Yo.
Not a ton to say. Let's get into it!
End Chapter 23
"You mean to tell me that you did not know that your friend was the daughter of one of the most influential Faunus families on Remnant?"
Jaune feels a bit embarrassed when Cinder words it like that.
In his defense, and it feels like a bit of a shitty defense, none of the rest of his team had known either.
…What that says about how Faunus figures are covered in the media is neither here nor there, since he's fairly certain that he probably should have known one of his friends had been a daughter of one of the most influential Faunus families on Remnant.
It just feels like the sort of thing that should come up in conversation.
"That's our bad." Jaune eventually settles on in answer.
He tries to ignore the way Sienna Khan groans at them.
Their trip out of the jungles of Menagerie does not take too long. It is a few hours journey, spent mostly complaining about mosquitoes, the heat and humidity, and the fact that all the delicious looking, exotic fruits are, as it turns out, extremely poisonous.
Nora seems to grow more disappointed every time.
When they finally do exit out of the jungle entirely, it is with a whistle from Mercury, and a gasp from some of the rest of them.
Kuo Kuana is beautiful. That is, in Jaune's opinion, not even remotely up for debate.
It is an almost idyllic location. Palm trees stretching out as far as the eye can see. Ocean waters so clear that it looks almost drinkable. And more than that, a sprawling beach, lined with fisherman, marketplaces, and ships moored up and down. If they'd been here under any other circumstance, Jaune's pretty sure he wouldn't have been able to resist changing into a swimsuit and taking a dive.
Cinder nudges him lightly with her arm, and he looks over at her to see her looking at him in a rather puzzled way.
"You seem oddly happy."
"Oddly?" He lets out a little laugh. "I mean, look at it all. It's gorgeous."
"Hm?" Cinder looks out over Kuo Kuana in much the same way as he had. Her eyes skim over the same sights. See the same vendors and people and families and faunus of all different kinds. Where he sees wonder, however…
"It's just like anywhere else." Cinder concludes, and Jaune's heart sinks ever so slightly.
"I don't think so." Jaune says, trying to offer a new perspective. "I mean, where else in the world are you going to see sights like this?"
Cinder is quiet a moment.
"Do you value such things? Sights?"
"I… you don't?"
Cinder shakes her head as their group takes a turn, and is suddenly heading inland, towards the more residential parts of town, and towards a large manor off in the distance, which is, apparently, where Blake had once lived.
"No." Cinder says simply. "Sights are just… they don't mean anything. Do not be fooled by outward appearances. Atlas is a floating city, kept aloft by magic, and gleaming with the technology of the future, and yet all that is a guise. A veneer covering its horrid underbelly. A place where a child can be held as a slave, and worked half to death. A place where people are discriminated against and thought of as lesser. A place where the rich and powerful float in the sky, while the poor are stuck in the earthen crater, left behind. This place is no different. It might be idyllic to the eye, but what it represents is the cruelty that was forced upon the Faunus for simply existing. For something they had no control over at all."
"I… wasn't aware you were so passionate about the Faunus."
"I'm not." Cinder shakes her head. "All of this is merely history. Menagerie was a gift from the rest of the world after the Faunus won a war. And yet… it was all a farce. A desert island, where less than a fifth of the land is able to be tilled and farmed. An island that can, at best, support a few hundred thousand people. So, what if it is beautiful? So, what if it is grand? It is a lie. It always is."
Jaune sits on that for quite a while, allowing Cinder's words to wash over him as he tries to think up something to say in response.
"I… guess I see where you're coming from." He admits. "But at the same time… didn't you see the people back there?"
Cinder raises an eyebrow in his direction.
"They looked happy." Jaune says. "They were laughing, and smiling, and enjoying their lives. Sure, systemically, there are an awful lot of things that the entire world could've, no, should've done better for the Faunus. But… those people are living their lives regardless. You're seeing the ugliness in beauty, and they're… I guess they're seeing the beauty in the ugliness."
Cinder sort of stares at him blankly, processing his words.
"…Somehow I thought you would find a way to say something like that."
He can't help but chuckle. "What's that mean?"
"I simply knew before I even opened my mouth," Cinder states, walking so that she steps just a bit in front of him, her expression impossible to see. "I knew that you would find some way to attempt to brighten my outlook."
He finds himself smiling.
"Thanks for believing in me, I guess."
Cinder says nothing, but he can feel a twinge through their link.
It's enough.
Besides, their conversation couldn't have lasted much longer anyways.
Given that they're on the Belladonna's doorstep.
"So, uh…" Jaune feels the need to ask. "How exactly are we going to do this?"
They all sit there a moment, contemplating that. Because really, showing up at the door of the Belladonna's, the leaders of Menagerie, with a team of Beacon students, three international terrorists, and the woman who stole their previously peaceful organization out from under them and radicalized it into a terrorist organization sounds a lot worse in his head than he'd previously thought.
"Eh, we'll wing it." Nora says, before promptly walking up to the door, taking the door knocker carved in the shape of a lion, and slamming it into the wood.
Jaune winces, and tries to ignore the way that Sienna Khan buries her face in her hands, muttering "Why me?" over and over again, and Jaune doesn't really want to be that guy, but she had been a terrorist, so really, in terms of people who've said why me in all of history, it feels kind of unjustified for her to–
The door swings open, and suddenly, standing in the doorway, looking utterly flabbergasted, is one Blake Belladonna.
Jaune feels his spirits soar as he steps forward, and waves to the girl.
"Hey, Blake!"
"Wait, Jaune!?"
"Blake!" Nora yells excitedly.
"Nora!?" Blake's head rotates in confusion, before seemingly spotting someone she hadn't expected – Jaune concedes that her reaction is fair. "CINDER FALL!?"
Cinder gives a light sigh.
Sienna raises her right hand. "I'm also here."
Blake looks towards Sienna, looks back towards Jaune, takes another look at Cinder, pinches her arm, and then, when nothing happens, declares with certainty, "Okay. Hold on. I'm trying to parse when exactly it was I lost my mind."
/
Kali Belladonna is a saint. Jaune will not be hearing anyone say anything to the contrary.
Frankly, Jaune doesn't even feel like he should have to explain himself on this matter, either. Kali Belladonna is simply far too pure, far too kind to exist in this world.
For who else would, when one of her harshest critics – and borderline enemies – showed up at her doorstep, along with four members of her daughters old school which had been destroyed, along with three of the people who'd destroyed it, immediately clap her hands, smile, and say, "Well, then. I'll go tell the kitchen staff to prepare for a larger dinner this evening!"
And then who would personally bring a tray of cheeses, crackers, and fruits out, set it in the middle of the table, and then calmly say, "It's good to see you again, Sienna."
"I… yeah." Sienna Khan, who's clearly feeling a bit more awkward towards this whole affair, looks away, unable to meet Kali's gaze. "The same to you."
Oof. Wow. Jaune's pretty sure he could cut the awkward tension with one of those little knives that Kali's given them all to spread cheese onto the crackers – they are delicious, to no one's surprise.
Jaune takes a few seconds to take in the various heads in the room. There are, of course, the members of his team, JNPR, and Emerald, Mercury, and Cinder, alongside the new addition of Sienna Khan. On the side of the Belladonna's, there's Kali, Blake, and apparently a man named Ghira, although he is, according to his wife, out at the moment, distracted with White Fang matters, and Jaune's pretty sure he knows the reason why, given that they participated in it.
Oh. And Sun's here.
That… Okay.
Jaune just kind of nods his head at that one. Questioning the logic of the world any further than this feels like it would only lead to disaster.
"I think I know why you're here." Blake says, shaking her head. "Ilia… she came by to rant about what happened. About how Adam… betrayed you."
"Betrayed me!?" Sienna is furious. "No. Adam Taurus stabbed me in the back! I would not come here and grovel at the feet of the oh so great Belladonna's if I had only been betrayed!"
"Let's keep our tempers in line." Jaune offers, laughing a bit awkwardly as all heads turn to him. "I mean, we're all allies here, no?"
"Yeah," Mercury snickers. "Just like we and Adam were allies."
Not for the first time, everyone glares Mercury's way, and the man shrugs and gives a "What?"
"Can you maybe just…" Nora gestures towards him. "Not speak? Like ever?"
"Ouch."
"He has a point." Emerald says, sighing.
"You…" Blake is staring at them, her eyes hard. "You came here as allies to Adam?"
"It's…" Jaune feels the need to take point here. "It's complicated. Suffice it to say, our alliance with Adam lasted all of ten minutes. We are very much enemies now."
"Yes, but why were you on Adam's side for even a moment!?" Blake's voice is wavering, so clearly breaking with the fury that underlies her words. "Do you not know what he's done!? What he was responsible for!?"
"We do." Jaune says, and he has to hide his face. "We… it's really, really complicated, Blake."
"Then make it not complicated." Blake says, as if it's that easy. "Tell me the truth. Tell me what's going on. Until you do, I can't guarantee you that the Belladonna's are going to do anything to help you."
"And is that your call to make?" Cinder cuts in, eyeing Blake with a skeptical look. "Or is it your mother and father's?"
Jaune looks towards Kali, who is shooting her daughter an appraising look. Finally, after a few seconds silence, the woman hums under her breath, and turns back towards their group.
"I stand by my daughter. I will not act without seeing the full picture."
That's that, apparently.
Jaune takes a breath, knowing without really having to ask that amongst all of them, he's perhaps the only one with the full picture. He nods to his teammates, who cede the floor, and Cinder, Emerald, and Mercury do the same.
He clears his throat.
"Then uh… where to begin, I suppose?"
/
It's a good thirty minutes later when Jaune finally finishes telling his tale, and the entirety of their group is now silent, waiting on what Blake and her mother will have to say in response to it.
And Sun is also there, looking rather confused.
Kali, again proving herself to be his new favorite person on Remnant, speaks up first.
"You defeated General Ironwood?" Kali Belladonna sounds surprised, daintily placing a cracker into her mouth. "That's rather impressive."
Yes. He'd managed to defeat the man via his incredible strategy, despite having only half his own aura, and the man being full. It paints him in a rather heroic light, he feels.
…The story becomes more in Ironwood's favor every time he tells it, but hey, everyone else who'd been involved had been passed out, or absent at the time, so no one can reasonably call him on it.
Well, except for Cinder, who seems to have the mystic ability to see when he's full of bullshit. She's rolling her eyes, and groaning under her breath, but otherwise staying silent as the others process the information they've been given.
That and there's a tiny, miniscule upturn of her lips that Jaune thinks betrays the fact that she's soft on him.
"More importantly… There's a… a witch who controls the Grimm!?" Kali seems flabbergasted. "How is… We've all heard fairytales about such things, of course. In Faunus culture, there are tales of two gods who once ruled over the world with magic, who then warred against one another… are you saying that those tales are talking about Headmaster Ozpin of Beacon and this Salem woman?"
Jaune hadn't heard such tales, but, well…
"It certainly seems likely."
Sun Wukong looks like he's regretting following Blake Belladonna to Menagerie, given that he has, inadvertently, signed up for something that spans the entirety of Remnant, and involves every human and faunus alive.
Honestly, Sienna Khan looks much the same.
It had been… well, they'd deemed it necessary to fill Blake in on the matter, and he'd had a feeling that telling only Blake wouldn't exactly have earned them points. Thusly, he'd asked Cinder if they could instead tell the whole truth, as they know it.
She'd not exactly looked pleased to do so, but she had been able to see the same signs as he had. That to earn the Belladonna's favor, they would need to be forthright.
He can't really blame either Sun or Sienna for their reactions, nor Kali, who he's gathered is a civilian. This is all a lot to take in, and not a one of them, even Sienna, had really signed up to have it thrust upon them. Jaune himself hadn't either. But it had been Cinder's fight for as long as he'd known her.
Which makes it his fight, by proxy.
Even if… even if he knows now that Cinder's only ever been used. Only ever been taken advantage of.
He wants to do something about that, but unfortunately, for now, they have more pressing issues to worry about.
Namely, making sure that Adam Taurus is ousted from his position as High Leader of the White Fang as soon as possible.
"That's… frankly, it's all a bit hard to believe." Blake says, shaking her head. "I want to believe you all when you say you've met her, and in some ways, it does explain how… how she," Blake glares in Cinder's direction, which Jaune wishes he could blame her for, "Was able to conjure up that wyvern creature back at Beacon. But even so… you're working for her?"
"We didn't have much of a choice." Jaune admits. "It was either go to her, or allow Cinder to be killed."
"Why not just run?" Blake asks, clearly not buying that to be the entirety of it. "Why not take to the wilderness and live in a frontier village?"
"Salem's agents are not the type to be avoided so easily." Cinder shakes her head, before scowling. "Besides, Salem has a… I suppose I would say a connection to the Maiden's power. She knew the rough area that the previous Maiden, Amber, was occupying, able to narrow it down to the continent of Sanus, and then further towards the Vale section of the continent after a while of concentrating on it. I imagine she would use a similar technique in order to locate me. It may take a few months for them to find us, but eventually… we would be found. And we would be considered Salem's enemies. That is not a title one survives with for long."
Blake frowns. To Jaune, at least, it is clear that Blake doesn't trust Cinder. He can't blame her for that, nor does he feel like he'll have much chance of convincing her to trust the woman as of yet. But… well, that's because Blake's emotions are running hot.
And if he's right, there's something she wants to ask. Something important she needs to say.
"Fine. I'll say I believe you for now." Blake relents. "What are your plans for after Adam is dethroned? Will you simply return to Salem?"
"I mean… I'd certainly rather go back to Vale," Jaune admits, shrugging. "Or to my old village. But I'm not just going to abandon Cinder. I go where she goes for the time being."
"And we follow our leader." Nora says, smiling over at him. "Team JNPR sticks together!"
Jaune's fairly certain Nora hadn't meant to bother Blake as much as she has with that comment, for in the next moment, she winces, evidently realizing her mistake.
Blake is looking away from all of them, biting down on her bottom lip and clearly agonized. Sun, meanwhile, looks ready to step in and offer support, and Jaune's glad that he's here for Blake, since he seems like a good guy.
"Can I ask…" Blake finally speaks up, saying what Jaune has known has been on her mind the entire conversation. "How is… how is Yang?"
This… to Jaune, this doesn't feel like a conversation they should be having here. It's not Sienna Khan's business, and even if he's been warming up to the both of them, it's not Emerald and Mercury's business either. Hell, it's barely their business. He'd have much rather set Blake up with a scroll to call Ruby, or Yang herself, or…
He realizes in the next moment that Blake still has her scroll. It's sitting on the coffee table to her left, completely usable.
If she'd meant to call her team, she'd have done so already.
That… some part of Jaune is a bit angry at that.
So perhaps his next few words are a bit less gentle than he'd normally make them. But even so… he has a feeling that Blake needs this.
"She's hurt. I'm not going to lie to you." He begins, watching as Blake sucks in a breath. "She's upset that you ran away. Not to mention she's dealing with the fallout of her injuries. That's a lot to put on her plate, and that's assuming that she's not going through something mentally as well, which I would say is likely, given… everything. I think all of us are. I'm not saying you're not, either, but…"
Blake flinches, but Jaune can't help but feel the truth will likely do more for her than a lie, in this case.
And now it's Jaune's turn to have a question.
"…Why did you run, Blake?"
"I couldn't… Yang wasn't at fault for what Adam did to her." Blake shakes her head. "That was my fault. My sins. And Yang paid for them."
Jaune finds himself frowning, his jaw tightening somewhat.
"Blake, Yang's your partner. She's your soulmate."
Blake's ears, which he's for some reason only just now noticed are uncovered, wilt.
It seems he doesn't have to say anything more than that for his point to come across. Kali, Blake's mother, wears a very similar expression to her daughter, a saddened, pitiful thing that has Jaune feeling terrible.
Even so, he knows this is necessary. He knows it.
"We need you here now, so I'm glad you're here, Blake," Jaune admits, before he stands, walks over, and kneels in front of her. "But once this is over… I think you should at least call them. All of them. Every member of Team RWBY. Tell them how much they mean to you. I… someone I know told me a story of him getting into an argument with his soulmate. The two of them parted on bad terms. And then… his soulmate died. He never got to see them again."
Blake, if it's possible, seems to look more guilty.
"Don't wait until it's too late, Blake."
Blake nods her head, but it's a feeble motion. Jaune feels bad for having caused it, despite everything.
"I know. I know I shouldn't have… I shouldn't have run. I know that." Blake shakes her head. "It's just… I didn't… I couldn't let Yang get hurt because of me. Not again."
He nods sympathetically, even as he keys back into the fact that there are a good ten people in the room who really don't need to be listening to this conversation, and thusly decides to draw it to a close.
"How about we talk more about this once the White Fang issue is dealt with?" Jaune offers, and Blake nods her head. "Right. So, Mrs. Belladonna," Jaune turns towards Kali. "Can we count on your support?"
Kali hums, evidently thinking the matter over, and just when Jaune is sure she's about to accept their offer…
The door opens, and in steps a man who's so large that Jaune imagines he might blot out the sun.
"Ah, Kali, Blake. I see you have guests." Ghira Belladonna, or at least, Jaune assumes that's who this is, smiles at them all, his eyes roaming across the different faces. "I don't believe any of us have me–"
And then he sees Sienna, and Jaune watches as the woman, who is, ostensibly, the leader of a terrorist organization, and a hardened, grizzled fighter, shrinks into herself like a child with her hand caught in the proverbial cookie jar.
"…Sienna." Ghira practically growls out. "What are you doing here, exactly?"
/
It takes them a good fifteen more minutes to explain everything that Ghira needs to know to him.
They leave out the whole Salem thing – Kali can fill her husband in on that if she wants – but get the point across. The White Fang are going through a major schism. Adam Taurus has taken over. If nothing is done…
Well, destruction is sure to follow.
At the very least, under Sienna, they can have a more moderate front.
It is not exactly a great option, either way, but it is something, at least.
"I want to make it clear that Adam acted on his lonesome when he attacked Beacon." Sienna lays out plainly, cutting to the heart of one of Jaune's concerns before he could raise it. "He did not inform us of his mission, only that he needed supplies in order to 'beef up' the Vale branch. We had no idea what his plans were."
"That was by design." Cinder admits, not looking Ghira or Kali's ways. "Adam wanted to act far more forcefully than his masters back home were allowing him to. I capitalized on such Zeal when I chose him to lead the White Fang into Beacon."
Ghira Belladonna stiffens, as do his wife and daughter, and Jaune finds himself biting down on the inside of his cheek, trying not to let his leg bob up and down with his nerves.
This is all just… gods, it's all so complicated, isn't it?
"So, you're saying that working under the same woman who ordered such an attack," Ghira speaks up, and his voice is commanding, strong, and powerful. Jaune can imagine how he'd once been the leader of the White Fang. His voice arguably carries more weight than Sienna's does. "And you mean to claim that none of those same atrocities would repeat themselves? That none of the same things would occur?"
Sienna… she can't answer that. None of them can. Getting the White Fang under Salem's control…
It is not something that will lead to a happy ending, that much is for sure.
"I have heard enough, then." Ghira speaks, and he stands, even as Jaune feels a flutter in his stomach, of worry and panic. "We will put you up for the night, but you will all leave here on the morrow."
"What–" Sienna shakes her head. "Ghira, this is the only way to oust Adam, the only way to–"
"I understand that Adam must be ousted," Ghira speaks, not turning around as he moves towards the doors to the room, and places both hands on the twin handlebars. "But that does not mean I have to ally with you to do it."
Sienna looks both furious and disappointed. Jaune is not entirely sure what to make of that.
"This conversation is over." Ghira says as he pulls the door open.
"There will be no deal between us."
End Chapter 23
Well, that'll happen when you're ostensibly serving under the Queen of the Grimm.
Anyways, still not going weekly. Sorry for that. I'm actually nearing the end of writing paved, so this may slot in there once that's finished.
See you all in two weeks!
