So, Mercury actually tied with Neon and I was planning to do a triple chapter, but due to me just not knowing what to write for her I just made it a double. So, enjoy.

Also, whoopee, finished with a personal project. On a related note, time to get a million rejections in my search for a literary agent


When the dust clears,

After the end,

All you need's a drink,

With a good friend.


Two people were in a bar. Neither of them were exactly clean. Not in the moral sense, though one of them was quite dirty in that regard, but in the literal sense. They both stunk of mud, blood, and sweat. But, both of them had been bathing in the odor for so long that they couldn't exactly care at that point. Plus, the bar was empty, so nobody was around to care.

"Man, I could probably sleep for a week." Jaune Arc, the knight, the nomadic hunter, the unfettered traveler, let himself melt in his booth as he let the dozens of bagged snacks fall from his arms onto the table.

"Same, dude." Mercury Black, the assassin, the aimless killer, the metal legged, threw himself into his seat after setting down several six packs of beer and a few liter bottles of soda.

For a second, the two of them relaxed. Neither had enjoyed the comfort of a cushioned seat for a while. Neither had exactly had a peaceful couple of days, really. Eventually, they made use of their tired muscles one more time as they sat up.

"You know, I thought I'd kill you, but here we are." Mercury spoke first as they dug into their victory meal. That victory meal being an unhealthy amount of junk food, soda, and alcohol. Jaune would've eaten a bit healthier, except he was too tired and too bloodied to give a shit at the moment. Plus, it'd been far too long since he'd had any of this stuff.

"Same, dude." Jaune had a lazy smile on him as he popped open some salt and vinegar crisps while also using the chink of one of his gauntlets to pop open a bottle of soda. "Who'd of thought we'd hit it off?"

"Yea, seemed impossible." They shared a good laugh at that.


It was a few days prior.

"I fucking hate you." Mercury spoke first.

"Funny thing, I was thinking the same!" Jaune laughed, slapping his armored knee before letting out a long sigh. Why? Because the two of them were handcuffed to each other. Now, normally that would've been a minor inconvenience. One they could solve by simply breaking apart the chain. Except this one was loaded with enough high grade fire dust to blow a town to kingdom come. Now, normally that would've also been but a minor problem, because they could simply get an expert to take a look at their constraints. Except they were miles away from a lockpick.

Now, Jaune was a fairly resilient guy, on top of being fairly hard to surprise. But even he had limits. That limit was being thrown into a Grimm-taken town, chained to a psychopath, and being forced to fight his way out for the entertainment of bandits.

"You know, maybe I should just kill you and saw your hand off, or else you'd be dead weight." Mercury wasn't exactly holding back on the threats. The only thing keeping him from acting on them was the presence of Grimm. He wasn't stupid, if he tried killing Jaune, then the Grimm would kill him faster than he could say 'Bazinga!'

"I swear, this is the worst way my weekend could go." As for how the two of them ended up in this position, well, that was a matter of debate.

"Yea. And it's all your fault." To Mercury's comment, Jaune paused.

"Ok, really?" Jaune let out a long sigh. "It's my fault that I healed you up. It's my fault that you attacked me out of nowhere. It's MY fault when you insisted that the Spartans give us their worst." Sarcasm dripped from Jaune's words. Mercury remained indignant. "Fuck. You." Now, Jaune didn't like to consider himself vitriolic.

But he just couldn't help himself.

"You can go screw a dog as well." Mercury kept steadfast in his convictions. Jaune threw up his hands, accidentally (though Jaune considered it more of a happy accident) jostling Mercury with the motion. "Anyways, how are we going to deal with this?" Oh yea, the Grimm. There were a ton of them. Apparently, the Spartan clan didn't let torn up towns go to waste, no, they used their Grimm bloated corpses as survival arenas for their newest captives.

"Well, I have to start by saying we're not in the best of positions." Considering the fact that they were handcuffed together, they really weren't. Jaune was now limited to only being able to use one of his weapons while Mercury's mobility was neutered. "Anyways, I'm counting about 50? Hmmmmm-" Jaune used his free hand to point out individual Grimm. The two of them were hiding the attic of a small house they fled to. Their goal?

Escape the town in one week. That was their deadline. In one week, they would escape or they would have their arms blown off by a remote detonator in their cuffs.

And they were thrown into the middle of the town as well.

"-No, I think it's more like 500, right now. But let's focus on the ones we can see. I'd say we got twenty three Beowolves, sixty seven Nevermore just perched on rooftops, and about six Ravagers hanging off of the edges." Jaune's finger bobbed up and down as he counted them, though he kept his ton hushed just in case a Grimm was nearby.

"Great. Fucking great, JUST-" Mercury was immediately cut off by a Beringel smashing through the roof, breaking the attic floor, and making them fall into on the stairs, where Jaune created a small crater in the wood while Mercury landed on his ass. "OW!" He acted on old instincts and tried to kick himself up, but only managed to dislodge Jaune from the wood before falling back down again. "Owowowowow!" Mercury then tried doing a backflip to avoid the Beringel's rapidly slamming fist.

He only managed a handstand. Luckily, the Beringel was aiming for his lower body. Unfortunately, this gave it an opening to use its other arm to hit him in the gut.

He wasn't sent flying out the wall only because Jaune finally got up and pulled out Crocea Mors, getting some good slashes on its arms before trying to do a cleave attack with two hands.

Unfortunately, Mercury was still tethered to his other arm, the unexpected resistance created an opening, one the gorilla was more than happy to exploit. Jaune was hit in the gut so hard he was afraid his motion sickness would act up. He and Mercury were sent flying through the wooden wall of the house they were in, where upon they finally landed on something soft.

That something soft being the fur of a Beowolf.

"Fuck." Jaune didn't know if one or both of them said it, but regardless, they were both thinking it.

They were stuck between a rock (A Beringel) and a hard place (a large pack of rapidly mobilizing Beowolves). Jaune quickly beheaded the Beowolf they landed on while Mercury went the opposite direction, using a kick to try and parry the rapidly approaching Beringel. With a loud explosion and the hissing of steam from Mercury's leg, he actually managed to block the slam. Jaune followed up, tossing Mercury behind him as he went for a two armed stab at the Beringel's arm. He managed to get a good cut, but Crocea Mors was lodged into its flesh.

And it made to punch once more. Jaune clung on for dear life, but he was no match for the hulking beast. His sword flew off into the distance, leaving only a minorly wounded Beringel and a very nervous Jaune.

"Heh. Heh. Hehhhhhhhhhhh." Jaune sighed in despair as the Beringel made to punch once more. Instincts worked their magic and he brought out his shield. His sabatons grinded on the pavement as he was pushed back by the slam, but good posturing and subtle Aura manipulation did well to root him in place. Turns out sandboarding had more uses than just sticking to the board.

"My turn!" Mercury, while Jaune was still rooted to the ground, used his arm as a pole as he spun around, turning his entire body sideways as he went for a kick. Blasts of air shot out of his legs, instantaneously creating tons of force that actually caused the Beringel to stagger. Seeing an opportunity, Jaune put away his shield and pulled out his flare gun as Mercury landed on his feet in front of the Beringel. Relying on his quickfire skills, his arm crossed his chest and he pulled the trigger.

Mercury flailed his legs, Jaune staying rooted in place to act as an anchor, and engulfed his shoes in fire dust. Using the enhancement, he began a flurry of kicks, Jaune giving ground with each one to let Mercury continue the combo. He used the knight as a balancing pole as he gave fire enhanced kick after fire enhanced kick. The wind blasters in his shoes combined with the flames to create bursts of heat that scorched the Beringels body.

In the end, an axe kick was the thing that caved in the Beringel's skull.

"Phew!" Mercury wiped his brow as he stomped his feet, putting out the flames. "You suck at fighting, by the way." All Jaune could really do was flip Mercury off.

Before any arguments could be had, they heard the snarl of a Beowolf horde.


"Why are we stopping?" Was Mercury really asking now, after they'd set up a campfire?

"Making camp."

"Eh, really?" Despite his confusion, Mercury did sit down with Jaune. Using some rolled up curtains, he had managed to create a pillow, which he rested his head on. The assassin, with a bit of caution, decided to go along with it, laying his head opposite to Jaune, the tops of their skulls meeting. For a second, there was nothing but the sounds of the fire crackling. "Is this supposed to be comfortable?"

"Yes. I've slept on worse." Jaune dully stared straight up at the shattered moon, wondering what could be up there.

"Really? Cause I'm not feeling it. Or, I'm not feeling sleepy."

"Funny thing, neither am I." Jaune took a sip out of his canteen, thank god he had that thing, or else he would've dried up in the wild months ago.

"..." A pause. "Were you trying to get me to go to sleep so you could chop off my arm?"

"What?" Jaune almost spat out his water. "W-wait, how do I know you won't do that?"

"Uh, cause I don't have a knife?"

"But-oh wait, no I lost it." Jaune sighed, remembering how Crocea Mors was missing. "Well, you'd probably try something anyways." Mercury's lack of denial spoke for itself. "Yea, I'm not going to sleep." And so, the two of them lay there under the moonlight. Jaune set up camp in the area they'd just cleared, so he was fairly confident Grimm wouldn't disturb them.

"Hey, you know, I just realized something."

"Yea?"

"How are we going to get up?" Mercury's question begat silence. "Like, these handcuffs aren't exactly long. So do we just get up at the same time? Do a synchronized jump? Or is it like we're untangling spaghetti?"

"Where'd that last one come from?"

"I dunno, couldn't come up with a third thing." A pause. "By the way, does it ever get uncomfortable in there?" Jaune sighed, he wasn't planning on sleeping anymore, but was Mercury really going to keep talking? "I mean it! Like, when your muscles grow a bunch, doesn't it get super tight?"

"Huh?" What was he talking about? "Muscles? I mean, it's a pretty tight fit, but it's not so tight that I need to get it refitted every other week, you know."

"What? I was talking about when you do a power up."

"What."

"Yea! I swear, Em was confused as well!" Jaune was getting concerned. "Look, when fighting, you can do a power up where your muscles grow a bunch, right?"

"Like, steroids?"

"No! Not steroids. You yell and then your muscles grow, I swear it's a thing!"

"In what, anime?"

"What's that?"

"Mistrali cartoons."

There was a pause.

"Uhhhh-"

"Mercury. Please tell me you didn't get your ideas of fighting from anime."

"Pffft, what? Of course not! I'm not a chump!" He wasn't being very convincing. "I learned to fight from martial arts movies."

"..." Jaune facepalmed. "That explains SO much."

Mercury took offense to Jaune's tone. "What!? C'mon, martial arts is the best fighting style for assassins. You don't need a weapon, it uses the environment, AND it's useful for taking on chumps!"

"Oh my god, that's why you were so flashy with your kicking."

"Yep! Learned that stuff on my own, it's what I used to kill pops!" Mercury laughed at the memory, cockily putting his hands behind his head. At least, he tried, until he realized Jaune's hand wasn't going to be moving any time soon. "Yea, pops was a paranoid type of guy, he always made me eat his meals before him, cause he was scared I'd put poison in it. Always made me go through doors first. What he didn't expect was for me to just go up to him and kick him so hard that I was blinded by his aura flashing." He spoke nostalgically at the memory, thoroughly disturbing Jaune.

"Ok, so, let me get this straight. Your dad, who is an assassin, trained you to be an assassin, and was like a total dick."

"I would've used more words, but basically."

"And he couldn't beat his son at a fight."

"What can I tell you? The fucker was a good assassin. You know what good assassins do? They kill from afar. Sniper rifles, bombs, other traps, that sorta stuff! Or really good poison if the target has aura. You know what shit assassins do? Fighting."

"But-"

"You know what the best assassins do? Both. Ya see, I'm the best of both worlds! When I need to, I can mix poisons, operate sniper rifles, arm bombs, and sneak through an Atlesian military base. I know how to get through fifty different types of locks!" Not that it was going to help them, given how the town was rotting and lacking in locks to pick. "But, if I'm caught, I don't go down like a chump, like my dad." Jaune was fairly sure Mercury only knew three insulting words. "I can fight with the best of them. Way more useful than those squishy killers who piss their pants the second something goes wrong and crappy knights who wouldn't know stealth if it crawled up their own ass."

"And how did that help you against Amber?"

"... Fuck you." Vitriol seethed from Mercury, but didn't act upon it. Wasn't a good idea to. "Look, I'm a good fighter, but I'm not exactly looking to mango-"

"Tango."

"Shut up, tango with magical girl bullshit. Seriously, what is up with that!?"

"You know, that elemental stuff? Probably the least of your worries." Jaune had found out from Amber that her elemental powers were actually a special form of magic. Oscar had inspected the runes (he'd been messing around with his magical eye and learned how to alter his vision) etched into her soul and saw that she, in violation with everything he knew, had the power of infinites. Her mana core was, for some reason, limitless. The only constraint was the durability of her body. Plus, the power was significantly harder to control. It was like a wild beast only held back by chains. Elemental attacks were like partially loosening one of the chains to let it bite someone.

By contrast, casting trillions of micro Binding Glyphs over an area to theoretically stop time would be like letting go of all but one chain and trying to ride the beast on a tightrope made of a single string. And even if one had the willpower, it'd cause so much damage to the body that Oscar theorized the caster's blood would boil.

"Really?" Mercury was skeptical.

"I mean, look, I've seen some crazy magic. Stuff you wouldn't believe."

"Well, I don't. Magic ain't real."

"... Ok, what?"

"You heard me! Magic ain't real!"

"You just talked about rapid muscle growth you saw in anime! What the hell do you mean magic isn't real!?"

"I just thought that was a martial arts thing, you know. Conserving strength before pulling it all to the forefront."

"Oh my god, no, that's not how it works!" Jaune despaired at the black hole of logic that was Mercury.

"Uh, yea, it is? I mean, you didn't move an inch when I was using you as a bar, why is muscle growth impossible?"

"Cause-cause-cause-" Jaune's words petered off as he thought it over. What were the possibilities of aura again? Uh, reinforcement, sharpening edges, healing, a-oh, oh no. Oh gods no damnit please no. "Ughhhhhh." Mercury had a point. Jaune didn't think the day would come.

"Hah! See! We just need to find a guy who knows how to do it." Jaune could hear creaking for some reason.

"What is that?"

"That? Oh, it's my legs."

"Your legs?" Jaune felt an odd sense of deja vu. Did he forget something about Mercury?

"Yea, my legs." A pause. "Prosthetics. Metal."

"Ah! Yea, those." That's what he was forgetting!

"I thought you knew. When we met you were staring at them pretty intently." Mercury huffed. "Whatever."

"Hmm? What is it?"

"Nothing." Mercury spoke like a moody teen.

"C'mon, what?"

"I dunno, just think it's kinda dickish for the guy who almost got me killed to not even remember about my legs." If he could've, Mercury would've kicked up some pebbles.

"Almost got you killed?"

"Uh, yea? After that magical girl fucked off, Cinder couldn't find her. She got really pissy at her plans being ruined and had to scrap it. And I was getting a bit snippy, so she gutted me. If you hadn't interrupted-"

"You would've killed a woman."

"So? That's just what killers do."

"Well, saving them is just what hunters do."

Jaune could tell that Mercury was pouting. "Well, doesn't mean I have to like it."

"Doesn't mean I have to let you do it."

"Screw off." They left their discussion there. Though both of them would've liked to say they stayed awake to make sure they weren't smothered in their sleep, neither did. They simply drifted away into unconsciousness.

At the very least, they had pleasant dreams.


The next day started with creaking.

"Fuck." They were standing up, an awkward silence engulfing the both of them. The only noise made was ambient and the creaking of one of Mercury's legs. "FUCK!" He banged his fist against one, causing his aura to flare. "Damnit!" He tried moving them again, to no avail.

"Ok, what happened?" Jaune's sword arm was getting tired of decapitating Beowolves with his shield. On that note, maybe he should put a spike on the bottom, just in case he needed an extra weapon.

"This fucking thing won't move!" He slammed his prosthetic leg again. "It's rusty, for fucks sake. If I try to force it to move, it'll grind itself up and screw up my aura!" Now that was a dilemna. "Plus, it'd only move fast enough to race seniors!"

"So, how do we fix it?"

"I don't fucking know! Do you have oil!?" No, he did not. "Well, that's just FUCKING great!" Mercury swore once more as he slammed the rusted leg. "Ughhhhhh." He sighed dramatically. "Screw it, whatever, I'm dead."

"Huh?"

"Didn't you hear me? I'm dead. Without one of my legs, I'm fucked! And you'd be fucked as well. So, let me just take off my arm real quick-"

"That a prosthetic as well?"

"Fuck no! It's just that I'm not dying stuck to you!" Mercury was reaching for a rock to smash the appendage off.

"..." Jaune looked at Mercury, who was shaking with frustration, but not fear. Did he not understand death? He clearly wasn't doing it out of charity. "Screw it." Jaune picked Mercury up bridal style.

"W-what!?" Mercury, safe to say, was a bit shocked.

"You have blasters in that thing, right?" Mercury nodded. "Good, we'll be needing those. We're moving this way."

"Didn't you hear me? I'm useless in this state. It'd be way better if you just let me cut off my arm and left me to die!" Jaune simply began walking, leaving deep imprints where pavement was missing. "C'mon! Don't be stupid!" The Grimm were getting closer; Jaune began running.

"Nope, not leaving you." Jaune could hear the Grimm coming, they needed to hurry.

"Why!?"

"Cause I'm not you." A pause. "If my arms and legs were broken, would you have carried me?"

"Fuck no! I'd have killed you for being a chump and then sawed off your arm!"

"See? My point exactly, I'm not you. I thought you would've wanted this, keeps you alive."

"I don't! Cause it's stupid!" He spoke as if it was common sense. "If someone is being a burden or is in a hopeless situation, then they should just off themselves! Even if it's me! Cause if I don't do it, then you will. And I don't trust you to give me a painless death." A pause. "Well, if you weren't so fucking stupid." As they walked, Jaune could feel Mercury's aura grind away. Even if he wasn't actively trying to move it, the joints were rubbing against each other, creating sparks. So, Jaune started putting some aura into the assassin. "Woah!" Jaune could feel a shiver go through Mercury's body, his teeth clenching as he felt Jaune's aura go through him. A range of emotions shot through the killer.

Annoyance.

Anger.

At those, Mercury was satisfied, he wasn't entirely off about Jaune. Unfortunately for his worldview, the emotions didn't stop there.

Care.

Determination.

Hope.

Affection.

And to that, Mercury was still. Was this guy for real? Mercury wasn't for kiddy stuff like friendship and feelings, but even he knew that people like Jaune weren't supposed to feel those things towards people like Mercury. The knight in shining white felt things like care towards other do-gooders while feeling anger towards killers and criminals! Why was Jaune, the epitome of bland-ass self righteous dipshittery, doing this much for him!? WHY!?

"Why?" Mercury, contrary to his raging thoughts, spoke in a hushed and deeply confused tone.

"Why what?" The Beowolves were getting too close, Jaune used the jets in his legs to fly up onto the roofs to use as platforms.

"Why me? We're totally different people. You, a huntsman, a knight, a hero." Mercury's words dripped with venom. "A stupid self righteous idiot who follows a stupider code in the even dumber idea of a greater good. You should hate me." Mercury's logic was being broken.

"Do you think yourself evil?"

"Yes." He spoke it with no conflict in his tone, no crack in his voice, no regret in his choices. "I'm a bad guy, a killer, it's simple. I kill, that's it, that's all I can do. Good guys like you shouldn't help bad guys like me. It's the way of the world." The one his father had instilled in him. And he wasn't proven wrong. Cinder and Emerald were the only people who treated him with anything close to civility. Everyone else sneered. It's why he didn't bother trying to endear anyone's affections, why play nice? All that considered, it perplexed Mercury as to why did Jaune feel anything remotely positive towards him?

"Hmmm, I guess to some people it is." Jaune shrugged. "But I don't care." A pause. "Look, Mercury, you're an asshole." Mercury's eyebrow rose. "You're petulant, mistrusting, and you have the morality of some really weird parent groups. But, more important than any of that, you're someone. And everyone, no matter what, deserves to be saved. If I can save you, then I will. And even if I can't, I'll try." Jaune would've tried bringing up what he liked about Mercury, but that would've gone nowhere.

"But that's stupid. Those types of characters are stupid. Those types of people don't exist!" Mercury was in disbelief. But, more than that, he felt angry. Besides the fact that good guys were supposed to dislike bad guys, bad guys were also supposed to dislike good guys. And Mercury? He realized he couldn't make heads or tails on how he felt.

"Yea, so?" Jaune's eyes caught something in his peripheral vision. He stopped and turned to see a bottle of vegetable oil, it was slightly leaking, and it was extremely old, but it would work. He laid Mercury down and grabbed the bottles with his uncuffed hand before passing it to Mercury. "Look, how about we start again?"

"Huh?" Mercury was shocked.

"We got off on the wrong foot and we're going to be stuck with each other for a while. So, why don't we actually get along?" The oil was a peace offering. Mercury stared at it, the final key to the coffin of his conception of good and bad. As the shards fell and gave way to the truth, he finally found it in himself to take it.

"Fuck it, fine." He snagged the bottle and began thoroughly oiling the machinery, lubricating the stiff joints. After a few small movements to test it out, Mercury's legs swung to the side, right by Jaune's head. And then, it went off, blasting the skull of a Beowolf about to cleave Jaune in two. "Hmmm, I'll probably need to keep this on me." Mercury sighed, there was only a little oil left.

"Eh, we'll find more." And with that, Mercury hopped up onto his feet. The journey would continue. They had a handful of days left.


"So wait, your dad made you kill a bunch of people as part of your training!?" Jaune was really questioning why this guy even had a kid to begin with if this was what he was going to do.

"Yep. Age 9, taught me how to knife a guy." Mercury clicked his tongue. "Age 10, shot a dude. Probably helped that he unlocked my aura early and forced me to get stronger. Recoil becomes a lot easier to handle when you can bench press a fully grown man." Mercury did some practice kicks as they walked.

"Jeez, sounds like a real piece of work."

"That's an understatement." Mercury sighed. "You know, worst bit is, I think he did it cause he was lazy. Thought murdering randos for pocket change was below him, so he outsourced to his kid."

Jaune couldn't help but laugh. "Wow!"

"Anyways, what are we doing?" Mercury wasn't the one to choose their direction.

"Oh, I'm looking for my sword, Crocea Mors. I think it flew in this direction. Kinda sensing out for my lingering aura." Jaune put a few toes into Calm Waters, looking for those subtle and familiar waves.

"Ah, alright. We will find it before this thing goes off, right?"

"Yea, I'll try to find it."

Eventually, they found it.

"Uh, what is that?" It was stuck in the back of a Beringel. But this one had scales instead of haphazard bone plating.

"It's a Silverback Beringel." Mercury looked confused. "You know that gorilla Grimm from earlier? The one that launched us out a window with a punch?"

"Oh, yea, that one was tough as hell."

"This one is even tougher." To Jaune's explanation Mercury blanched. "It's stronger, faster, and smarter. And it can take those scales off at will." The assassin gulped. "Yea, this is going to be tough."

"Why can't we just leave?"

"Cause it's a family relic. All we need to do is grab it and get away."

"Yea, like that's so easy. Didn't you say it was faster!?" Mercury kept his exclamation hushed, though still conveyed the urgency of the situation.

"Yea, got anything?" Jaune was focused on the Beringel, analyzing it, thinking of ideas. Meanwhile, Mercury looked at himself, checking their resources. Then, he remembered something.

"Actually, I do." He opened a compartment in his leg and showed Jaune what was inside. The knight's eyes widened, but he soon nodded.

"Well, let's see it."

The two of them jumped out from their cover, Jaune giving way for Mercury to get in position for an axe kick. The Silverback saw it coming, but Mercury wasn't going for a killing blow. No, a wind blast shot out from his leg, changing his course and throwing off the Beringel, who was getting ready to grab and snap the assassin's limb. And when he hit the floor, clouds of smoke shot out of Mercury's leg.

Now, usually this wouldn't have done anything, because Grimm could sense negativity. Except, Jaune amplified the effects of Wolf Gaze so much that the Silverback's emotion detection was overloaded, unable to make out anything. While younger Grimm would be thrown into a blind rage because of this, elders usually developed sight and could rely on that instead. Except, they just took care of that.

It was blind in both senses. So, it began to rampage, hoping to hit the humans through sheer luck.

Jaune flailed around, helping Mercury build up momentum while carefully avoiding being hit, using Calm Waters to see through the smoke. It was like dancing, in a sense, he and Mercury spinning around on the floor, he was on his toes and holding both of Merc's hands as the other guy built up momentum.

And, at the opportune moment, Mercury let his foot strike Crocea Mors. In an instant, it was wedged out of the Beringel's back and clattered onto the floor.

It was also at this point that the Beringel cleared the smoke away.

It could see them now.

"GET AWAY! GET AWAY!" Mercury and Jaune swiftly recovered from the attack and began running, Mercury kicking Crocea Mors upwards so Jaune didn't have to waste any time bending over to pick it up.

The Beringel wasn't going to let them run.

It charged at them at blistering speeds. Jaune picked up Mercury before rapidly activating the jets in his legs, blasting off, but the Beringel followed. It lept high above the buildings, almost plucking the two of them from the air. Luckily, Jaune was able to swerve to the right, with Mercury helping by blasting out pulses of wind from his feet.

"Fuck. Fuck. Fuck." Mercury became the steering mechanism as the Silverback resorted to different tactics. Namely, throwing other Grimm at them with frightening accuracy. Blast of wind after blast of wind was fired to throw them off course, narrowly avoiding being hit by an Alpha Beowolf or even a smaller Beringel. And then there were the Nevermore.

The both of them hated Nevermore at that moment more than anything else.

Knowing he didn't have the air dust to spare, Mercury fumbled out Crocea Mors and began swinging at the dive bombing birds, flailing the sword without grace or skill, but with enough strength to break the bones of the birds.

"Crap, crap, crap!" Jaune wasn't getting off easy either. On top of his aura draining from the constant usage of the jets, he had to compensate every time Mercury shot from his legs, which required intense control over the armor. If he screwed up, he could make his shin guards explode. "CRAP!" Jaune felt his aura weakening, so he turned off the jets.

"WHY DID YOU DO THAT-" As they fell, the Beringel pulled back its fist. With gravity acting upon them and Mercury running low on wind dust, they were unable to change their course. But, Jaune did have some aura left.

So, right before the Silverback's fist met them, Jaune poured it all into the bottom of his armor, right at his feet.

And powerful explosion hit the Silverback and its fist. It wasn't enough to counteract the Beringel's punch, but it was enough to propel Jaune faster than the arm could move. And thus, Jaune and Mercury were sent flying.

"Well, could've gone worse." Jaune muttered before devolving into hysterical hyperventilating. THEY WERE FALLING! AND HIS AURA JUST SHATTERED! A string of curses ran out of Jaune's mouth, he had reached him limit. He really should've just left Crocea Mors, but noooo, he had to get it! Well, looks like he was going to die for it!

He felt a sting on his cheek.

"Ok, calm the fuck down." Mercury wasn't having any of his bullshit. "Look, it may look bad." They were very high in the air. Gravity was going to act upon them soon. "But, we can work with this."

"HOW!?"

"I don't fucking know! I used all my fire dust on the smoke screen and my wind dust just keeping our ass safe! So, what do you got!?"

"Uhhhhhhhh!?" Jaune thought about what was in his pockets. Some jerky, a small book, his scroll, his flare g-

Oh. Yes, that could work.

"In my flare gun is a gravity flare. I have an idea."

"Uhuh?"

"It's craz-"

"JUST SAY IT!"

"Well, use it to make us float." A pause. "It's crazy, I know, but you need to do it. You need to control the gravity dust so well that you slowly counteract our momentum. That is the only way we live." Mercury looked Jaune in the eye before staring.

"Screw it, whatever." He fished through Jaune's pocket and grabbed the knight's flare gun. Mercury then let his aura seep through it, reaching the gravity dust.

First, it was uncontrollable, it was like trying to hold a rapidly inflating balloon in his hands. But then, Mercury let some cracks form in between his fingers, letting some of the energy flow out under his direction. He imagined the flow of gravity, all things going down, like arrows on a 2d image. Then, he imagined the arrow they were on being altered, being shifted. He imagined it being slowly curved.

Jaune felt more grateful than ever that he bought high quality gravity dust for the flare.

Slowly, the direction they fell changed. It curved and curved and curved slowly, but they were falling at an incredibly high distance, so they could manage that.

Soon enough, the direction was horizontal. And right on time, the remaining momentum was bled out of them as they were flung on the floor, rolling at intense speeds on the dirt.

Soon enough, they came to a stop. The both of them were panting heavily. Jaune was bruised, no aura meant no protection. But, the damage was mitigated by Mercury, who held Jaune's head as they rolled, aura shimmering.

"Thanks." Jaune spoke in a whispered tone underneath his ragged breaths.

"It's nothing, just don't wanna carry dead weight, that's all."


"So, we lived." Jaune and Mercury stood in front of the town, bruised, charred, and a tad miffed as they stared at the bandits. Jaune was the one speaking, as Mercury just couldn't be bothered. "Are you going to let us go?"

The three bandits looked at each other, sweating profusely. The prisoners were supposed to die.

"Want to join?" Was their jittered response. Because none of them expected Jaune and Mercury to live. And despite their machismo, there was a limit to their confidence.

"No." Jaune safely assumed he spoke for the both of them.

"Shit." They scrambled to press the detonator. Jaune gulped and Mercury's eyes widened. In a few seconds, Jaune formulated a plan. Was it a good plan? No. Was it safe? Absolutely not. Was he doing it? Of course. He stretched out his cuffed hand to the left, as if pulling Mercury into a waltz, before putting a bit of distance between the two of them. Then, he unfurled his shield and put it between the explosive cuffs and the two of them. Then, his hands embraced Mercury's and he began to pump his aura into Mercury before amplifying both of theirs. Jaune had to be very precise. If he saved too much aura, then Mercury's arm would be blown off. If he saved too little, then he'd die.

He prayed to the Brother Go-wait, no, they weren't listening. He prayed to Darling. Not because she'd save him, no, because she was the closest deity around and he hadn't paid for divine express mail. Those humorous thoughts were the only things keeping him from fainting in fright.

A loud explosion made everyone's ears ring.

Jaune was off by a little. He didn't die, but he was flung into a tree, his aura shattering. Mercury, meanwhile, survived. All of the aura Jaune had put into him was burned off in the explosion.

"Shit." The Spartans looked fearfully as the assassin got up, no longer tethered to the knight in not so shining white.


It was the present.

"Thank the brothers my lien wasn't burned up." Jaune and Mercury were relaxing in an empty bar. The former woke up in one of the booths, the latter sipping some water. "Anyways, that was a tough few days." No kidding!

"Yea. It's also a miracle we managed to hold in our shits for literal days."

"Hey, comes with not having much food." Jaune quivered as he finally tasted junk food after so much time eating scraps and simply starving. Thank god he had his water dust, or else they would've died from dehydration. Aura could help people go longer without food, but there was no helping a lack of water.

"Wow, this stuff is good." Mercury ate without restraint. To be fair, so did Jaune.

"So, thought about what you'll do?"

"Huh?"

"Like, what you'll do in your life?"

"Hmmmm, maybe go back to killing?" Jaune raised an eyebrow. "Are you going to throw a pissy fit?" Jaune nodded.

"Merc, I can't judge on your murders before, but I'm still going to draw a line and say no assassin business."

"Fine, fine, whatever." Mercury rolled his eyes. "It's not like I enjoy it, it's just that it's an easy solution I see no problem with."

Jaune sighed. "You know what, I can't change your mind there. But if you do become an assassin again, I will personally whoop your ass."

"Oh? I'd like to see you try!" Mercury snickered, imagining the twenty ways Jaune would lose. "Seriously though, I haven't put too much thought into what I'm going to do. I dunno, don't even have an ID. And I'm pretty sure Cinder will kill me."

"Maybe go to a huntsman academy?"

"Eh?" Now that he mentioned it, Mercury remembered hearing Cinder talking about getting school uniforms for something. And it probably wasn't for fun times with Emerald.

"I dunno, just an idea." Jaune shrugged. "Maybe take up tournament fighting? Your kicking's flashy enough to be a selling point."

"But-"

"Yea, that girl will try to kill you."

Mercury sighed, not despondent, just a bit miffed. "Whatever, maybe I'll take your advice, join whatever these huntsman academies are."

"D-do you-?"

"What? I know what huntsman are, super dangerous super-cops. But like, why a school?" Mercury recieved a bewildered stare. "I dunno, high school life crossed with strict military might? That's kind of a weird mix."

"I think that's just a you thing."

"Oh c'mon!" Mercury rolled his eyes as he popped open a soda, pouring it into two plastic cups. Jaune raised his, with Mercury tilting his head. "What're you doing?"

"A toast?" Jaune's arm was going to get tired. "You hit your cups together and say 'to' something."

"Sure, whatever." Mercury picked up his cup.

"To-" your future, Jaune was about to say, except Mercury smashed their cups together before he could finish that sentence, splashing soda all over the table.


In water, he awakened,

Near water, he feared,

With water, he grew.


Jaune liked fishing. It was peaceful, it was relaxing, it was fairly easy, it was fairly safe, and it provided food. Maria had shown him the joys of fishing in the wild and since then, he'd taken a habit of fishing far into the ocean. Was it safe? Definitely not. He had gotten lost on more than one occasion. But, it was always peaceful. And even if he did get lost, he had a source of food right by him and a canteen of water dust that would never run dry. So, effectively, the only downside was the lack of variety in diet.

Anyways, one of the downsides of fishing in the middle of the ocean was the lack of company. Well, he had Darling, but she was in her deck screwing around, so effectively he was alone. That was remedied when he fished up a dead man.

"Why did it have to be the sea?" Ok, not a dead man. He just fished some guy out from the bottom of the sea. With bright blue hair and wearing a red sweater that was unusually dry, he was sitting across from Jaune, keeping his head down and whimpering.

"Sorry, get seasick easily?" Luckily for Jaune, he was in very calm waters, calm enough to not trigger is very normal motion sickness. He pulled out some pills and offered them to the other guy.

"No, no, it's something else." He groaned in absolute despair once more. "Name's Neptune, by the way."

"Cool, Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue, ladies love it."

"Pffft, really?"

"No they don't."

"Well, at least you're honest."

There was a brief silence as Jaune waited for a fish to take the bait and Neptune waited for this entire cursed nightmare to end.

"So-" Jaune spoke first, shattering the quiet. "Why were you at the bottom of the ocean?"

"Ughhhhh, a stupid accident. Our team was on a training mission and for SOME reason I got knocked off the cliff edge and landed in the water. Then I fainted and, well, I guess the current took me." Neptune's answer was illuminating, but Jaune still wasn't satisfied.

"Ok. Better question, how did you survive at the bottom of the ocean?" And how did his fishing reel have enough, well, reel to reach the bottom of the ocean?

"Oh. My stupid semblance."

"What, are you a fish?" A pause. "Oh shit, you are?" Neptune had his face in his palm.

"No, it's hydrokinesis. I can control water." Though he provided no demonstration.

"Oh." A small wave made the tiny rowboat jerk up, making Neptune shriek. "And you're afraid of water?"

"Yea yea, har-de-har-har, real funny." At Neptune's sudden snark, Jaune felt a pang of guilt. "Bodies of water. Oceans, lakes, even puddles make me anxious. Rivers are fine, sometimes, maybe, ok never. It's a real pain whenever Sun brings us to a hotspring and all I can do is shower. And even then, I have to force the water to touch me."

"Huh." A pause, Jaune fished up a tuna and sighed. He stabbed it, quickly, as to ensure no death throes, and then fastened it onto the hook to use as bait for large fish. "So, what are we going to do?"

"Eh?"

"Like, what do you want to do here?"

"Oh. Well, ideally I'd go back to land and hitch a ride to Haven as soon as possible." Jaune had a sudden sharp intake of breath at that. "Ok, what?"

"Well, I kind of sort of maybe promised someone I'd probably fish up something very very rare around here." A pause. "Ok, fine, I promised a kid I'd get him a giant fish called the Gigantic for his birthday dinner tommorow. I've been at the seas for a week doing this."

"Why don't you like, give up-"

"An Arc never goes back on his word." Jaune said it without hesitation.

"I guess that's honorable?" A pause. "Do you have another fishing rod?"

"Sure." Jaune creaked open a panel under his seat and pulled out a fishing rod, tossing it to Neptune. He quickly got to work with his instrument, spooning in some shrimp before casting it into the waters, letting the reel spin as the twine sunk deeper and deeper, pulled down by gravity and the weight of the bait. "Welp."

It was just them.

"Yea?"

Two guys in the middle of the ocean.

"You a huntsman in training?"

Jaune had been alone on the waves for so long that when given the chance to have conversation that wasn't Darling incessantly making jokes, he took it without pause.

"Yep." Neptune fiddled with the fishing rod for a bit, even pulling out his scroll only to find it out of battery, before continuing with the conversation. "It's pretty fun. Are you also a student?"

"No."

"Huh, a droppout? Or did you not get into one of the academies?" Neptune knew those people existed, especially in Mistral, where people who went to combat school often did so only to go back to their homes and protect them, instead of continuing with their education. Those years training put them at an advantage, though not as high as it would be if they took the next four years.

"Nah, I'm just a wandering huntsman." Leaving his untrained sans a drunkard ronin taking pity on him status unsaid, of course. "Anyways, what's that thing on your back?"

"Oh, this?" He set his fishing pole down and picked up his rifle. Sleek and made of white metal, Jaune pegged it as either modified Atlesian tech or an entirely custom job. With a flick and the rifle turning into a guandao, then a trident. Jaune immediately settled on custom made. "It's called Tri-Hard, saved me a lot over the years." He smiled admiring the slick feel.

"Are those really necessary?" Jaune pointed towards the sides of the rifle, which had bright white flourishes in contrast to the ever so slightly grey metal.

"Yep." The trident immediately went back to a collapsed rifle mode before being slung across his back. "And you?"

"Just a sword and shield." He pointed to the items on his hip. Rather simplistic in comparison to Neptune's choice.

"Did you rob a museum?" He wasn't impressed, to say the least.

"Yes, the Valean National Museum. I heard the sword had magical properties and couldn't help myself. I thought that if I-" Jaune proceeded to go on an improvised tangent about some epic quest involving ancient lineages, an evil queen, and a piece of toast that necessitated him stealing the sword and shield before devolving into chuckling. "Ok, ok, seriously, it's a family heirloom."

"Ah." Neptune had a look in his eyes. "So, your dad was a hunter?"

"And his father and his father and his father before that." Jaune said, almost on cue. "Well, I guess my great great grandfather wasn't a huntsman, they didn't exist after all. But you get my point." Neptune gave a thumbs up. "You?"

"Ehh, nah. My dad wanted me to pursue something else, but I'm fine being a hunter."

"How'd you get into combat school then?"

"Heh, I didn't." A pause. "I got some underground experience, stuff I couldn't exactly put on my papers. So, I kind of just lied?" ... "Hey! By the time I was applying, I was legally an adult, my dad couldn't have stopped me. He tried, definitely, but it was useless." Contrary to Neptune's beliefs, Jaune wasn't exactly outraged by the moral implications.

"Oh my god, it would've worked."

"Huh?"

"Nothing, nothing." Jaune cleared his throat. "Your story's familiar, that's it."

"Oh, really?" Neptune chuckled. "I'm still scared that my teammates will find out. They'll probably kick me to the curb faster than a trash bag."

"Teammates?"

"Yep, best friends I could ever ask for." Neptune had a distant smile and a pained look in his eyes. His friends were probably desperately searching for him. Either that or he was already pronounced dead. One way or another, he had to get back soon. "You?"

"Ah, didn't go to an academy, never got a team." Jaune knew why teams existed, but he never found a permanent traveling companion. Well, besides Darling, but she rarely helped out. In fact, she was pretty much just a magical freeloader that occasionally played games with him. He technically could count himself, Talos, Qrow, and Winter as a 4 person team, but that seemed more like a temporary arrangement when needed rather than an unbreakable bond. They were certainly friends, but it wasn't as tight.

"Well you're missing out. Trust me, it may seem like a pain the first time your partner accidentally gets into your bed naked, but soon it won't bother you."

"What."

"Oh." Neptune had a habit of oversharing, it seemed. "Nothing." Jaune purged the memory from his head. "Plus, there's plenty of hot girls at the academies."

"Really?" Raiden didn't really talk all that much about his experiences at the then still fledgling academies. He talked here and there about being on a team, but nothing more.

"Yeahhh! Seriously, you'd think it's a school for supermodels." Neptune's words were uncanny, for some odd reason. "I mean, there's this other team across our hall, team ABRN, and they are all gorgeous as hell! Seriously, I would say it's unfair, except I'm pretty good looking myself."

"Yea, say that with the soggy hair."

"Soggy?" Neptune worriedly combed his hair with his hands, only to realize they were bone dry. "Hey! Not cool!" Jaune snickered, he wasn't sure how Neptune's semblance let him literally prevent him from getting wet, but he sure as hell was going to use it as a joke. "Whatever."

"So, you thinking about romance or something?"

"Ehhhhhh, kind of?" Neptune shrugged. "It's hard not to think about that sort of thing. Everyone looks good and we're still teenagers, even if we're all technically adults. Or, well, close enough to adulthood."

"Got a type?"

"Eh, not really?" Neptune was now just kicking back and relaxing, enjoying his conversation with Jaune. "I just chase what my head tells me to."

"Which head?" For his troubles, Jaune got a bottle thrown at his.

"Yea yea, whatever. It's not like anyone's treated my flirts seriously. I mean, the academies aren't really the type of place for romance, you know?"

"Really? A bunch of late teens with superpowers-"

"Yea, I thought that as well." Jaune mused that it might be part of why Neptune became a hunter in the first place. "But it isn't true. At least, not in Haven and not for first years. We're all still getting to know our own teams. And nobody dates within teams. It's like, unofficial an rule. Dating a teammate makes things weird if things don't turn out well. Plus, we're all swamped enough with work as it is." He chuckled to himself. "Especially me."

"Huh."

"What about you?" Neptune could tell Jaune raised an eyebrow. "I mean, you're a traveling huntsman, right?" Jaune nodded. "Well, what rowdy misadventures have you gotten into?"

"Ughhh." Jaune could practically hear Darling snicker in his ears. "None, so far. It's not really my thing, you know? Knights have stopped questing for princesses in towers a long time ago."

"Heh, sounds about right. You know, sometimes I think our team should've gone to Shade. I heard it's much more lax there."

"I've heard as well." May talked a lot about Shade. "Apparently, they don't even need to sneak in alcohol. As long as they keep it in their rooms, the teachers don't care."

"Oh wow I definitely made a mistake." Neptune laughed to himself. "Yea, yea, here's the thing, there was this entire thing in Haven where we tried to all sneak in beer and stuff. And it's really hard. Not because it's hard to get it in, no, it's because if you show up to class even slightly drunk or hungover, you get a mark against you. And the teachers can smell even the tiniest of hints of booze on your breath a mile away." Neptune actually found some drinks on the floor. It was soda, but it was better than nothing, so he cracked it open and began drinking.

"That sounds like fun." Man, Jaune felt old. And he was barely as old as Neptune! "Hmmmm, hey, Nep?"

"Nep?"

"Did someone else already call you that?"

"Nah. Sun called me Vase Man before just calling me bro, Scarlet calls me 'Idon after the old translation of my name, and Sage just calls me by my name. Anyways, ask away."

"Well, ever get lonely?"

"Since I joined my team? Nope."

"Well, I have, a bit. I dunno, I do have this friend that I travel with a lot." Darling, but she came and went according to her fickle whims. "But, besides that, I've been alone for a while. It's never for too long, I stop by towns every once in a while, I meet people, but soon after I'm back on the road." A pause. "I don't regret it, at all. Traveling like this? I really do like it. It's just a bit lonely."

"Hey, bro?"

"Yea?"

"It's alright to admit that." Neptune had a sardonic grin, but his eyes betrayed his empathy. "You know, I've always kind of drifted in my life, just going place to place as my parents demanded. Go to this meeting, attend these classes, meet these people, shake hands, go to this party, watch this conference, study these books, it was all pretty boring. I was born to members of the Mistrali elite, you know 'em?"

"Nope, I'm a Valean."

"Ah, well they're just the remains of the Mistrali nobility. Now including the families of those who got rich off of the Great War. My folks sold battleships back then and now own a shipping empire." His smile turned a bit more caustic, it had a bit of an edge. "Well, I say my folks. What I mean is the people who used to be my folks. When I ran away, they officially disowned me. The culmination of my rebellious streak. The final step in my dance with them."

"Has anyone ever told you your metaphors are weird?"

"Yea, my team has, countless times. Anyways, when I got word of my disownment, it was just before initiation for Haven. And, I kind of had a panic attack. All other paths were cut off, I had nobody but myself. Luckily, I met my team soon after."

"I'm glald you found friends."

"I am too." A pause. "Wanna be friends?"

"Huh?"

"Yea, it felt weird to me as well. And it's kind of weird that it's weird for me to ask, you know?" Jaune and Neptune had a chuckle or two over that as they sat there, sipping soda, fishing. "So, how about it?"

"That sounds nice. But it's not like I'm lacking in friends, it's just that I don't have any willing to go on the road with me."

"Oh?"

"Don't even think about it. You wouldn't last a week on the road."

"Hey!"

"I mean it! First of all, your weapon looks like it requires more maintenance than the cat of the king of Vale. Second of all, is that gel in your hair?" Neptune gave a defensive 'hmph!' in response. "And third of all, your clothes are way too formal."

"Yea, yea, alright, I got it!" Neptune caught a sizable tuna and flicked it. In an instant, it was emptied of its blood and guts. Its bones and scales were also taken with the liquid, leaving only the raw flesh, which Neptune began to eat.

"Wait, you can do that!?" Jaune looked utterly horrified as Neptune dug into the sashimi.

Neptune swallowed before he answered. "Uh, yea?"

"Ok, I am sorry, but how powerful is your semblance?"

"I can manipulate bodies of water that I touch, that's it." Neptune looked incredibly uncomfortable with Jaune's line of questioning.

"If you need me to back off its fi-"

"No, no, it's fine, it's fine. It's just-It's just-" Neptune sighed. "Drowning is terrifying." Jaune didn't make a comment, allowing Neptune to continue on. "In the water, nobody can hear you scream. You can't breath, you can barely move, you can't say anything. All you can do is watch as the light fades ever so slightly." A pause. "That's what it's like for me down there. My semblance keeps me alive, it gave me a slow trickle of air that let me live, but I'm still choked to sleep."

"I-"

"And it's worse when you're a kid. Your kicks, your wades, your death throes, none of it matters in the slightest when you're small and powerless. You can't make enough of a splash and the waves drown out your screams, if they could even be heard from the water at all." His fishing rod was set down and his arms were clutching his sides, gripping at them so hard Jaune was scared his clothes were going to tear. "It's not like that now. I know I could use my semblance to boost my way out of the waves. And even then, I'm an adult now, I probably should just learn how to swim." A wave hit the boat, splashing some water on Neptune.

As soon as the droplets him him, they shot outwards like bullets into the air, evaporating from the sheer speed.

"It's just, I can't. Every time I touch the water, I'm a kid again. I'm drowning, helpless to stop it. And my brother, he's dying as well. And it's my fault."

Silence.

"I probably should just grow up. That's what mom and dad told me to do. But, it's kind of hard. Hiding all of this from my team is also hard, but, it's probably easier than telling them I'm scared of something this stupid." Neptune's laugh took a dark spiral, comedy only serving as a cushion for his predicament. "You know, I think landing in the sea has been the most relaxed I've been in months, isn't that funny?" His head was in his hands, all pretense of stability lost now that his brain registered the events of his life as of recent.

Being disowned, the terror of being found out, the tightrope he walked in Haven, all of his stress came bearing down on him.

"You know, I was scared at first." This time it was Jaune's turn to speak. "I left home without a fear in the world. Less than a weak later I couldn't sleep without taking medication because I was constantly looking over my shoulder. It's scary out here, in the wild. Nightmares every week of Beowolves tearing me up, Ursai crushing me, and Beringels punching a hole through my stomach." So many close calls, so many what-ifs. "It's really scary. But you know what? It all becomes worth it."

"Hmmm?"

"It's ok to be scared, Neptune. Brothers know I'm scared out of my mind half the time. But if you don't want to be, then try and continue to try and push your limits."

"Thanks for the wise words." Neptune bore a gentle smile. "Too bad they might go to waste."

"Well, then tell your friends."

"Huh?"

"Your friends. You called them the best you could ever ask for, right?" Neptune nodded. "I dunno, tell 'em? You don't have to conquer your fears alone."

"B-but-"

"How long have you known them?" The question was rhetorical, Jaune at the very least knew when academy school years started. "Yea, months by now. And do they hate you?"

"No! They're really good friends."

"Well, tell 'em."

There was a pause.

"Yea, alright, I can do this!" Neptune tried pumping himself up, raising his voice.

"Yea!" Jaune raised his can.

"I can-" Both of their fishing rods were sucked into the water, causing Neptune to yell out "-I CAN'T DO THIS!"

Jaune, meanwhile, leapt for his and actually caught it. He forced himself up and began to pull back the rod, trying to reel in whatever thing was pulling. "I think it's the guardian!" He yelled as he desperately rolled in the twine. Whatever it was, it was strong enough to actually begin pulling the boat.

"AHHHHH!" Neptune began hyperventilating and the water began parting. They began to fall, as if the water wasn't even there. Midway through, Jaune noticed that a giant fish was right next to them. He took his chance and grabbed it, yanking it out of the water and into the air bubble that Neptune created.

It was the size of Jaune. "That is a big fish." The knight whistled before geting a single stab into it, killing it instantly. Now they had a giant fish corpse. "Oh yea, underwater." They were also rapidly falling.

"IcantdothisIcantdothisIcantdothis." Neptune was going back and forth between hyperventilating and repeating a self fufilling prophecy as they continued their descent to the bottom of the ocean.

"Hey? Hey?" Jaune poked at Neptune, whose mind was a chorus of self defeating screaming that paralyzed him. Fear and doubt welled up in him. Gleaming red eyes from across the ocean stared at the beacon of despair. The horrors of the deep swam closer as they went down. It was getting dimmer, Jaune noticed. He tried to create some light with his gloves, but stopped when he realized that doing so would burn up their oxygen. "Hey-" Jaune poked at Neptune and this time, with his aura amplified, he could feel some of Neptune's thoughts.

There was nothing for him. For all of his bravado, all of his suaveness, all of his confidence, he had nothing but his team. His greatest nightmare was losing them and being left with nothing. The worst case scenario of worst case scenarios was all Neptune could see, the absolute despair of such a fate somehow driving his semblance to repel the ocean around them.

"..." Jaune sighed, he only knew one way to help him.

Jaune embraced Neptune in a hug, trying to using Sheep's Gaze and his semblance in tandem in an effort to calm him down.

And it did. For a second, Neptune's mind wasn't overloaded by the barrage of self loathing that he had been keeping at bay for years. For a second, he could think clearly. For a second, he could hear the outside world.

And he could see the hole he dug for himself and Jaune.

Regardless of his own issues, there was at least a nugget of selflesness in him. There was heroism that drove him to essentially sacrifice his future to become a huntsman. And while he couldn't will himself to overcome his fears for himself, he could try if it meant saving someone else. No more accidents, no more drownings, no more nightmares or corpses rotting in the water.

The stopped going down.

Neptune, who for so long had neglected to use his semblance, began to control it. The water stopped giving way, letting the boat come to a halt in the small bubble, floating, bobbing.

The Grimm were still coming. Schools, fryes, and shivers of Grimm were swiftly approaching. The bright red eyes of the monsters of the deep terrified Neptune.

So the water began to rise. The bubble began to rise. The waters themselves shot outwards, hitting the incoming Grimm with deep currents that buffered them for long enough for the boat to shoot out of the cluster without any damages.

"You did it." And they saw the sun again. With little fanfare, they plopped back onto the surface.

"Yea." Neptune's voice was fading. He wasn't dying, he had just overwhelmed himself with the usage of his Semblance. Combine that with the stress and, well, he was finally letting it all hit him at once.

And then he fainted, leaving Jaune to row them back to shore.


"All of this, for one kid's birthday?" Neptune looked at Jaune, who merely smiled as he looked at the party from afar. The kid and his father both invited him to join in, but Jaune refused. He took a dish of the fish, of course, he wasn't about to pass up an interesting meal, but he wanted to spend some time with Neptune before they parted ways. A bullhead was coming at the behest of Haven.

"Yep." Jaune smiled, watching through the window as the large family celebrated. They had been hit hard by a series of Grimm attacks lately.

"You know, it's kinda weird, looking at birthday parties."

"Oh?" It was an invite to speak more.

"Yea. When me and Jupiter were kids, our birthday parties were these big celebrations. But, as we grew older, there was less celebration. Our parents started pushing things onto us, careers, associates, and stuff like that. They wanted the best for us, but it never really felt like it." Neptune's eyes were distant, he was in the past once more.

"Sorry, can't relate, my parents threw kickass parties."

"You said you had seven sisters?"

"Mhmm."

"Jeez, I still can't believe it." That was the normal reaction. "Any of them as cute as you?"

"Hmmmmmm." Lavender and Amber were far too young, obviously. Jade and Hazel were only one or two years older than him, but neither would be particularly interested in Neptune. Sable was a bit older, but they didn't really talk about romance much. Coral was an enigma that he just didn't think about. And Saphron? She was already married. "Wait, did you call me cute?"

"Eh?" Neptune had just realized what he said. "Uhhh, no."

"Really, cause I thought I heard-"

"Shuddup!" Neptune huffed, giving Jaune a playful shove, who laughed and shoved back.

Really, the day had been a nice respite from the stresses of the outside world for the both of them. Jaune could relax without a care while Neptune could talk freely.

They'd trade contact information before they parted ways for real. Jaune went his way on the road, while Neptune found himself jumped by his team as he boarded the bullhead.


I did not like writing the Neptune one. It's less of a problem with the character of Neptune and more me not having a solid grasp.

So yea, the updates aren't going to get any more frequent. At least, what with the rate I wrote this chapter. Maybe it's cause I don't have as firm a grasp on these characters. Perhaps I'm just experiencing very late writer's fatigue. Or maybe RWBY is just getting tiring for me. I'd say there are even odds for any of them. Mercury's was the one I had the best grasp on for an idea, while the other two just eluded me.

On the prodigal son thing, fair, honestly. I kinda look like Human Revolution with that line imo.

Man, I make all my characters weebs.

Man, I go really dialogue heavy.

Also, sorry that Neptune's thing wasn't as long.

Anyways, even though I can't promise them soon, here are ya options!

1: Jaune encounters a holy man in Vacuo who he escorts to the promised land on a pilgrimage.

2: Jaune and Raiden find themselves in Vacuo and clean up after a messy spaghetti western.

3: A penny for a fairy tale, a tired Jaune in his earlier years listens to an old man talk fairy tales.

4: Jaune is pulled to paradise in a time so long ago

Is Penny enough of a side character to make it for the roster? If so, here ya go.

5: Jaune becomes a supervillain to make one magical girl's dream come true.

Also, I feel like the siege thing was a bit generic. So here's a revamp version.

6: Jaune finds himself in a sieged town. A medieval town. Centuries ago. In medieval Vale (or one of the other kingdoms). He's also drunk as hell. Watch as he makes the Grimm shit themselves.

And if I'm adding time travel to the ridiculous load of weird crap here, then here's aliens.

7: Jaune goes to the moon and goes questing on the moon with moon people

In my defense, RWBY pulled out the Ever After out of its ass, so why not pull an other world out of somewhere we know exists: The fucking moon. Also, if you like this fic being about RWBY, please do not vote for 7.

8: Jaune pilots an abandoned experimental mecha to fight kaiju Grimm.

I can't defend this one.

Ok, these prompts are getting crazy.

Also, next chapter probably won't be Neon. I was planning another holiday chapter and given the pace at which I made this, I'm probably going to have to rush to get that out first.

So basically the predicted order of updates will be holiday, Neon, and whatever you guys vote. But those last two can switch depending on how much trouble I'm having writing Neon.