. Phil too was transfixed by the unnatural sight before him, but he was able to gulp back his misgivings and move the ship into position to pass between the two dark forces of nature.
The mountain range approached, looming closer and closer. Jaune didn't know why exactly, but something had him leaning forward in his seat as the dark cliffs came to dominate his view. He needed to see what was on the other side. The ship glided over the tips of the mountain range, the black spires reaching up into the sky like grasping fingers to drag their ship into destruction. The ship reached the apex of its rise just as a midnight black peak seemed poised to tear their ship in two. Jaune sucked in a breath as the malicious point leaned towards their ship. The lance came closer and closer, seemingly mere inches away from piercing the cockpit glass and impaling Jaune through his heart. Closer, closer.
Then they passed the spike, the floor of the ship gobbling down the tip and hiding it from Jaune's view. Jaune's breath whooshed out of his lungs as they began their descent, and he suddenly felt silly for having believed something as simple as a landform had the malignant intent to destroy their ship. It was a piece of rock. Nothing more.
Jaune's attention turned back to the view ahead of him as they at last passed the obsidian wall that had barred their view and Jaune saw—
Oh god.
Next to him, Phil gasped. Jaune could only stare. The view that assaulted Jaune as he stared out the window was like nothing he'd ever seen before. It was… it was…
It was the end of the world.
That was the best way Jaune could describe it. It was a nightmare apparition of desolation and waste. A graveyard of razor-edged rock formations peppered with crystal fragments the colour of darkened purple that rose unevenly into the sky, creating a broken horizon of rocky clubs lying discarded by fallen giants. Jaune looked east, praying to find even a glimmer of the sun's warming rays permeating through the bleakness of the land, but even though he knew that it should have been around sunrise, Jaune saw nothing of the sun. Instead, where soft yellow light should have been spilling over the horizon, there were only blood-red clouds bathing in a maroon sky.
To Jaune, this place was the embodiment of where hope went to die. It was how he'd envisioned the world would look if evil won: eternally dark, eternally bleak. Nothing more left of mankind but the dust from where they'd come, and the dust they had returned to.
"Welcome to the Grimmlands," breathed Phil, and somehow, Jaune knew he was right. Only a land as hopeless as this could be the homeplace of the embodiment of evil on Remnant.
Jaune would have continued to stare in dumbfounded horror at the apocalyptic vision for hours more had it not been for the airship's radio suddenly crackling to life. Jaune froze. He thought the Valesian CCT was down, ruling out long range communication. That meant the transmission had to be coming from a local source.
"…Arc… land… taking you… base," came the garbled message.
"Cardin?" gasped Jaune. He snatched up a pilot's headset and called down the microphone, "Cardin, this is Jaune. What are you doing here?"
"…Stolen… aircraft… land…" The static was too great to make out much more than that.
"What're your orders, Jaune?" asked Phil.
"We land," decided Jaune. "Cardin may be here to help. I'll find out what he wants."
"Do you need backup?"
"I'll be fine. You and the other stay on the ship while I talk to him."
Phil set the ship down as Jaune sent a reply to Cardin, telling him they were going to land. He hoped Cardin would be able to understand it amid the stream of static that would accompany it. The ship came to a gentle stop on a raised slab of rock, and Jaune walked through the ship to the cargo bay, where he somewhat apprehensively lowered the ramp and stepped out into the Grimmlands.
Outside the scenery was even more putrid. The air burned its way down Jaune's lungs, stinking of smoke, sulphur, and ash. Jaune's vision was limited to only a dozen meters ahead as a wind whipped up a maelstrom of dust from the ground and flung it into his face. Having seen the hellscape from the airship, Jaune had expected it to be unbearably hot. Instead, the air was inescapably cold. A cold that went beyond the skin. A bone-chilling cold that froze the very heart. Jaune's breath misted in front of him as he heaved in another poisonous breath.
Finally, Cardin's ship came into view, headlights sweeping through the smog-choked sky. The ship hovered above their landing spot, then descended and landed a little way away from their ship. Jaune began walking towards it even before the engines had fully switched off.
Cardin appeared in the entryway, his critical eyes taking in Jaune and his section. His mouth twisted into a disgusted sneer, then he jumped down and stalked towards Jaune. Jaune closed the distance between them, forming the words he wanted to say in his mind. The two got within ear range of each other but kept walking. "Cardin, what are you doing h—"
Bam!
Jaune's vision spun. The next thing he knew he was lying face down in the dust. Dully, Jaune's mind registered that he'd been hit in the head. By Cardin.
Strong hands latched onto Jaune's back and hauled him up. Jaune fought instinctively, dragging his hands through the loose ground but gaining no leverage. His body was heaved upright, leaving Jaune nose to nose with Cardin's furious face.
"You stole my section," he spat. "You couldn't bear the thought of being under me, so you stole my section just to shame me!"
"Not true," Jaune mumbled, his mind still muddled, though rapidly regaining his wits.
"Liar!"
Cardin reached back a menacing fist and Jaune acted. He hurled his two hands at Cardin, releasing the dust he'd hidden there when Cardin had pulled him off the ground. Two fistfuls of sediment flew straight into Cardin's eyes, blinding the larger boy. Cardin yelled out in pain, and in that moment Jaune planted his two feet against his chest and heaved, kicking himself free of the hand still holding his collar.
Jaune fell to the ground and rolled away, even as Cardin stamped around like a rampaging bull, scrubbing furiously at his face. Two, bloodshot eyes narrowed on Jaune as Cardin let out a furious snarl. He might have thrown himself at Jaune again, but at that moment a voice yelled from behind Cardin, "Stop!"
Jaune looked behind the enraged bully, his eyes widening as they beheld Finn, rushing up behind Cardin.
"Stop fighting, damnit," he hissed, putting a restraining hand on Cardin's arm but directed those words with a venomous glare at Jaune.
"Was it not enough to shame me in front of my men with the Atlesian prisoners?" Cardin snarled, ignoring the dark-skinned man next to him. "You had to shame me to my seniors as well by running off with my section?"
Jaune's attention snapped back to Cardin. Jaune could deal with Finn's arrival later. Right now he had to make sense of what Cardin was doing here. "Cardin, what are you talking about? This isn't about you."
"Like hell it isn't! You've made me look incompetent to the Valesian military. You've ruined my career!"
"Open your eyes, Cardin!" Jaune shouted, the pain in his cheek suddenly igniting into anger. Who was Cardin to come barrelling into Jaune's life to screw him up yet again? No matter how far Jaune ran, it seemed Cardin was never far behind, always on his tail to bring him down. "Look around! Does this look like a normal place to you? Does it look natural? These are the Grimmlands. I didn't run away to ruin your career, I came to kill a Grimm. To stop this war."
"What are you talking about?"
"It's too long to explain. But you just have to trust me."
"And just why," Cardin gritted out, "would I ever do that?"
"Because you owe me," spat Jaune. All the hatred for Cardin which he'd kept bottled up for so long was finally erupting out of him. Maybe it was this place, or maybe it was simply the fact that Cardin had hit him one too many times, but some self-imposed tether had snapped inside Jaune, and now nothing could staunch the flood of disdain. "You told Ozpin I faked my transcripts. You ruined my dream. You made me hurt my friends. And now you're here again to ruin everything I have. Will it ever be enough for you? Will you ever leave me alone?"
"I'm sorry for what I made you do to Nikos," Cardin ground out. "I never thought it would cause you to lose your friendship. I wasn't thinking."
"Oh, you weren't thinking?" scorned Jaune. "Well doesn't that make it all better."
"But I'm not sorry for getting you kicked out of Beacon," Cardin continued, choosing to not reply to Jaune's sacrcasm. Jaune growled, but Cardin ploughed on. "We were at a school for warriors. We were fighting monsters. Just one mistake would have gotten you killed in our world, and you weren't ready for that. All you were doing was putting yourself and those around you at risk."
"So my wellbeing was at the front of your mind when you ratted on me to Ozpin?" Jaune sneered. Cardin said nothing. "Get out of my way, Cardin," Jaune ordered. "I'm going to end this war. And you can't stop me."
"Don't walk away from this Jaune," warned Finn. "You'll regret it."
"Watch me," retorted Jaune, some of his anger for Cardin bleeding over to Finn.
Jaune spun around and marched back to his ship, fully prepared to leave Cardin standing in the dust all on his own. But Cardin called, "That's Jauney boy alright. Always trying to be the hero."
"Someone has to," replied Jaune. "And it looks like it won't be you."
Cardin growled at that but didn't reply. Jaune continued walking and was almost back to his ship when Cardin said in a quiet voice, "I've been ordered to bring you all back to base. Alive or dead."
Jaune went very still. He turned back to Cardin slowly. "Would you do that? Would you really kill me, Cardin?"
Cardin's silence was telling. "I have to bring you back, Arc," Cardin growled. "Don't you see that? I have nothing else other than the military. If I come back empty-handed, I'll be demoted for sure."
"I always knew you were selfish, Cardin, but I never knew it was this extreme."
Cardin snarled. "Shut up. What makes you think you're so perfect yourself? What makes you such a saint?"
"I'm not," answered Jaune. "But at least I'm willing to do what's right."
"Well what do you want me to do?" demanded Cardin.
Jaune's mind was too spent for this. He didn't have the energy to argue anymore. Maybe that was why he said, "Come with us. Help us do something right. And once we kill Salem, we'll happily return to Vale with you."
The offer seemed to throw Cardin, who stood there silently for a second. "You mean it? You'll come back without a fight once you do whatever you need to do?"
"I promise it on my honour as a soldier."
"Honour, huh?" scoffed Cardin, but he pondered the preposition nonetheless. Finally, he said, "Fine then. I've still got time to bring you all back. And just to be clear, I'm only coming along to make sure you don't run away. When you realise you've been on a wild goose chase, you're all coming with me."
Jaune sighed as Cardin turned and marched back to his ship. Great, now on top of everything else he had Cardin to deal with as well.
"You forgot rule number one," chided Phil. Jaune turned around to see the dark-haired man approaching him worriedly. Clearly, he hadn't bothered following Jaune's orders to stay on the ship, but then again, neither had anyone else apparently. Jaune watched as Beta section spilled out onto the uneven terrain and beheld the alien territory for themselves.
"At least I remembered rule number three," Jaune pointed out.
"So you did. The dust was a nice touch." Phil checked Jaune once over for any injuries until he was satisfied that Jaune was still fighting-fit. Then he looked up. "Oh, uh, hey Finn…"
Jaune's attention finally fell onto Finn, still standing there in front of him. "Finn, what are you doing he—?"
"Shut up," growled Finn. Jaune blinked.
"Fin—"
"Shut. Up." Finn's eyes had darkened dangerously. Waves of loathing seemed to radiate off him, all of it directed at Jaune. "Don't talk to me like that. Don't try to pretend we're still friends. You left me behind!"
"Finn, I—"
"Oi!" yelled Bounty, stomping forward to stand opposite Finn. "I left you behind. You hear me? They had nothing to do with it."
Finn's baleful glare swivelled to lock onto Bounty, who stood there defiantly. "You bastard," hissed Finn. "After everything we did together, you ditched me the first chance you had. I thought I could trust you!"
"Ditched you?" spluttered Bounty. "I left you behind so you wouldn't die out here with the rest of us!"
"Liar!"
"I heard you calling your wife," revealed Bounty. Finn's eyes widened. "I heard what Jasmine said to you. Eight months pregnant with a boy. I left you behind so you could actually be there for your son."
"That should have been my choice," Finn spat.
"If I'd asked you to come, you couldn't have said no without feeling like a coward. I took that choice away from you so you wouldn't have to choose between your friends and your family."
"You had no right!" shouted Finn. "You went behind my back. You should have trusted me to make my own decision."
"I did what I did to make sure your son grew up knowing his own father. To make sure you were able to meet him. I won't apologise for that."
Finn opened his mouth to shout some more, but no retort came out. Instead he closed his mouth, then muttered darkly, "Well I'm here now. I guess I'm stuck."
"Then why did you come?"
"I came to try to save you," admitted Finn bitterly. "When I thought Winchester was going to kill you, I needed to follow him to make sure he didn't. Even when I thought you hated me, I didn't want you to die. Still don't. So I guess if you're going to fight Salem, I guess I'm coming with you too."
"What about—" began Bounty.
"This is my decision," snapped Finn, eying Bounty. "Are you going to try to take this away from me too?"
Bounty pursed his lips but said nothing. Jaune looked from Finn to Bounty and back again. "Is there going to be a problem between you two?" he asked.
"None," answered Finn, still not breaking eye-contact with Bounty. Bounty grunted in reply.
"Alright then, welcome aboard," Jaune said. This was going to be awkward as heck, but even one more soldier might make the difference against Salem. Besides, Jaune couldn't exactly leave Finn here, or send him back to Vale.
"Hey, uh, Jaune," said Phil. "If we're gonna be taking both airships, we should probably split up the crew. Not put all our eggs in the same basket, y'know."
"Sure," agreed Jaune. He faced his now complete section. "Alright guys, we need half of us to fly in Cardin's ship. Cat, Aiden and Terry, you go with Car—Terry? What's wrong?"
Terry stared at Jaune wide eyed, heaving in massive gulps of air. His pale complexion beneath his blond curtains was white as bone, and his teeth were chattering so bad he could barely speak. "J-Jaune… I… I can't… I can't do this."
Jaune leapt for Terry just as the lanky man's legs gave out. Jaune just about caught him, then lowered him to the ground, where he crouched shaking. Jaune looked into his eyes and saw terror. True, undiluted horror. Something had shaken Terry to the very pit of his soul, and looking around, it wasn't hard to figure out what. It was this place. This nightmare. Not just seeing it, but actually feeling it, being a part of it. Suddenly, not only was it real, but it was personal. Whilst Jaune had been preoccupied with Bounty and Finn, the reality of what they were actually attempting to do had smashed into Terry with the force of a bullet and had shattered his fragile confidence.
And looking around, it was cracking everyone else's too. Even Aiden, the unshakable rock of their section, looked queasy as he beheld this poisoned land.
Jaune knew he had to do something. A little bit of fear was healthy, but too much would paralyze anyone. Too much would get you killed. And right now, his team was overflowing with it. He needed to give them something to combat that fear. He needed to give them hope.
"Guys, I know this looks bad. It is. And I know you're probably all scared. You should be. This is like nothing we've ever done before. No matter what way I look at this, our odds don't look good." Jaune took a long moment to make eye contact with each of the shaken faces in front of him. "But we've beaten the odds before. We've done it multiple times. And we didn't do it alone. We did it together. As a team. And I know that no matter how bad our chances of survival may be, they're infinitely better when we're together.
"I can't make any of you get back onto these ships to go deeper into this place. I can only ask you this one question." Jaune took a deep breath. "Why are you here? Why did you risk your lives to come here with me? Maybe it was to save the day. Maybe it was to protect the people of Vale. Maybe it was because this section is the only place you've ever fitted in. It doesn't matter. Just remember why you came here, and what you're fighting for. Hold onto it. Let it give you strength. And more than that, remember you're not alone. We're in this together. As a team."
Jaune looked around, realising he was out of words. He waited for someone to call out how ridiculous his words were, or how stupid his speech was. But surprisingly, it wasn't laughs that met his gaze, but nods. It seemed that all they'd needed in the end was a little bit of encouragement.
Jaune looked down at Terry, noticing that his shaking had subsided. Terry took a deep breath, then rose unsteadily to his feet. Even though Jaune still saw fear in his eyes, it was mingled with something else. Determination.
"God, I love this sappy shit." Cat huffed a laugh.
Jaune smiled. "Let's go then." The team dispersed, moving to their assigned ships; one group rushing to Cardin's airship and the other piling onto Jaune's. It was time to get Salem.
It was time to save the world.
Ehhhhh... really not sure about this one. I can't help but feel like this isn't my best work to date. Don't get me wrong, I loved parts of this chapter, like Cat and Naomi's talk and the arrival into the Grimmlands, but I honestly didn't like writing this overall. It felt like a real drag to wrench it from my brain and slap it down onto a page. Sorry about that.
Oh yeah, and I've gone and told you guys where I think Salem is hiding. I will be very surprised if she isn't somewhere on that dragon-looking continent to the North of Vacuo in the actual show. It just makes so much sense, from why no settlement has lasted long there to why no one has been able to find her yet.
Anyway, as I'm sure you guys have noticed, I've taken a pause from the action recently to begin setting up the finale. I had really hoped I'd be able to have some action for you guys by the end of the chapter, but nope, just more set up. I'm sorry if this is frustrating for you guys; it sure as hell is for me. I'm just too slow a writer to bring you these chapters any sooner.