Alright!

Not a ton to say. College is not nearly as bad as I'd been preparing for, so expect chapters to come out as normal unless that suddenly changes. If it does, I'll let everyone know.


Start Chapter 40


"Then, to summarize…"

"Raven and I beat the shit out of each other while screaming at the top of our lungs until both our auras gave out. I think we were going to keep fighting even after that, but…" Qrow sighs. "Things happened. Conversations… old conversations… were dredged to the surface. Things that won't be repeated here."

Jaune nods, not wanting to push.

"Suffice it to say that Raven and I came to an agreement." Qrow states, looking over at his sister, who isn't willing to meet any of their eyes. "She would warp us into Evernight. We would get Summer out of there. And then… we would go and find Ruby and Yang. Luckily enough, the two of them were together, and Raven was able to portal the both of us, and a giant, eight-foot-tall Grimm creature, right to her."

They all look over at the Big Bad Wolf, which is currently sitting on its haunches in a rather animalistic position. Even knowing what it is; what lurks inside of it, Jaune can't help but see it as no different from any other Grimm, his instincts, trained into his ancestors through thousands of years, telling him to get as far away from it as possible.

And yet, instead, he sits as calmly as he can on the stray log they've pulled up around the campfire for the new arrivals.

Their arrival, speaking of, had gone relatively well – minus the part where Nora had nearly been mauled by Summer. Greetings had been exchanged, questions had been asked – namely where Weiss is, and saying that she had been heading their way herself, albeit in a far slower manner, had earned them a few sighs – and ultimately, they'd decided to discuss exactly how they'd all found themselves in this situation.

"I think we were hoping that seeing Ruby again would somehow… I don't know… snap Summer to her senses?" Qrow says, but it's all he can do to run a few fingers along the bridge of his nose, sighing all the while. "But it's clear already that that's not going to happen. Whatever it is that's been done to her can't be reversed so easily; if it can be reversed at all."

Ruby and Yang both wilt at hearing that, and Qrow flinches at having been responsible for such.

"Sorry, girls."

"No… it's not your fault." Ruby says, shaking her head, attempting to be strong for all of their sakes, even as Yang leans over and wraps an arm around her sister's shoulders. "You're just being honest. That's not something to apologize for."

"Yeah." Yang speaks, sounding slightly better than Ruby, but only just. "I mean, a few days ago we were positive mom was dead. Now here we are and suddenly she's alive. That's hope enough, no matter how grim our situation. Uh… pun definitely not intended."

Qrow smiles a bit at that, even if it doesn't quite reach his eyes. "Well, that's good, at least. Still, we've been having trouble trying to come up with a plan to actually… well… do something about Summer."

"We met a Silver-Eyed warrior, actually," Ruby starts, and Jaune jumps in his seat, hope briefly gushing up inside his chest. "But… she had been blinded years and years ago. She taught me some techniques, but none of them are very exact. And we parted ways back in Atlas."

"If only we'd known this was going to happen," Yang says, running her hands down her face. "Damnit, I just feel so… so fucking helpless!"

Jaune feels his spirits falling, especially as Blake leans towards Yang and whispers something in her ear as she holds her. Yang doesn't hesitate to fall into her soulmates embrace, but the shaky breaths coming from out of her sound more like sobs than anything.

"As much as I wish we had anything to offer on our end," Cinder speaks up, clearing her throat. "We do not. Aside from the news that the Blacksmith woman can, apparently, undo Salem's curse if we can figure out how it works, we learned nothing of note."

"You used my semblance." Raven speaks for the first time in nearly half an hour. "How does that work, exactly?"

"I latched onto a bit of remaining magic from your semblance being utilized in the bowels of Evernight," Cinder speaks, and Raven's eyes narrow. "I felt it there, and had everyone follow me down towards it on a whim. It was a gamble, and a rather large one, but it worked out in the end."

"Seems so." Raven comments absently, going back towards the wall she'd been leaning against. Even so, despite her attempts to appear entirely disinterested, Jaune can see the way she peers at Yang when she believes no one else is looking. He can see the tiniest bit of concern playing about her features.

"So… where does this all leave us?" Ruby asks, leaning forward on the log she's sat upon. "I mean, it's all well and good that we have my mom here, and that we have a… goddess?"

Jaune shrugs. "Kinda'."

"–goddess," Ruby continues, "on our side, but regardless of all of that, we don't have a single thing to show for it. I can't use the Silver-Eyes in a precise enough way to free my mother without… without doing to her what I did to Cinder. You all don't know how to go about trying to contact the Brother Gods without gathering all four Relics, which seems like a rather difficult thing to go about doing, given that Salem herself hasn't managed it."

Jaune can't help nodding at that, despite the Relic of Knowledge hanging from his belt. It doesn't help that Ruby has taken a rather depressive tone.

He's never seen her like this. Though he supposes that likely has a lot to do with her mother being here, and… well, being as she is.

That has to be a lot to handle.

"I mean… where do we even begin?" She asks them all, and none of them have an answer. "What could we possibly do to try and solve any of this? The Silver-eyed warriors are basically extinct, the Brother Gods are off frolicking in another dimension, or world, or something, and meanwhile, Salem isn't just going to let us sit around and think, either!"

Ruby's shouting, now, and Jaune wants to tell her it'll all be okay, that everything will work out, but that feels too idealistic.

Besides, he's more of a realist than Ruby is. He knows all of what she's saying is true, perhaps more so than she does.

But then… the tiniest little inkling comes to him. It's an idea; albeit not a fully formed one. It's something, however, which is, at the moment, far more than they've managed to scrounge up.

"Actually… we do have a lead."

Everyone in the group looks at him; even his own teammates look at him with a healthy dose of skepticism. But even so, this is all he has, and he's willing to bet it's the best they're going to get.

"What?" Ruby asks.

"It's small, and admittedly it's a longshot, but…" Jaune begins, "Salem told me something when she and I went to visit Summer for the first time. She told me that the very first case of the Silver Eyes, that she knew of, originated in Vacuo. A man name Enkidu possessed them. Vacuo is a desert, surely, but it's big, and spacious, and filled with ruins and catacombs and all sorts of ancient sites. Is it so crazy to think we might find something there?"

He watches and waits for any of the others to respond to his words. For a moment, they're all simply processing them. Then, finally, after thirty or so more seconds, Qrow lets loose a haggard sigh.

"…Well, that is certainly the dictionary definition of a longshot, kid." Qrow comments, looking over at him skeptically. "You want to go roaming the entirety of the badlands of Vacuo in the hopes of finding an ounce of gold dust amongst the sands?"

"…There is some precedent that my and Jaune's magical senses might react to faint traces of magic." Cinder cuts in, looking down at her hand. "After all, I sensed the remnants of Raven's semblance. It was what let me conjure one of her portals into existence in the first place, and what led us to that Blacksmith woman."

"Great, so you plan to wander the badlands of Vacuo and hope you get… what, a magical ping?" Raven scoffs. "Yeah, good plan."

"With your portals, however," Jaune reckons, cutting in. "We could more safely traverse them. We split into two groups, one with myself and Qrow, and the other with Cinder and Raven, or vice versa. That way, if either finds something, the other can warp, or be warped, without much effort.

"Sure, great plan, kid. One problem, though," Raven sneers. "Who said anything about me coming and helping?"

Luckily for Jaune, Cinder handles that particular line of questioning for him.

"I don't think you're Salem's favorite person at the moment." Cinder says casually, shrugging, and Raven flinches somewhat. "You'd be safer with the rest of us than off by your lonesome. Besides, are you truly not invested in this at this point?"

Raven looks towards Yang, and Ruby, and Summer most of all. Her expression is caught, filled with anxiety, but eventually, she sighs out horrendously, and she turns away in a huff.

"Fine. Not like I've any choice in the matter."

"That's the spirit!" Nora cheers.

Raven turns back just to glare at her.

"Okay, okay," Qrow shakes his head. "That's all well and good. I like that we have a plan of action, at least. But as much as that all sounds great, I don't think any of us want to go walking into Vacuo. You've got about a hundred miles of desert before you see a single lick of permanent civilization. There are some nomadic tribes that roam the deserts, but they don't exactly stick to a schedule. If we're not careful, the elements might claim us long before Salem does."

"Hey, who said anything about walking?" Nora chimes in again, laughing. "I mean, at this point, Team JNPR are pretty much expert bullhead robbers!"

Jaune really tries to ignore the way Ruby glares at him for that.

"Jaune, what does she mean by that?"

He swallows a tad bit nervously.

"That's not important right now Ruby."

"Jaune. How many bullheads have you stolen?"

"Really, completely unrelated to our current happenings."

"Give or take, 3."

"Cinder!"

His soulmate just shrugs. "She wasn't going to drop it."

"But still–"

"You stole 3 bullheads!?" Ruby sounds aghast.

"She said give or take! That means we could've only stolen 2!"

Blake gives a languid smile as Yang giggles within her embrace, showing her face for the first time in a while. "Or you could've stolen 4."

Ruby rounds on him with even more intensity. "You stole 4 bullheads!?"

"We stole 3 bullheads Ruby!"

"So, you admit to it!"

"W-Well, there were extenuating–"

"Alright, enough with this shit," Raven snarls, "Who cares how many bullheads they've stolen? It's going to be a rather helpful skill for us to have, so let's not complain."

Yang sneers. "Yeah, figures you'd defend stealing from others, huh, mom?"

Raven doesn't seem to have any idea how to respond to that. Her mouth opens, then closes, and then, once again, she turns away from them all.

Jaune… doesn't really want to get between those two. It seems there's quite a bit of bad blood there, despite Raven having a hand in bringing back Summer. He can't exactly blame Yang for that, of course, given all that he knows of Raven. Especially if Qrow had told Yang and Ruby about the fact that Raven had known Summer had been being kept in Evernight.

That… that had infuriated him, and he'd only known Summer Rose by proxy.

For Ruby and Yang, she had been their mother.

So Jaune can understand if Yang hates Raven for the rest of her days.

"Let's… not focus on that right now." Qrow cuts in, defusing that particular argument-waiting-to-happen before it could truly start. "Let's worry more about what we're looking for. Sure, maybe there are some ruins from… wait, when was this supposed to have happened, exactly?"

Now that Jaune thinks about it, the answer is a tad bit… disconcerting.

"Er… at least ten thousand years ago?"

Everyone, even Cinder, stares at him a bit flatly at that.

Qrow just rubs his temples.

"Right… I'll be right back. I'm going to get a stiff drink."

/

Admittedly, Jaune can't quite blame anyone for reacting the way they have. He's fairly certain that in their shoes, he'd have reacted rather similarly.

But, well… he also has yet to hear any of them present a better idea, so…

"I can't believe we're actually considering this," Raven groans. "Like, really, we're going to do this? Fly over Vacuo and hope we find something?"

"Again, if you have a better idea, say it." Cinder repeats.

"I think lying down in the forest here and letting ourselves slowly be subsumed by nature is looking rather appetizing at the moment."

Jaune sighs. "I get it sounds crazy–"

"I'm glad, kid."

"–But we don't exactly have a better lead at the moment. Speaking of which, Qrow, you said you tried got in contact with Ozpin, right?"

"Yeah, he answered me." Qrow says, sighing. "If you're wondering if he had any leads for us, then yeah, he did, although nothing terribly concrete. He corroborated Salem's story about Enkidu and the whole Gilgamesh thing, said that all really happened. He said it was around twenty-one thousand years ago, by the way, that this all took place."

Jaune pales. "Twenty-one thousand?"

"Yeah. He also said that Uruk-El was located in the Northwestern portion of Vacuo. According to him, however, he says he remembers that Enkidu, the actual Silver-Eyed warrior guy, wasn't actually from Uruk-El. He came from somewhere else. Some secret, faraway Kingdom."

Jaune ran a hand down his face. "Great… so he could literally have been from anywhere, then?"

"Well, we have reason to believe he still hails from Vacuo," Qrow speaks, and Jaunt at least lets out a breath at that. "After all, he was a slave. Generally, in those days, slaves were acquired when another Kingdom was absorbed by one's own. According to Ozpin, Uruk-El never existed beyond the boundaries of Vacuo."

"Frankly I'm surprised Ozpin remembers any of this shit." Raven mutters. "Does he not have better things to be worrying about?"

"I think Ozpin's mind is a bit more… complicated than ours." Qrow says, shaking his head. "Let's not concern ourselves too terribly much with that. Basically, we can search the northwestern sections of Vacuo if we want to try and find the ruins of Uruk-El, but there's a decent chance that's not actually going to lead us to anything related to Enkidu, or the Silver-Eyed warriors. So, despite what common sense might dictate, I do genuinely believe our best plan is to go to around the general location Ozpin gave me, and then, from there, fan out and hope you guys get a 'magical ping'."

"And, er…" Ruby raises her hand. "I just… have a question. Assuming all of this happens, and we make our way towards Vacuo… what are we supposed to do about mom?"

Now that is a question, indeed. Jaune had almost managed to forget somehow, about the giant monster squatting in the middle of their encampment. Raven never quite seems to take her eyes off of it, which is the only thing keeping Jaune himself from constantly keeping an eye on it.

Summer Rose – or the Big Bad Wolf – seems almost entirely inert at the moment. It's as if she's not quite there. And yet, at the same time, Jaune has seen that same lack of energy hanging about her within Evernight's bowels.

She'd still sprung at him without much warning, and might have managed to kill him had Salem not been present.

So, he doesn't exactly believe she's simply going to behave herself. He can't afford to with his teammates lives at risk.

"That's something I've been thinking on." Qrow speaks up, clearing his throat. "Suffice it to say that maneuvering around with Summer is going to make entering into civilization… difficult. I say that we should leave a few people with Summer whenever the rest of us want to visit a town, and I believe that when we're taking a bullhead anywhere, the same should be done. We leave Summer on the ground, preferably with a group that contains one or more of Ruby, Yang, Raven or myself. Not all at once, because that cuts down on our overall combat power far too harshly."

"You don't need to worry too terribly much about that," Cinder speaks up. "You have me."

Qrow actually chuckles at that. "Y'know, I'd call you conceited if I didn't have every faith that you could back that up. Even still, at least one of Raven or I will attend the main group, the other stays with Summer. That way…"

Qrow stops speaking, and glances over at the Big Bad Wolf. His eyes carry within them a certain sadness that Jaune is loath to try and read into.

"…That way if it comes down to it, we can kill her if need be."

Ruby and Yang both react rather harshly to that, standing and immediately beginning to spout arguments towards their uncle. Raven says nothing, but she does wear a nasty scowl upon her lips, even as she keeps her eyes trained upon Summer, who is, somehow, entirely still through all of this.

"Enough, you two," Qrow shakes his head, cutting into Ruby and Yang's tirades with an almost merciless atmosphere. "I'm not proposing that we go killing her willy-nilly. But I am saying that… that if the time came where I had to choose to protect one or both of you, and Summer was the one coming at us… I wouldn't hesitate."

Raven is silent, even as Ruby and Yang look down at the forest floor dejectedly. They both cease speaking for quite a while. Actually, that sort of transfers to all of them. The entire group goes quiet for at least ten or so seconds, before, in some herculean effort to bring the conversation back, Qrow clears his throat and says, "Right, well… anyone have anything else to add?"

It's clear by the overwhelming silence that the answer to that question is no. Jaune himself doesn't feel like there's much to say, beyond perhaps talking with Ruby later and making sure she's okay. It's hard to see such a bastion of positivity and love brought so low. He can see the strain that having her mother back in such a state is putting on her in the bags under her eyes. Her eyes, too, look strained, but in a different way to how normal, tired eyes might.

By his math, Summer can't have been with Ruby for much longer than a week, which means that had all happened recently. He wonders, idly, if she's been able to sleep much, or if every night, she's been staying up and practicing with her Silver-Eyes, trying to get them to a state where she could safely utilize them on her mother; to free her of her affliction.

If her expression tells him anything, it's that such a miracle is still a long way off.

"Well, then, seeing as we have no objections, I think for now we should all get some rest. We'll get up at the crack of dawn tomorrow and make for the nearest village. Get supplies, extra sleeping bags for you all and stuff."

They exchange a round of acknowledgements at that, before Qrow mutters something under his breath, reaches for his flask, and downs a few swigs.

"Right, well… I suppose that's that. After we've finished gathering supplies… we march…"

Jaune feels a nervousness filling his gut, even as he and his group begin standing from their places around the fire, and try and find some place to settle down.

"…and we make for Vacuo."


End Chapter 40


That's that, then!

Our next Arc; we're off to Vacuo! Will our heroes find anything, or will they be lost amongst the dunes, never to return?

Well, given the latter would make for a rather shitty ending to our story, I'm fairly certain they'll probably find something.

See you all next week!