Chapter Seven.
[{{]
"YOU TRIED TO HAVE THEM KILLED?" Cinder snapped.
Mercury's report that night had not been received well.
Back at their secret hideout, AKA their dorm room, Cinder continued to lash at one of her subordinates.
He had one job. Find out if some stupid blonde knew of their plans. What the legless dumbass in front of her had gone and done? Abused the gift Salem had given them and sent out a Deathstalker to attack not only the kid but an entire group of students.
"W-Whoa, boss." Mercury defensively shook his hands. "Take it easy, I can explain."
Cinder raised her left hand. "I am this close of just frying whatever isn't made of metal in your body."
Mercury was about to point out that her fingers were touching, but he was able to recognize that trap just in time. So instead, he attempted to explain his piece.
"Look. You were so sure he had dirt on you that I simply decided to give him a little scare. Maybe put him in the infirmary wing at worst. And it all went smoothly anyway, it's not like anyone saw me or anything. What gives?"
She pinched the bridge of her nose. "See? This right here is why you're not in charge of this operation. We are weeks away from enacting our plan and the last thing I need is interference from my own men. Have you at least discovered anything about him?"
"Yeah…" He winced, stuffing both hands in his pockets. "That's the thing. The blondie didn't let much on. At first, I thought he had some beef with me but I found out he was just being grumpy for no reason."
"…I see." Her eyebrows frowned. "So not only you went against my wishes and carried out an attack on some students, the same students who will be participating at the tournament no less, but you also came back empty-handed."
Seeing how she was materializing fire on both hands, Mercury was quick to defend himself.
"Cinder, please. You already made me and Em look over the files of every member of both Nikos and Red's teams like fifty times. Each! You yourself specifically deemed Arc as 'little to no interest'. He's just some asinine kid who faked his way into a Huntsmen Academy. There's literally no reason to be suspicious about him."
Emerald, who was on her bed reading a magazine, spoke.
"Word's out there that he has a Semblance now. It's all over the hallways."
Mercury fitted her. "So what?!"
He then noticed how the flames on Cinder's hands had vanished. She completely dropped her intimidating posture and began mumbling to herself.
"This can't be… I-I didn't account for this… How could I possibly…"
Mercury stared at her with utter disbelief.
"Are you serious?!"
"Quiet!" She ordered, pointing feverishly at him. "Your job isn't over yet. This can't be a coincidence, there has to be a connection! You will find out what Arc is hiding and that's final."
"You said it, girl!" Emerald cheered for her.
"And Emerald will help too." Cinder added, much to the displeasure of her green-haired henchmen, judging by how her face had fallen.
"You're going to have us doing all of the work again?" Mercury indignantly asked. "And what you'll be doing in the mean time?"
"Hmph! I have much more important endeavors to attend to." She boasted, putting on a jacket and leaving by the door. "That mutt can't hide from me forever."
Giggling evilly as per standard procedure, the door cranked as she closed it behind her.
With just him and a speechless Emerald left in the room, Mercury fell back on his bed. He took the opportunity to remember some of his old-man's words.
"You'll become an assassin and work for evil." He said.
"I'm cutting off your legs and taking away your Semblance to make you stronger." He said.
"Don't you dare kill me!" He also said and we all know how that went.
[}}]
"…And then my hands were glowing."
"Umhum…" Maria sat on the porch, fiddling with her scroll while the bumbling blonde paced around in the middle of his sister's backyard.
"At first, I thought I could be hallucinating. Like, maybe the guilt had gotten over my head or something…"
"Umhum…"
"But no! I've managed to conjure it myself! And to my surprise, it was my Semblance! I have a Semblance now! Well, at least according to Nora."
"Umhum…"
He stopped to address the old lady. "…Are you listening to me?"
"'Course I am, kid." She looked up from her scroll. "I'm blind. Not deaf."
"I'm just saying…" He paused. "Wait, you're blind?"
"What, you think these are just for show?" She tapped her glasses. "Without them, I can't see anything."
"But if you can actually see with them, then how does that make you blind?"
"Oh! So just because I also have a cane, does that mean I'm perfectly capable of walking too?" She retorted. "I'm still disabled all the same."
"N-Never mind, sorry." Jaune shook his head. "Look. My point to all of this is… Nora knows about me."
Bright cyan lenses blinked.
"…How much does she know?"
"Well, not everything... I guess?" He sheepishly answered. "But she definitely knows something's up with me."
"And where is she now?"
"Having dinner with the others. She didn't actually bring it up again on the way back. Ren awakened by the time we got back on our transport, and she's been nursing him since then."
Jaune internally shuddered. At any given moment, he was expecting his own teammate to corner him and demand an explanation. Still, he was thankful of Nora for helping him 'relearn' his own Semblance, despite having baited him in their previous mission.
"I suppose we're still in the clear." Spoke Maria. "Just make sure to not let anyone else in on our secret. It'll either frighten them out, or they'll think you went crazy. Both will only serve to hamper our progress."
"…Will do." Jaune agreed. "Oh, and I haven't even mentioned the craziest part! Apparently, my old headmaster… Somehow ended up inside Oscar's head. Like, can you believe it?"
Maria stood up and attempted to go back inside the house.
"Yeah… Real crazy stuff right there, sonny." She said unconvincingly.
"You… You knew that already, didn't you?"
She glanced back at him. "What if I did?"
He scoffed. "Seriously?! You can't just keep something like that from me. What happened to telling me everything?"
Maria fully turned at him. "I never said I would tell you 'Everything'. Just enough for you to pass off as your older self. In case you haven't noticed, you're in spoiler territory here, kid. You're not supposed to know about any of this, especially if we are sending you back."
"I-I don't get it! Isn't too late now?! I practically know almost everything. From Vytal, to Salem and-" He cut himself before mentioning Pyrrha. "What am I supposed to do by the time I travel back to Beacon? Pretend none of it ever happened?"
Maria simply turned away from him.
"Don't sweat that little blond mop of a head." She waved the back of her hand at him. "We'll have that taken care in no time."
He stared at her back. "What? What does- What do you mean taken care? Taken care of what?"
She ignored him and began to move to the glass door.
"…Maria?"
"You said you had a Semblance now. Do you know how to use it?" She asked without looking at him.
"Uhm… Not exactly, but what about the-"
"Well, we can't have that, now do we?" She reached for the handle. "I'll arrange tomorrow's training so you can solely focus on that. Be there on time."
"Okay, but what was that about-" He was cut short by Maria closing the door on him, leaving the blonde alone in the backyard.
'Is it too late to pretend this is all just a dream?'
[{{]
The previous day had gone by, and so did the better half of their weekend.
After a fulfilling breakfast, the gang just settled for a mild boardgame session at the library.
"Check!" Nora announced, moving a rook into Weiss' territory. "Your turn."
"Wrong game, Nora…" Weiss gestured to the 'Remnant: The Game' board they were playing.
Ruby pulled a card from her and Weiss' deck. "Well, if that was Pyrrha and Nora's turn, then we shall move to attack Ren and Jaune's troops."
"How bold." Commended Ren. "I may need a minute to rethink our strategy."
Jaune sat beside him, mostly just watching instead of actively participating in the game.
"Hey, what about yesterday?" Yang called them out. "I heard you and the boys went out on a hunt by the Emerald Forest. How did that go?"
Jaune's attention shifted. "About yesterday? It was… Could've gone better."
Everyone else just looked at Ren for confirmation.
"I may or may not be able confirm that." He replied without taking his eyes away from his deck.
Their final impressions aside, it all went better than Jaune could have hoped for.
His suspicions were considerably eased, Ren vowed to keep yet another one of his secrets, Cardin earned a few points to his grade, Sun had a lot of fun despite everything and Mercury probably gave someone a wedgie on the way back for all he knew.
Only downside was…
"So…" Spoke Ruby. "Seems like everyone has taken notice of your Semblance, Jaune."
"I was about to say that." Her sister commented. "We had a few bystanders at the cafeteria asking if we could verify that."
So much for wishing Cardin and his team would keep their mouths shut about that. Sun's team probably had a hand in it too, though he wasn't certain.
"Well, I'll be sure to savor my fifteen minutes of fame." Jaune sarcastically remarked.
Then Weiss opened her mouth. "You do realize how much of a disadvantage that poses for you at the tournament, right? With all the opposing teams just learning of your new given abilities."
"Yeah… Kinda have to agree with Ice-Queen here." Said Yang. "Why couldn't you just keep it a secret like Pyrrha does?"
Jaune contemplated that thought. "…I guess I didn't think that through. Heh, story of my life, I guess."
"Try a whole biography." Ren added while shuffling his cards, making Jaune almost scowl from that.
Just his luck. Yet another reason for Maria to scold him at their next meeting.
Ren finished his move by putting his and Jaune's kingdom on guard from Ruby and Weiss' fleet. It was then Yang and Blake's turn.
"Actually, I wouldn't worry about that if I were you." Blake spoke up, probably for the first time since they got there. "The rumors we've been hearing weren't exactly… Accurate."
Pyrrha sighed. "I had a few upperclassmen at the gym asking me if you could drain someone's Aura, as opposed of just recharging."
"Oh!" Nora jumped on her chair. "I had someone ask me if you could make yourself invulnerable for about eight seconds along with a 'patient'. I might just pass that along just for the fun of it."
Jaune was relieved. Leave it to high-school mentality to skewer a rumor beyond reparation.
Yang finished setting up a few Grimm pieces on the board and spreading them along their region.
"Okay, our turn." Pyrrha mumbled, analyzing the board. "We have a few specialized Huntsmen in store, so I think we will-"
"PLUS-FOUR!" Nora slammed a card in the middle of the board. "I choose green!"
"Again, wrong game!" Weiss chastised.
Ruby turned to her fellow leader. "Speaking of, we could use the rest of the day to see what else you could do with your Aura Charging. Maybe we could cook up something new, who knows?"
"Eh…" Jaune felt opposed to the idea. "Maybe it's best to wait until this all blows over. I wouldn't mind waiting until Vytal, you know? Keeping things 'samey' until then."
Most of the table wasn't really sure about his response, as his lack of enthusiasm wasn't living up to their expectations. Ren glanced at him, acknowledging that as part of his plan or something of that nature.
He also couldn't help but to notice Mercury and Emerald 'studying' from the other side of the library, but he was willing to shrug that off as a mere coincidence.
"I'll also roll for initiative!"
"Nora, you can't just steal pieces from other games and use them here." Weiss deadpanned.
"Uh, it's called outsourcing." She responded matter-of-factly. "It's a viable strategy."
[}}]
"W-Weiss?!"
Back again at Maria's junk- Er, backyard, Jaune was met with his old school-crush herself.
"Took you long enough. Maria warned me you would be late… Despite us staying at the same house, somehow." She adjusted her footing. "I wish she had also warned about the terrain beforehand."
The boy noticed how her heels were digging deep in the mud. Still, her presence there left him curious.
"Why did you come here? Where's Maria?"
"She spoke to me the night before." Explained Weiss. "Said she was busy with something this morning and needed someone to replace her on your training. And considering she helped us out by dealing with your tantrum the other day, I suppose this is the least I can do to repay her efforts."
"Hey! I wasn't having a-" He huffed. "Yeah, sorry about that."
After a few seconds dealing with the soil, Weiss summoned a Glyph to help her stand properly.
"Now, first things first. Maria told me you were having trouble with your Semblance all of the sudden. What seems to be the problem?"
He had a hard time coming up with a response. How did you explain not knowing how to use your own Semblance in the first place?
"Uh…" He began. "Well, you see… Ever since the mission we had yesterday, I sorta… Lost my grasp with it?"
She was unconvinced. "Just like that? For no reason?"
"I-I mean, I can still use it! More or less." He amended, staring at the ground. "I guess I just need a rundown or something. Nothing too complicated, per say."
She brought a palm to her face. "Even after all this time, you're still hopeless as ever. Which is one of your most endearing traits, strangely enough."
Jaune stared back at the former-heiress. He still wasn't used to this new Weiss. One that didn't berate him and instead offered positive reinforcement from time to time.
"Fine." She declared, adopting her usual teaching posture from whenever they had a study group session at Beacon. "Assuming you have completely forgotten, which I know you haven't, your Semblance allows you to amplify the Aura of your allies. Hence why you have dubbed as 'Aura Amp'."
"Y-Yeah…" He played along. "That I did."
"And from what we have learned so far, you can recover someone's Aura and amplify it beyond one's limits, giving them more durability on the field and interestingly enough, more power to our Semblances. At the expense of your own Aura, that is."
Everything she said was in pair with what happened the day before. When he helped Ren recover from his wounds.
"Let's try an exercise." She announced. "See if it helps you get the hang of it."
He inclined his head. "What did you have in mind?"
She turned her backside at him.
"I've been meaning to retry this one 'Summon' for a while now. If you don't mind, I would appreciate if you gave me a boost."
He blinked. "So… You want me to use it on you?"
Jaune found himself very hesitant at first. He knew better than getting this close to the old Weiss, lest he wanted to get the pointy end of her rapier.
"Hm?" She patiently waited for him. "Is something bothering you?"
"O-Oh! It's nothing. Hang on…"
He stretched out his arm just enough so he could place a palm on the girl's shoulder, easing himself from any tension just so he could concentrate.
"Now, while I am more than capable of doing this on my own, I figured I could do better in a controlled environment." She took a deep breath. "Feel free to begin."
Similar to her, Jaune began to steadily breath. 'Just like yesterday.'
Getting his Semblance working again was a lot easier than last time. He searched for that same feeling of 'wanting-to-help' that his older body seemed to have familiarized with.
Weiss' Aura reacted with his own. He could feel the influx from his hand going into her shoulder. At the same time, a large Glyph had been summoned in front of them.
He could see signs of something materializing over the Glyph. Out everything he had seen Weiss do with her Semblance, this was definitely new…
Which triggered some undesirable effects.
Suddenly, his mind started acting up. He saw glimpses of brown walls, the sounds of gunshots all over the place, and the blows he exchanged with someone else.
A short-haired individual with a strange eyepatch had defeated him. It- She, actually. In between many flashes, Jaune depicted a figure of a twisted woman standing over him and saying how much he was worthless. And for some reason, he agreed to.
Then, his mind fast-forwarded until all he could hear was himself screaming his friend's name.
'Weiss!'
The scare made Jaune flinch, thus pulling his arm away from Weiss. The sudden disconnect of his Aura inflicted a sharp sting on his arm.
"Ow!" Weiss also flinched from that shock, causing her to cancel out her Semblance and making both Glyphs disappear out of thin air. "What was that for?!"
The boy froze in place. "I- I- I'm really sorry! I didn't mean to, I…"
He had screwed up. If her tone was any indication, he was about to be hit by twenty different insults of the fanciest variety, half of which he would have to look on the dictionary later. Nevertheless, he readied himself from what was about to come.
There was only the faintest sound of breathing.
"…Are you okay?" She asked. "I mean, I'm guessing you are not. But if there's anything troubling you, you can tell me. Understood?"
He looked at her way. That question was entirely made of genuine concern.
Jaune sighed, coming up with an excuse for his actions. "I guess I'm just not feeling like myself these past few days. Look, it's fine if you don't wanna do this anymore. Sorry for making you go through all this trouble to help me."
He was about to pack things up and return to Saphron's house.
"Hey…" Weiss spoke up, never minding the fact she wasn't using a Glyph as a footstool anymore. "When Maria came over to me yesterday… There was another reason why I agreed to help you."
That made him stop. "…Really?"
"I… I never properly thanked you." She sheepishly rubbed her forearm. "You know, for what you did at Haven."
At that, he drew blanks. Even if he recognized the academy's name, he had no recollection of ever being there. At least not consciously.
"Oh!" He waved off. "H-Hey now. No need to thank me for that. I just did what anyone would normally do. No biggie!"
To his surprise, her jaw almost appeared to fall at his statement.
"A-Are you being serious right now?! Do you even realize-! Jaune, I had a javelin made of glass sticking out of my body. You saved my life!"
'I DID WHAT?!' That revelation struck a chord with him. Just what were they up to all these months?
"Listen." She adverted. "I know you have been blaming yourself after what happened that day. Charging alone against Cinder of all people was probably the least bright of your ideas. But what she did to me was entirely her own volition. And the truth of the matter is that I'm still here breathing and I only have you to thank for it."
Again with that name. Apparently, it was Cinder who they have been dealing with this whole time. Probably ever since the Fall. 'She must have been responsible for what happened to Pyrrha too.'
"…I see." He responded. Even if he technically wasn't the right person who she should be thanking in the first place.
"Glad to see you have come to your senses." Said Weiss, turning around. "Now, we can try this again if you like. We still have all morning, so be sure to take your time."
Even after everything, she was still willing to do this for him. They all were. And he wasn't about to let their efforts go to waste.
"Okay." He obliged. "I'll try."
Yet again, Jaune put a hand on her shoulder, and another one on his wrist just in case he had another relapse.
He managed to activate his Semblance once again. By then, the boy had closed his eyes, doing his best to clear his mind of any intrusive thoughts. He could hear the sound of another Glyph being produced.
"I understand it must have been difficult for you." Her voice soothed, helping him calm down. "We're all still struggling in some ways."
In just a few seconds, there was a strong wind coming their way. The sound of flapping wings resonated just a few steps in front of them.
"But I believe if we stick together, we can…" She trailed on. "Well, mostly brute-force our way through anything, but we can also rely on one another."
Jaune finally opened his eyes to see the end results. He was slack-jawed.
Hovering right in front of them was a Queen Lancer. But, like… An ice-ghost version of it.
"Whoa…" Astonished, he let go of Weiss's shoulder, staring at the large docile Grimm she somehow was able to summon.
The girl stepped beside him, proudly taking in on her work. Well… Their work, in a sense.
Which served to remind him. Whatever else he would have to endure, at least he wouldn't have to do it alone.
As you probably noticed, I've changed the summary. In hindsight, having a summary hitting just enough the fill the word limit wasn't exactly an optimal decision, so here's a much shorter one. Even if it spoils the twist on the first chapter.
Now for something silly to completely ruin your immersion.
[OMAKE] "Remnant SMP"
The Fall Maiden had fallen to her knees. Neither her powers nor her Semblance were obeying to her commands. She had lost.
Cinder looked up to her opponent. The one who had bested her was none other than Jaune Arc, his fingers still latching on the handle of his weapon. The heirloom sword was a mix of shambles and malfunctioning hard-light.
"Jaune!" Yelled Ruby in the distance as she and the others came running.
Both teams arrived, each with their respective Vacuan redesigns.
Weiss saw the scene before them. "Is it over?"
In between huffs, Jaune pointed his broken sword at Cinder.
"Any last words?"
Cinder began to growl. Louder and louder her growling continued until she fitted him with fiery eyes.
"SCREW YOU! I'M GONNA GO PLAY MINECRAFT!"
Pop!
They stared as she just had disappeared in front of them.
"…Did that seriously just happen?" Blake asked.
Cinder was angry. No, absolutely livid.
She was so close to having all the Maiden's powers combined, so close of dethroning Salem and becoming the most powerful entity that ever was... Only for her to trip at the finish line and lose a fight against the biggest self-insert to ever self-insert.
Welp. No point in bawling. She was in a better place now.
Upon spawning, she instinctively followed a path made out of cobblestone, with stairs and everything. It eventually led her to the gates of a player-build city, with a variety of houses, buildings and lots and lots of different farms.
The former-maiden ventured towards the neatly sculpted fountain at the city's center, where she stumbled on a familiar face.
"Oh, hello there!" Roman was just on his way carrying a small stack of soul sand when he spotted Cinder. "'Bout time you got here!"
"What's all this?" She cut to the chase, still salty about earlier.
"So glad you asked. I would like to welcome you to..." He made a dramatic pause. "L'Romanburg!"
"…You own this place?"
"Eh. More like one of the founders." He shrugged. "I'm this city's treasurer. Turns out I'm a natural at handling other people's money. Who would've thought?"
She rolled her eyes. "So… This is where you have been this whole time?"
"Pretty much. So, who sent you here? Was it Little Red? Mittens? Your old scary boss?"
She grumbled. "I rather not talk about it."
Roman chuckled. "I'm kidding. I know it was that blond kid from B-Team, I checked the logs. The whole town knows it."
Cinder grumbled some more. "Just what are you even doing with these?!"
She gestured at the soul sands.
"Oh! You arrived just in time. We're about to summon the Wither!" He exclaimed. "Adam betted his entire stock of emeralds that he could solo the damn thing with just a wooden sword. Then again, he's also known for using Redstone blocks as carpet, so I'll take it as a free win."
That earned her curiosity. "Who else is here?"
"Pretty much everyone who got un-alived these past few years. Tukson owns a chain of bookstores, Vernal supervises our arsenal and Adam just likes to build arenas. Penny has taken interest in harvesting, so she's in charge of most of our crops and animals. By the way, how is she here? Wasn't she, like, a robot or something?"
She shook her head. "I don't even know anymore. Anyone else I should know about?"
"Well, Ironwood got here not too long ago and became our chief police, though he's more like a glorified street guard. He's been a few screws loose ever since his arrival, but we have Clover and Vine to take care after him. There is also Jacque, who tried to run for first-minister this one time, but we exiled him because we strictly abolished clip-on ties since day one."
Cinder winced. There was evil, and there were abhorrent crimes against fashion.
Then she blinked in realization. "Wait… Is she also here?"
"Who? Oh, you mean Pyrrha? Yeah, she wasn't exactly happy to learn you arrived here on the server. Don't worry though, worst she can do is put salt in your brownies. She's been taking cooking lessons with that Summer gal. Funny how this game also doubles as afterlife, don't ya think?"
She gave one final sigh. "Can we just go and watch Taurus get blown to pieces?"
"Now there's the Cinder I know." He led the way. "Again, no worries. We're all friends here! Except when we're not, which tends to happen a lot. You'll get used to."
Given how her previous life had played out, she figured it would be no problem to her.
Roman glanced at her over his shoulder. "By the way, we need someone to work at the city's storage while our engineers are upgrading our automatic sorting system, and I think you would do nicely in there."
She took it back.
[/O]