Shorter chapter this week. Sorry about that, it just kind of worked out that way.


Start Chapter 35


For a moment, silence is the only thing that exists within Raven Branwen's tent.

He understands why, of course; the news he's just revealed is certainly big. Shocking likely doesn't even begin to describe it. The expression on Raven Branwen's face isn't quite what he'd expected, though. It is shock, certainly, but that emotion seems to be entirely eclipsed by something else.

By fear.

When she looks away from him, he can't help giving a small frown. Her gaze tracks one of the grooves in the wood at her feet, which seems to have been carved into it with a bladed weapon of some kind. Certainly thicker than the blade she wields. Perhaps an axe of some sort.

And then, finally, she meets his eyes again.

"Get out."

Now it's Jaune's turn to be shocked. The words are enough to briefly stun him, for his brow to furrow and his stance to tighten.

"What?" He says, almost disbelievingly.

"I said get out." Raven Branwen repeats, her lips curling into a grimace. "Go."

"What–" He shakes his head, unable to quite fathom what's happening right now. "I'm telling you Summer Rose is alive! What do you mean get out!?"

"I don't know how it's possible that you don't understand this yet, but get out means that I'm telling you to leave!" Raven almost snarls as she advances on him, forcing him to take a step back. "So go on and get the fuck out of my tent!"

Jaune's entire expression must look positively ridiculous. He feels like his eyes are as wide as saucers, and his mouth is hanging open. But he genuinely can't believe what's happening right now. He'd expected disbelief, yes. He'd expected her to doubt him, and to try and make him prove his claim, and admittedly, he'd been prepared, even, for her to try and attack him outright, claim him a liar and a bastard.

But this… this is somehow infuriating.

Total dismissal.

"How about no!?" Jaune shouts, his own expression darkening. "How about you tell me why the hell you don't give a shit that your teammate, who's been presumed dead for a good, what, two decades, is alive!? Hm!?"

Raven looks away from him, seething between her teeth, but she's not the only one angry, and so Jaune's continuing before she can get a word in.

"Summer Rose is alive! She's holed up in Evernight, turned into some… into some half-Grimm monster that Salem calls the Big Bad Wolf. She's kept herself alive all this time, and I'm telling you that–"

"I know!"

The piercing yell feels like it might wake the entire continent of Mistral, such is its volume; its gravitas. Jaune can't help but stagger backwards, buffeted by the force and meaning of those words.

"W… What?" He mutters beneath his breath. "Wait, hold on, what do you mean you–"

"Did I stutter!?" Raven Branwen rounds on him, a look of absolute fury in her eyes that is dulled somewhat by the absent sheen building upon them as well. "I said I already know everything you're trying to tell me! I'm saying that I know that Summer Rose is alive! I'm saying I've known ever since she went 'missing', ever since she disappeared off the face of Remnant, exactly what happened to her, and where she was! I've always known!"

That information is practically a slap in the face, but at the very least, if Raven knows all of this, he can skip the entire section where he'd been about to explain Summer's condition. That saves time.

Even still…

"Then… why didn't you tell someone!?" He finds himself asking, his own voice growing in fervor, before he shakes his head, trying to remind himself that this isn't the point. "No, never mind that, that doesn't matter. Your semblance; Salem, Qrow, and Cinder have all given me a sort-of rundown on it. You can make portals to people that you have an emotional connection to, right?"

Raven just watches him, with eyes dull and gone.

"She's unguarded; no one is watching her!" Jaune needs to get through to her, somehow. She can go and save Summer Rose. "Your power is the ability to create portals to those you care about, right? Can you make a portal to her?"

Raven doesn't answer. No. The only thing she does is stare at him.

It unnerves him. No, more than that, it angers him.

"Raven!?" He shouts.

And though the woman's lips quiver somewhat, she seems to dismiss the emotions entirely as she turns herself around, so that she no longer faces him, and again says, "Get out."

"Can you not do it!? Is that it!?"

"I said Get. Out!"

And the truth hits him like one of General Ironwood's punches; hard and fast and without mercy. It is enough to leave a dirty taste in his mouth. Enough to leave him disgusted. He wants to wretch at the sight of the woman in front of him.

"You could save her, couldn't you?"

Raven's form gives the tiniest of shakes, as if the words have caused her foundations to creak ever so slightly, and yet there is no further response.

Jaune feels a fire in his breast and a horrid, lurching sickness in his chest.

"You could save her, and you're not going to!?" Jaune finds himself screaming without thinking, without considering the way that the camp surrounding them is asleep, dead quiet. Without considering just who it is he's talking to. He just vents exactly what's in his heart. "You're just going to leave her there!? Stuck inside some Grimm and barely hanging onto life!? You're supposed to be her teammate, and you're–"

The fist that connects with his jaw sends him reeling backwards, and it's a good thing his aura had been activated ever since he'd started screaming, otherwise that might've straight-up broken it. As things are, he's still seeing stars, and that only worsens as Raven Branwen wrenches him to his feet, holding him in the air with both arms and a wild, feral look on her face.

"I don't believe I ever asked you," Raven seethes. "A goddamned thing!"

For some reason, the anger that Raven shows then seems to only amplify Jaune's own; for despite the logical thing he should be doing – that being disengaging from Raven and labeling her a lost cause – he instead decides to keep pushing, to keep going.

He's angry, well, and truly, and he's never been good at making intelligent decisions in such cases.

"Oh, look at you!" He shouts, bracing himself as Raven shoves him up against one of the wooden support poles holding up her tent, and winds her fist back. "So strong, so tough, sitting here in your little tent and picking on people who can't possibly–"

The blow that hits him next rattles him further, but he almost wants to laugh with how little he cares.

No. It's somehow personal, now.

"–Who can't possibly fight back!" He finishes, sneering across at the woman pinning him. "Certainly, you're the very strongest in Mistral, but it seems that when the chips are down you–"

Another blow.

"–You just sit here in your tent and you do nothing!"

Raven actually yells as she strikes him again, and then a second time; her eyes blazing. Jaune's aura is tanking the blows, but even though he takes no physical damage, they still hurt rather profusely; and every blow takes five or six percent of his aura, or more.

"What the fuck do you know, huh!?" Raven screams. "You think because you know my daughter that you know me!? That because you've met Qrow you know the whole story!? Fuck you! You don't know a goddamned thing about anything!"

"I know enough!"

"RAARGH!"

The following blow is enough to break the beam behind Jaune, sending the both of them toppling out of Raven's tent, and sprawled out onto the earth behind it. Jaune pants for breath, and though the air comes, he finds the only thing he wishes to do with it is scream more at the woman across from him.

And yet, before he can even think to, someone has him by the shoulder. He turns, and his eyes widen as he sees Cinder standing there, who draws Midnight into her hand the moment she removes it from his own form.

As the red film hanging about his vision begins to fade, he notices that the entire camp is practically up in arms. Bandits all around them are up and have weapons drawn. His own friends have done much the same. Nora in particular looks ready and willing to break a few kneecaps.

And yet ultimately, it is with a single command that Raven Branwen brings order back from the chaos.

"ENOUGH!"

It is not only the bandits who are slightly cowed by such a sound, but his friends, and Cinder's, too. Emerald, Mercury, and Ilia all keep their weapons up, but a single look from Cinder has them lowering them as well.

Raven Branwen is still breathing heavily as she stands up in front of Jaune. Her eyes still carry within them that same fury, that same hint of sorrow and fear that they had before. And yet, there is a certain quality to them now that leaves Jaune feeling almost melancholic.

Her eyes seem almost dead.

"We will abide by the terms we have agreed upon." Raven states, doing her best to measure her tone, despite the way her breathing is haggard and shallow; despite everything. "You and your little friends will have your relic, and then if you know what's good for you, you'll fly yourselves away, and never come back."

And then she turns away, heading back towards the collapsed tent at the edge of the encampment, just a way's away from them. Jaune can't help but reach for her, trying to stop her; to talk sense into her.

"Raven–!" He shouts.

But Raven is already gone. And Jaune is left behind, sitting there, stuck feeling a broiling rage in his chest…

And a crushing defeat in his heart.

/

Jaune isn't exactly expecting Cinder to be pleased with him when he explains just what he'd been doing that had caused Raven to almost literally throw him out of her tent, but the look on her face as she pulls him aside is one of complete and utter seriousness.

"You told her about Summer Rose, didn't you?"

It's odd, the way that Cinder directly confronting him with the truth of his actions has him wanting to look away; to not face her. And yet he knows that above all else, if there's one person on Remnant he should be truthful with, it's her.

"I did."

Cinder expels air through her nose, a sort of miniature sigh. "I don't think I have to tell you that spilling Salem's secrets is terribly dangerous, Jaune."

"I know that."

"Do you, really?" Cinder questions him, raising an eyebrow. "I understand a bit of where you're coming from. I do. But I'm not entirely sure if her intrigue in you would keep you alive if she thought of you as a risk."

Jaune laughs a bit sadly.

"Nor am I."

Cinder looks confused at that.

"And yet you would do this regardless?"

He just nods. Cinder can only sigh in exasperation.

"Well, you're nothing if not consistent."

Jaune smiles. "I try."

Cinder shakes her head, even as she leans against the wooden wall of the Branwen's camp behind her, rubbing her temples with her hands.

"You're balanced atop a narrow rope, Jaune. Trying to be under Salem's employ whilst going against her wishes is not a particularly wise maneuver."

"I've told you before, we can't stay with Salem forever."

Cinder's face scrunches up somewhat. "Yes. You've said as much."

"You still don't agree?"

"It's… complicated. Suffice it to say that escaping Salem's reach is rather difficult. She has at the very least a tertiary control over every Grimm on Remnant. That makes her effectively a God."

Jaune hums in some small agreement. "And yet we'll need to stand against her eventually, regardless. Her goal is at the very least the total rebuilding of the world from nothing, and even that… well, I think there's something more going on behind the scenes, so to speak. I'd be surprised if that were the extent of her goals."

Cinder's expression grows far more tense. Jaune doesn't think she'd withhold the truth from him, but at the same time, if Cinder does know something, then…

"Do you have any idea what her goals could be?" He asks her.

Cinder just shakes her head. "The only thing I have is that I'm fairly certain her stated goal – remaking the world from the ashes of this one – is a falsehood, like you stated. She's after something else. What that is I do not know."

Jaune just nods.

"Then we're… what, at an impasse?"

Cinder actually breathes out a laugh. "Something like that. For now, we wait for our 'contact' within Haven to get in touch with us, and then we make our way there. We get in, get the Relic, and get out. In theory, it should be rather simple."

"Theory has failed us before."

"Yes…" Cinder lets loose an aching sigh.

"And that's precisely why I feel so tense."

/

Jaune's pretty sure the fact that the bandits all around camp are excitedly whispering amongst themselves when he awakens the next morning is the exact opposite of a good sign.

It doesn't take him too terribly long to notice, either. It seems every other conversation he stumbles upon involves some evil laughter, or something vaguely equivalent to it. Jaune can't quite help the way he squints as he passes by a few of them, and makes his way towards the mess hall.

Or, well, the mess pavilion, more like. It's really just a singular building with a few makeshift wooden tables set up in front of it. Every seat is taken already, and Jaune had, initially, thought that he'd have to eat somewhere else, but Nora had taken one look at the surrounding bandits, laughed, and proceeded to step up to one of them with a wide, almost intimidating smile set upon her lips.

"Hi, I was just about to sit there!" She says to a crowd of five or six bandits sat at the biggest table. "Would you mind moving?"

"Huh?" The main bandit – who seems to be a bit bigger in the arms and legs than the others – sneers. "Hey, girlie, I'll give you a single chance to get your ass out of here before I shove my arm up your–"

The resulting events that take place over the course of the next minute really don't need to be described here, but in a nutshell, they had involved Nora's hammer, that bandits knees, and a particular application of force.

…Anyways, JNPR has a table to themselves now.

"You are…" Pyrrha coughs a bit awkwardly. "Quite rough with these people, Nora."

Nora scoffs. "Yeah, well, forgive me if I don't exactly respect banditry as a line of work. These guys are parasites more than they are humans in my book."

It's incredibly rare for Nora, of all people, to be so actively aggressive, and Jaune turns towards Ren – their local Nora expert – for further information as to why.

"Nora and I roamed the frontier villages of Mistral for a good majority of our teenaged lives." Ren explains, his own expression darkening somewhat. "We would make friends among some of them. But it wasn't rare when returning to a village or town that we hadn't been to in a few months or so to come back and find it had been destroyed by bandits while we'd been away. It was… a frighteningly common sight."

Jaune nods his head, even as he finds himself, internally, agreeing just a bit more with Nora's actions. That guy from earlier hadn't exactly seemed like the nicest person, either, and so perhaps he'd needed a good hit to the kneecaps to teach him a lesson.

At least, that's what he's going to tell himself, anyways.

"So yes, neither I nor Nora are particularly keen on these people, even if we see the importance of our mission. The fact that we don't necessarily agree with the results of said mission either added into the mix as well, and…"

Jaune just nods. "I'm sorry I dragged you all into this."

"Don't say that."

Jaune finds his eyes widening as he looks up towards Nora, who has a rare, completely serious look on her face.

"You didn't drag us into this. We followed you because we wanted to. Because you were our friend. It sounds a bit sad to say it, but… Ren and I haven't ever really had anyone else. We were the only members of each other's families. And then… all of a sudden we had two more people to look after. Of course, we didn't want to be separated from you. So don't go and pretend like you did this on your own."

Jaune feels a bit taken aback, even as Pyrrha places a hand on his shoulder, and smiles over at him.

"It's the same for me. Albeit my own family is more… well, shall we say distant than absent. You all are the brothers and sisters that I never had growing up. And that's something that I won't ever have taken from me, no matter what I may face."

Jaune finds himself smiling at that, and he isn't alone. Ren and Nora both echo the sentiment. Before long, they're laughing and exchanging barbs and jokes as they enjoy their… well, admittedly, Jaune thinks it would probably be fair to call their food 'slop', and leave it at that, but that feels a bit mean.

And yet, as they finish up, and make their way into the central courtyard, it is the barest hint of white in the distance that catches Jaune's eye.

"Hey… is that…"

"What is it, Jaune?" Pyrrha asks him, turning her head as well. The way her eyes widen in the next moment doesn't exactly set his heart at ease. "That– it can't be!"

The four of them close the distance between themselves and the white glint on the horizon within a few seconds, and when they finally make it to the cage housing that particular glimmer, it is with wide eyes, and almost guilty expressions.

The person inside of the cage sighs out dramatically, flipping their hair as they keep their gaze firmly planted on the earth below them.

"Haven't I already told you ruffians several times that no matter what you try and tell me, I'm not going to give you any–"

And then she looks up, and her eyes widen just as theirs have.

"Uhm…" Jaune rubs his hand against the back of his neck. "…Hey, Weiss."

"…Well, either I've begun to hallucinate rather quickly in the three or so hours I've been here…" Weiss Schnee mutters under her breath.

"Or the world really did go off the deep end while I wasn't looking."


End Chapter 35


Nothing much to say this week. We're keeping going. See you all next time!