Hello! I know it's been awhile since I updated this story, but some things got in the way. But here's a new chapter!
Beta by UGX7 and TheMischieviousPuppyDog.
Time had passed after the events of Mt. Glenn and the extermination of the Children of the Brothers. It had taken Jaune a few days before he told Ozpin's story to the rest of his friends what exactly had transpired, and to say they were shocked was the least of their reactions. Team SNNN all thought that Ozpin had balls of steel to seduce Salem, though. Armed with such information, they became even more motivated to train for what was sure to come.
Soon, they had finished their second year at Beacon and were well on their third year. Everyone had finished their finals with excellent grades, including Sun. Of course, the threat of no sex or cuddling from Gwen made his focus on studying quite high.
As for the enemies, they had all been silent. There had been no news of the White Fang, Salem, or the Dragon Slayers. Just small skirmishes here and there with the Grimm, but nothing from their primary foes. It was as if they were waiting for something big.
Raven had returned to her tribe to secure their safety before declaring war against Salem's faction, focusing her tribe's efforts in sabotaging them at every chance. It slightly depressed both Yang and Taiyang that Raven had gone back, but they were able to look on the bright side, at least she was focusing her efforts on fighting Salem.
As third years, they were responsible for lowering the Grimm population in the Emerald Forest before the yearly initiation, to which they easily did so. All of Team Dragon without the Mate Mark had various training cuffs that Wong had left them.
The days passed by until Nepture exclaimed that he had finally deciphered another item from the tome. It was decided that Team SSSN and NDGO would head over to the said location, which was on Sanus, right in the middle of the continent, near a great river.
Teams JNPR and RWBY, however, had been requested to head over to Argus from the headmaster of Haven Academy himself, Raphael Lionheart. Apparently, a team of Huntsmen and Huntresses had been sent out south to investigate a caravan that never arrived and then they had lost contact with the team altogether by the next day. They would be heading over to see what was going on, but was warned to take extreme caution.
And so the two teams were currently flying over to Argus.
"Oooh, this is so exciting!" squealed Ruby.
The months had been kind to Ruby, who was now seventeen. Her hair had grown a bit longer, now reaching her shoulder blades. She was now, much to her relief, taller than she was two years ago. In fact, she was almost the same height as Weiss now! All that milk really did help her! Her new clothes were slightly different as her final growth spurt made it difficult to wear her old clothes. Though she still wore a combat skirt, her attire now had a mix of white and gray within the black. This was mainly because she wanted to have parts of her father's and mother's color within her design. And most importantly, besides her height and according to herself, her bust had gone up to a C cup. According to her father, Summer had a slim figure, meaning she had inherited her father's side of the female body. She may not be as big as Yang's, but being her cousin meant they shared a similar genetic code.
"Stop jumping all over the place Ruby," Lectured Weiss as she stood up to control her partner. She had changed her clothes colors to a dark blue coat with a light blue dress over and white undertones, along with some more armor around the waist. Her elegant legs were on display that would surely catch others eyes. She was glad that Ruby didn't surpass her in height, but still despaired as Ruby's bust was far past hers while she barely edged over a B cup.
"Aw, leave her alone, it's not often we get to head over to one of the major trading centers," grinned Yang as she stretched her limbs while Blake was sitting next to her with her book out as usual. Both girls had not changed their styles much except for the fact that Yang made sure her Mate Mark could easily be seen to the whole world. Blake had taken a more conservative look in her clothing, no longer showing her midriff as well as cutting her hair a little shorter.
Nora was in the same state as Ruby, bouncing off the walls with excitement. Though whether she was excited about heading to Argus or the fact she had consumed five sugary treats remained to be seen. Ren was busy trying to control Nora as usual while Jaune and Pyrrha laughed at the sight.
Nora had grown her hair a bit longer to match the twins and Octavia. Ren had kept the same look, as according to his girlfriends, he looked hot in it. He did, however, add some forearm bracers to his clothes.
"Wonder what's waiting for us at Argus?" pondered Pyrrha. She had visited the place a few times back during her childhood and remembered how beautiful it was to watch the sunset into the glimmering ocean.
"Well, according to the mission directive, it says we need to rendezvous up with someone named Caroline Cordovin at the military base near Argus. She's supposed to give us some more information on our mission, and she's apparently an Atlesian Specialist, just like Winter." Jaune explained.
"So a stuck up snob?" asked Nora.
"Hey!" shouted Weiss, managing to get Ruby to sit, "To be an Atlesian specialist isn't something that's easily granted. My sister is one of the youngest to receive such a title! I'm sure the specialist that we're about to meet will be understanding, humble, experienced, and empathetic, just like my sister. She is not 'stuck up'!"
"I have to admit, she is pretty decent," piped in Blake, looking up from her book, "Especially when she saved our lives during that mission to save the Winter Maiden."
She didn't feel the need to add the fact that Winter was also a fan of Ninjas of Love. There was no need to shatter her perception of her sister.
"See!" grinned Weiss, feeling justified, "Just because Atlesian military behavior seems stiff, doesn't mean they are. I'm sure we'll get along just fine."
"Wanna bet?" Nora asked mischievously.
"Introducing!" announced one of the guards, wearing an Atlas uniform and hat that completely covered his eyes.
"Special Operative!" announced the second guard, who seemed to be the first guard's twin.
"Caroline Cordovin!" saluted both guards.
A short middle-aged lady with silver hair marched forward, her chest held up high in pride.
"Ah yes, the requested 'reinforcements' from Vale," stated Caroline as he looked at the two teams, her eyes paused at Blake to give a small glare before continuing, "We have been expecting you. Welcome to the military base of Argus. I have been given the glorious task of protecting Argus, as I am the only one with the wit and tenacity to do so!"
"Such wit! Such tenacity!" Echoed her guards.
Team RWBY and JNPR were silent for a while before Nora put her hand out towards Weiss and muttered "Told ya. Pay up."
Weiss sighed as she slapped a ten Lien card onto Nora's hand.
"Anyways!" exclaimed Ruby, quickly taking point, "Teams RWBY and JNPR reporting for duty ma'am! We're here about the team that missed their rendezvous two days ago!"
"Ah yes," waved Caroline dismissively, "Though with Mistral's rather lax standards at their academy, it's a wonder they get anything done. Now if they had Atlesian trained Huntsmen and Huntresses ..."
Caroline began to rant about how much better Atlas was, with her lackeys agreeing with her every word. The situation caused Jaune and the others to sweatdrop when she began to mount loads of praise to General Ironwood until...
"Geez, you sure love your own voice, don't cha?" chuckled a voice from behind Caroline.
Caroline growled as she turned around to see a rather old lady with a cane, silver hair, and hunched over back. What was most prominent was those mechanical goggles she wore over her eyes, hiding them completely.
"Witch," growled Caroline as she turned around to face her taunter, "Your usual maintenance checkup on those eyes was finished an hour ago! Why haven't you left? I told you that you are strictly forbidden from being here in this base unless it's for a checkup!"
"Don't blame me you she-devil," The old lady shot back, "You're the one who put me on the additional screening list for life just for bringing in a bag of cashews from the outside! Thanks to that, it took me an hour to get out of this damn place!"
The two began to squabble for a bit, leaving both teams a bit confused.
"Um, excuse me?" asked Pyrrha, deciding to break the argument, "But could we get back to our assignment?"
"Yes, yes, let's get back to it," sighed Caroline as she finally turned away from the older woman, who was currently sticking her tongue at her, "Your mission is to investigate the missing team. The coordinates where the radar shows them has not changed, meaning they have dropped their Scrolls and beacons, which I personally believe is to be the fact, or they have somehow lost it in a fight. Find them, bring them back here, and we'll take care of the rest. Show me your Scroll, and I'll have the coordinates uploaded immediately."
Jaune passed his over, allowing Caroline to quickly upload the coordinates.
"Now that's over with, get to it! Time's wasting with you lot standing here!" screeched Caroline as she marched back into the base, the gates closing behind her, "The airship will be waiting for you outside of Argus!"
"Haa, they say time changes people, but she still has that giant stick up her ass," sighed the elder lady, causing the teenagers to wince while Nora and Yang laughed.
"What's your name?" asked Nora excitedly, "I doubt it's witch!"
The old woman chuckled, "I like you girl. Name's Maria Calavera. So, what brings two teams of Huntsmen and Huntresses in training to Argus?"
"Tracking down a missing team," replied Weiss, "Haven Academy is currently overwhelmed with work, especially trying to fix what Ex-headmaster Saijou Lionheart did."
"Ah yes, that tragedy," sighed the now named Maria, "That was a shocker, I tell you. So, I take it you eight aren't from Haven then?"
"Beacon Academy," answered Ren, "We were called to assist."
"Huh, outsourcing," commented Maria, "But why you specifically?"
"Because we're the best," grinned Yang.
"Some humility would be nice," scolded Blake lightly, "But we were chosen because of our success rate and ability to deal with Grimm and other situations that may arise."
"Not to mention our super special powers!" added Nora, "Especially with Jaune here! He-"
"That's enough," chuckled Jaune appreciatively, "We should prepare for our trip. It was nice meeting you."
The team left to do any last-minute shopping that was needed. Meanwhile, Maria hummed to herself before smiling. She quickly shuffled off towards the edge of Argus, having a new goal in mind.
"This is nice," smiled Pyrrha as she and Jaune were walking through a local park alone, their hands clasped together. "We don't get to do this too often now. Especially with your fame and time."
"You mean our fame," replied Jaune, "You're just as famous, if not more, especially here in Mistral."
"Mmm but I'm not the one who summoned a real dragon to destroy the Grimm dragon," smiled Pyrrha, "I've heard rumors of a movie director trying to make a movie of the Battle of Beacon."
"That's... something." muttered Jaune, sweat dropping, hoping the director wasn't some pretentious hack who would make he and his friends look bad for the sake of crappy story that the director was convinced was perfect.
"Mmm, it would be interesting to watch," giggled Pyrrha.
Inside his mindscape, his dragons murmured in agreement. Othim was especially vocal about it.
"Yes, well let's just enjoy our time here," suggested Jaune.
"Agreed," nodded Pyrrha.
The two of them sat down on a bench, enjoying the beautiful view of the sea that Argus offered. Pyrrha placed her head on Jaune's shoulder and nuzzled into him as she let her mind wander. What would her life have been if she had never met Jaune? Her mind shifted to a darker tone as she remembered her life flashing before her eyes back at the CTC tower in Ozpin's office. Her brush with death had been too close for comfort. Had Jaune not intervened, then she would have most likely died, leaving her parents and friends to grieve. She shuddered at that thought, only for Jaune to suddenly wrap his arms around her waist and pull her in closer as he planted a gentle, loving kiss on her cheek.
"I'll always protect you all," whispered Jaune, "No matter what. No one will ever take any of you from me."
"I know," whispered Pyrrha back, tilting her head up to give Jaune a loving kiss. Soon enough, Pyrrha maneuvered herself so she was straddling over Jaune's leg while maintaining the kiss. "I love you, always."
"And I love you, forever." Jaune returned as they began to kiss amorously.
"So, back from your date?" asked Yang as Jaune and Pyrrha arrived at the Atlesian airship that would be transporting them.
"How was it?" asked Ruby excitedly, "I call dibs on the next one!"
"Hold on there sis, we have an order, remember?" lectured Yang as she grabbed Ruby by her cloak, "Just so happened it was Pyrrha's turn and that she chose this area. Next up is Blake, followed by me, then you, then Dew, and finally Weiss."
"Fiiiiine," pouted Ruby, "But it has to be just as romantic!"
"Of course," smiled Jaune as they walked towards their airship, leaning in to kiss Ruby on the cheek before he asked "Everyone get what they needed?"
"Yep! Food, ammo, Dust, and most importantly, sugary treats!" yelled Nora, holding up a bag of double fudge cookies, with Ruby cheering in the background.
"That's not going to be something to eat very often," sighed Ren as he snatched the bag away from Nora.
"Aw c'mon Renny!" pouted Nora as she slid her body right up Ren's chest, purring as she did so,"I can make it worth your while. I know how you like it."
Ren blushed and coughed, reminding himself that Nora's usual straight forward attitude was now tinged with the seductive qualities of the Malachite twins. A cost of having four girls to himself, that they would talk with each other.
"Fine, just one," warned Ren as he lowered down the bag, "Then we have to get going."
Nora grinned as she quickly took one and ate it.
"Let's move," said Jaune as they all hopped onto the airship. As soon as they were in, the airship immediately took off before they could even buckle themselves in.
"Whoa, let us buckle up first!" shouted Yang, "We might be in a rush, but it doesn't mean you should be that fast."
"Uhh guys, I don't think that's our assigned pilot," noted Blake as she took a peek outside.
Another Atlas personal was frantically running towards the ship, yelling for his ship to come back.
Jaune quickly rushed towards the pilot seat to see Maria Calavera piloting the ship, munching on a bag of cashews.
"Cashews?" offered Maria, raising the bag without even looking at Jaune.
"No thanks," replied Jaune, "But what are you doing here... and can you even fly with your eyes?"
"Sure I can!" smiled Maria as she turned towards Jaune, allowing him to see a wire from her goggles connected to the ship's control center, "I can see anything the airship sees!"
Suddenly, the communications comm crackled to life.
"Who's driving this airship!" shrieked Caroline, "I demand you turn back immediately so you can be arrested for stealing an airship that's military property!"
"Ah, don't get your panties in a jam," frowned Maria as she answered it.
"...WITCHHH!" shouted Caroline, the communicator shaking from how loud Caroline was, "How dare you steal one of our airships!"
"Hey, your pilot wasn't on it, and the two teams had already boarded, so I decided to help and get the mission going," shrugged Maria.
"That isn't your call!" growled Caroline, "Come back here immediately!"
"Didn't you tell me to get off your base as soon as possible?" taunted Maria, "And now you want me back? Make up your mind, she-devil!"
The two began to argue until Jaune decided to cut in, grabbing the communicator.
"This is Jaune Ryu-Long here, as long as Maria gets us to our location, I don't mind her driving," Jaune voiced.
"See he doesn't mind!" piped Maria.
Jaune charged forward, ignoring Maria, "That way, you don't have to waste anymore manpower on having a pilot drive us to and from the coordinates, and considering its a search and rescue mission, you won't be short a pilot for about a week."
Caroline was silent for a bit before replying, "Fine. She's your responsibility! But when the airship comes back, I want her gone from my base immediately! Don't even think about coming back here for maintenance! Go find someone else, witch!"
Jaune heard Caroline slam the communicator down from her end, ending the conversation.
"Well, that was that," shrugged Maria.
"Why are you even here!" shouted Weiss as she stormed up the front.
"Because I was bored at Argus, planned on leaving, and curious about you lot," replied Maria, "Especially this Jaune Ryu-Long. Thought I'd see the living legend with my own eyes... well my mechanical eyes."
Jaune was about to reply when Andusk suddenly nudged him within his mind.
"This girl... she has, or rather had, my power," said Andusk, "It feels like the same as Ruby. However, she seems to have lost it. Something must have happened to her eyes."
"Would explain the goggles," nodded Lung Wang.
'We can always discuss that later,' said Jaune to his dragons, 'The mission comes first.'
Jaune shook his head, focusing back on reality for now.
"We'll be arriving at the coordinates in an hour or two," said Maria, looking at the radar, "I suggest you all get some rest and keep an eye out. Nowadays, there's been an increase of flying Grimm attacking transports. Not to mention sky bandits, too."
The two teams took turns resting while Maria continued to drive their way towards the beacon.
"We're here kids," stated Maria as she landed the ship on the ground as snow began to fall.
The group jumped off airship, noting that they were almost on top of the beacon now. They looked around, noticing they were at some sort of farm community.
"Let's fan out," ordered Jaune, looking around for a bit, "Team RWBY, look inside the buildings. Split it however you feel like, but nobody goes alone. Team JNPR, we'll take a look around this land. Maria, stay inside the airship in case we need a quick evac."
The others nodded and began their search.
Team JNPR
The winds began to slowly pick up as snow began to hinder their vision. Luckily, with Jaune linked with Lung Wang and channeling it into Crocea Mors, the flaming sword helped keep them warm while lighting the way.
"What happened here?" muttered Ren as he looked around, "None of the buildings looked damaged. It's like the people who lived here just vanished. I don't think Grimm even attacked this place."
"Maybe it's a ghost town!" exclaimed Nora in both an excited and scared tone, "Maybe all the villagers were spirited away! Or cursed and transformed!"
"Let's not get too hasty with those theories," sighed Jaune as he lazily slashed in the air to create a small heatwave for them all.
"I found some tracks!" shouted Pyrrha from not too far ahead of them. The others quickly rushed over to her, looking at the footsteps that were fading fast due to the snowfall getting heavier.
"Looks like four sets of footprints," noted Ren, "Might be our missing team."
"Perhaps they came in here to rest?" theorized Pyrrha, "Maybe they were injured and stopped here to recover?"
Jaune shook his head, "That wouldn't explain why they never picked up their Scrolls. They would've at the very least sent a message stating they were injured."
"Hmm, I see a sign up there," said Nora, looking up towards the farm once more. Before Nora could read it out loud for them all, they heard a scream of fright.
"That was Weiss!" exclaimed Jaune.
Without needing much prompting, all of them rushed towards the source of the voice. As they sprinted past the signboard, they didn't see the fading words on it.
Brunswick Farm
Team RWBY
Blake and Yang had grouped together to check out one of the more outlying buildings.
"Think anything's in here?" asked Yang as she pushed the door open.
"Doubt it, but it doesn't hurt to check," replied Blake as she entered, weapons ready.
Inside they found a lot of farming equipment that seemed to be in working order.
"I don't get it," blinked Yang as she grabbed a few random equipment to double-check them, "Besides the amount of dust on here, there doesn't seem anything to be wrong. You'd think this place would've been looted by bandits."
"Even this tractor still has a Dust crystal that's not fully used," added Blake as she popped open a tractor, "What the hell is going on here?"
The two of them heard a scream, and immediately dropped what they were doing and rushed to the source.
A few minutes earlier, Weiss and Ruby were checking the main house that was located in the center of this town. They found the door unlocked when Ruby barely touched the door. The door swung open ominously, causing the two girls to glance at each other.
"Weapons ready?" murmured Weiss as she drew her weapon.
"Hopefully it's a case of forgetful owners," replied Ruby, cocking her Crescent Rose.
The two of them charged in, their eyes quickly scanning the room. There seemed to be no sign of any sort of scuffle.
"Let's check out the other rooms," stated Ruby, "We'll check different rooms, but we stick close enough so we are at least two arm lengths away."
Nodding in reply, the two slowly checked the bottom floor. They entered in a living room filled with books, noting some blankets scattered about.
"This fireplace was used recently," stated Weiss as she knelt down to examine the fireplace, "The logs are still warm, and there are traces of ash."
"Then where is everyone?" mused Ruby as she prodded the blankets, as if something would rise up from it.
"Come on, let's check to see if there's a kitchen or food storage. They must have gotten something to eat," stated Weiss as she stood up.
The two explored the first floor a bit more before actually finding someone, or more specifically, four people in a bar.
"Hey!" shouted Ruby as she rushed up to them, "I think these are the missing Huntsmen and Huntresses!"
"Mmm too loud," groaned one of them, turning his head away from them, "It's way too early for this stuff."
"Early? It's already past two!" shouted Weiss.
"Quiet!" hissed another Huntress, who was curled up in a corner, "I'm so tired. We had a difficult assignment. Is it too much to ask for some peace and quiet?"
Ruby and Weiss glanced at each other. None of them seemed to be injured, but something was obviously off.
"Should we continue looking around some more?" asked Weiss, "Maybe we can find the residents of this place."
"I... guess," nodded Ruby after a pause, "We know where they are now. None of them seem hurt. So it can't hurt to explore a little more."
After making sure the missing team was unhurt, the two went to the second floor. The first door they opened revealed an empty room, as did the second. It wasn't until Weiss opened the third door when she saw a bedroom with two human-shaped mounds. She squinted her eyes to get a clearer image before screaming in horror.
"What is it!?" shouted Ruby as she dashed into the same room as Weiss before looking at where Weiss was pointing at.
A second later, she started screaming too.
"What's wrong!?" shouted Yang as she charged up the stairs with Blake right behind her, followed by Team JNPR seconds later.
All of them barged into the room where the source of the scream before looking at where the two girls were staring in horror. Yang and Blake had to bite back the bubbling scream growing in their throats while Pyrrha and Nora clutched onto their boyfriend/mate, while Ren slowly backed away in shock with Jaune's mouth hanging open in confusion and shock. It was a second later that Weiss and Ruby tackled Jaune in hope of warding off the gruesome scene.
There lying on the beds were two human corpses. They could see no movement even after such a loud scream. From a glance, they could see gray sunken skin on the emaciated corpses.
"Girls, head back downstairs," stated Jaune as he gave Ren a quick glance before looking to Pyrrha, Blake and Yang and telling them, "Stay on guard and keep a lookout for anything that moves."
Ren nodded in agreement before gently removing Nora from his waist, "You go with. Jaune and I will investigate."
Yang would've argued, but seeing her little sister so frightened made her agree to it.
As soon as the girls left, Jaune and Ren cautiously approached the bodies. Now they were closer, they could see the skins stretched out over their body as if they hadn't eaten for days.
"That's a disturbing sight," noted Othim, with the other dragons agreeing with him.
"What caused this?" murmured Jaune as he examined the body, poking it every now and then to see if there was a response.
"Jaune, you don't think we'll see the same scene in all the other houses do you?" asked Ren, looking out the window to the other buildings making up the town.
"We'll check it out later," replied Jaune as he forced the eyelid open, "Yep, eyeball decomposed. The only reason they're aren't skeletons is probably because of the cold weather. Who knows how long they've been dead. It seems like they just went to bed, fell asleep, and died, never to wake up again. Guess it was a painless death."
"This estate is pretty isolated. It's easy to miss," noted Ren, "But a farming estate like this, they had to have made some deliveries somewhere."
"Let's leave this room alone and check the others," sighed Jaune as he stood back straight again, "We'll check the other houses too."
As they stepped out, they noticed a blazing fire in the fireplace, with the girls all near it. Weiss and Ruby were staring into the fire with Yang and Blake sitting on the couch near them.
"Where's Pyrrha and Nora?" asked Jaune.
"They went to check to the airship to radio in a report," replied Yang, "The snowfall is getting worse. Probably a snowstorm on our hands. We might need to stay here for the night."
"With those things?" whispered Ruby.
"We'll just have to quarantine the top floor," sighed Blake.
"Ren and I will go check on the other buildings. We'll be back soon. We want to make sure there isn't anything we're missing," said Jaune as he and Ren began to head for the door, "Just yell if you need something. And don't go out alone. In fact, see if you can't drag the missing team into the living room with you guys. See if you can get some information out of them."
"Roger," nodded Yang.
It was well into the evening as all the girls were gathered back in the living room. Pyrrha and Nora had brought Maria back with them, and the older woman was sitting on a couch herself reading what seemed to be an autobiography that belonged to the owner of the estate.
Pyrrha, Yang, and Blake kept watch out the windows, trying to spot anything through the rapidly falling snow.
"I see something...It's Jaune and Ren, they're back." Blake said, relieved as Pyrrha dashed over to open the door.
"Did you find anything?" She asked as the two quickly got inside.
"It's the same everywhere," grunted Jaune as took off his coat and began dusting off the snow off his hair, "Everybody that we found had died in their bed. Some even on couches and chairs. From what we can tell, it looks like everyone died in their sleep."
"That's so weird," noted Nora, "Why would anyone want to die in their sleep? I'd want to kick the bucket doing something epic!"
While Nora began to list off the things she would do, Jaune turned to his mates while Ren took care of Nora.
"Any luck getting any information from the other team?"
"Barely," sighed Ruby, "They're so unresponsive. It looks like they slept the whole day, but didn't even get any rest."
"They almost even forgot to eat," added Pyrrha, "It took Yang, Nora, and me forcing them up to at least eat something."
"If you call that eating. We had to push their jaws up to chew and swallow," stated Nora with a disgusted tone.
"They really had trouble just trying to stay awake," nodded Weiss, "From what we were able to get out of them, they've been here for about four days now."
"Four days of doing nothing," voiced Yang in an uneasy tone, "We've already sent the report back to Argus. They'll be waiting for us."
"Well, as much as I'd hate to tell you that it's bedtime kiddos, you should all get some rest," chimed in Maria, looking up from her book, "You'll need that energy to carry these lazy bags back to Haven. I'll stay up for a bit to read this over."
"We shouldn't risk it. Whatever happened to the people of this town might affect us if we try to sleep." Ren argued.
"Perhaps, but perhaps not. I took a nap while you were all checking the perimeter and I'm all right." Maria pointed out.
Jaune looked over his team, and had to admit they seemed tired and he was too.
"We'll get an early sleep tonight. We wake up with the sunrise, and get the hell out of here." Jaune decided.
"Sounds good to me! The sooner we get out of here, the better," Weiss said.
"Got that right, this place gives me the creeps big time." Ruby voiced.
With that, the eight teenagers quickly laid down to rest.
Yang woke up as soon as the sun hit her skin. She yawned as she stretched before feeling weird. She would usually feel a rush of energy when she woke up as if a roaring fire was lit inside her. Today, that fire felt like it was fading embers.
"Might be all this snow," mused Yang as she stood up, noticing everyone was still asleep. She was surprised to see Jaune and Pyrrha were still asleep though, as they were always the ones to wake up early. She contemplated about waking them before deciding to let them sleep some more. Investigating all those bodies so that they wouldn't have to had to have taken a lot out of Jaune.
Yang stepped outside, breathing in the cold air before heading towards the well conveniently located at the center of the estate.
"Wonder if there's water in here," mused Yang as she dropped the bucket down. She heard a clunking noise as the bucket went down.
"That's a no," shrugged Yang as she turned to head back before suddenly stopping.
Yang slowly turned her head back to the well before slowly but cautiously leaning over the well. That noise wasn't the sound of the bucket hitting the dirt. It sounded like it had it something hard... like a bone.
Perhaps it was just a rock, this place was making her paranoid. All the snow, wind, and empty houses with dead bodies was like something out of an old ghost story. It was enough to make anyone suspicious of the most mundane things.
But still…
Yang leaned over and squinted down into the darkness when glowing red eyes snapped open and looked up at her.
"...une...aune... JAUNE WAKE UP OR I RAISE TRAINING BY 20 TIMES!"
"I'm up!" shouted Jaune as he snapped awake.
"Hmph, about time. I'll let it go for now as you did have to witness a few rather disturbing scenes," huffed Lung Wang.
Jaune thanked the heavens as he stretched his arms, looking around for a bit, seeing that everyone else was present and still asleep...but Yang was gone. He blinked as he looked around, he felt sluggish and yet... angry for some reason. He wasn't sure where this anger was directed, though, just that he could feel that emotion bubbling within him.
"Something feels... wrong," stated Jaune as he narrowed his eyes. He looked over to Ruby and
"Mmmm... five more minutes," mumbled Ruby from her sleep.
"Holy SHIT!" shouted Yang's voice from outside, followed by a loud bang, instantly shaking off all the sluggishness that he had been feeling, as well as waking up everyone.
Jaune immediately rushed outside, his sword already drawn out as he landed next to Yang, who had backed away from the well.
"What's wrong?" asked Jaune, looking all around the area for the threat.
"I-in the w-w-well," stuttered Yang for a second, "There was a Grimm in that well. I... might have overreacted and killed it, though."
"The well?" yawned Ren as he looked down into it to see a Grimm corpse on fire and fading away. Using the light from the fire, he looked around for a bit, "There seems to be an underground canal in here."
"I'll check it out," nodded Jaune as he linked up with Fafnir.
They cleared out the snow around Jaune as he slammed a fist into the ground with his eyes closed. Using his senses, he 'saw' the canal infrastructure, as well as noticing a lot of movement in the underground area.
"We're not alone," stated Jaune as he opened his eyes, "Somethings moving underground. A lot of things."
"Is it...Ghosts?" whispered Nora.
"Nora, ghosts would just float and not scuttle on the ground," lectured Weiss.
"Oh, so you're a ghost expert? For your information, ghosts' powers tend to vary." Nora asserted.
"Maybe it's a lot of Grimm? Yang said she saw one down there, so that would make the most sense, right?" asked Ruby, having everyone turn to her.
"True, but what type of Grimm?" stated Blake, "Beowolves? Ursa? And how'd they even get in there? And if they're Beowolves, why not just climb out? Jaune, is there an exit?"
Jaune closed his eyes as he reviewed over the map that he sensed before pointing back to the house, "I felt it connecting to the house."
"Wait, wouldn't something have happened while we were asleep? Or to the other Team before we got here?" asked Pyrrha.
"Maybe it's locked," mused Ren, "I remember in the orphanages that Nora and I used to live in, we would need to check the local water well, and that involved going into an attic that had a door that connected to the water canals."
Jaune narrowed his eyes before snarling, "We need to find out what we're dealing with here."
"Jaune, are you... all right?" asked Pyrrha with concern, "You seem... angry."
"I... I'm not sure," admitted Jaune, "For some reason, I woke up not only sluggish but angry. I'm not sure why that emotion is there, but it's been boiling for some time."
"You're not the only one feeling sluggish," sighed Weiss as she rolled her shoulders, "I feel like I didn't get any sleep for some reason."
"Same," raised Ruby.
Jaune looked around for a bit, "Did everyone not get a good night sleep for some reason? And how have the other team not gotten up yet with the noise?"
The others nodded in reply while Yang chimed in, "Yeah, ever since I got the mark, I've woken up with the sun with a good amount of energy. This morning, I barely had any in me."
"Well, only one way to find out," said Ren as he approached the well, "Yang, do you remember what the Grimm looked like before you shot it?"
"Sorry, no," admitted Yang sheepishly, "I was so surprised that I fired a shot at it while backing away."
"I'll go check it out then," volunteered Ren as he jumped up, "I can hide myself from the Grimm."
Jaune shook his head, "If there is a lot of Grimm down there, then this mission just turned from search and rescue to search and destroy. We'll need to give an update to Special Operative Caroline about this. Nora, grab the lazy bums and haul them into the ship, the house isn't safe anymore. Pyrrha, see if you can wake up Maria and have her prep the ship. Everybody else, grab whatever you need."
As soon as Jaune began to spout out orders, everyone felt a little more energetic as they prepared.
"Wait a minute!" Interrupted Nora, "Why not just get the team and Maria and get the heck out of here and let the professionals handle this?"
"Nora, are you scared?" Pyrrha asked concerned.
"No! But I am creeped out, and I've seen enough horror movies to know that situations like this never lead to anything good and that this place has 'haunted ghost town where good-looking teens meet their demise' written all over it!" Nora declared.
"She has a point," Weiss admitted.
Jaune considered this and knew that Nora did indeed have a point, "Right. We'll find out what we're dealing with, and then decide what to do. If it's too dangerous, we retreat. Sound good."
Everyone agreed.
"Maria, I really think you should stay with the ship," cautioned Jaune as everyone was ready to jump into the well.
"Blah, nonsense, I'd be safer with you lot than those lot," scoffed Maria, pointed to the missing team, who were just laying in the aircraft without a care in the world.
"Fair point, but I'd rather have our pilot out of danger, just in case we need to make a quick escape." Jaune said.
"Bleh, not like any of you lot can't drive the ship. I know they teach you the basics at the Academies, right? So shut up and let's go," said Maria with a harumph.
Jaune sighed as he looked at his team. They had sent the report to Argus, and gotten a reply back. Caroline was reluctant to allow them to change the mission parameters, but gave them the go-ahead as a herd of Grimm just wandering about was dangerous and needed to be destroyed if they had the manpower. And with their team composition, they would be more than enough to handle it. After all, the Grimm inside some water tunnels couldn't be big or tough, right?
Ren went down first, followed by Nora, and then Yang, and then Blake.
Jaune looked around at the snowy landscape and the deserted town. He glanced over at the ship, at least he didn't have to worry about the other team wandering off somewhere.
Pyrrha placed a hand on his shoulder and asked "Jaune, are you okay?"
"Yeah...just spooked and still angry."
"You?" She asked, surprised.
"Just because I have the dragons doesn't mean I'm fearless. A lot of things scare me, especially the idea of losing any of you." Jaune told her.
Pyrrha smiled before he continued, "I just remembered an old ghost story my sisters told me when I was little, about an old man who had lost his family in a tragic accident, and one snowy night he could see them standing out in the snow. He went out and tried to meet them, but they turned away and vanished into the snowstorm. He chased after them, calling and crying for them. His maid watched as he vanished into the snowy night, and was never seen again."
There was an eerie silence, broken by Ruby saying "Jaune, no more ghost stories until we're out of here, okay?"
Jaune laughed, a tad ashamed of making the mood even creepier, "Sure thing Ruby. Sure thing…"
Ruby took one last look around before she made her way down, happy she didn't see any shadowy figures standing in the distance.
Hmm where is the source of Jaune's anger coming from? Hehe find out in the next chapter!