Yo!

Another bi-weekly update of this story. Nothing much to say, other than that Volume 9 is pretty good so far. Nothing immaculate, but I'm enjoying it!

Start Chapter 25

Cinder doesn't know how to react when she wakes up and immediately sees her little light's face in front of her.

Of course, she knows that it will be him who she sees. She had, after all, gone to sleep with him right beside her, huddled together, grasping his form for warmth, for succor, for what feels like everything. And yet... a part of her can't help but think that she'd wake up, and find the entire night had all been one beautiful dream.

But no. Reality, it seems, has sought to give her something, for perhaps the first time in her life.

...

She'd kissed him.

Even now, she's not entirely sure why it is she'd done it. It had just... it had felt like the entire moment that they'd existed within then had built to it so naturally, so wondrously, that the only thing she could think to do had been to act on the feeling within her breast.

So she had. She'd leaned forward, and she'd kissed him.

...It had been nice.

Her face grows red just thinking about it, even as Jaune – in his ridiculous bunny onesie that Cinder will never admit she likes to see him in – gives a sleepy groan, before settling back in amongst the pillows, still asleep.

...Normally, Cinder would have been awake by now. She has always been someone to sleep for little time. An ingrained habit since her days in the Glass Unicorn. As a child, she'd gone to bed at two – if she had been lucky, maybe twelve-thirty or one, but sometimes as late as three or four, depending on the time of year – and gotten up at six.

Such a schedule had been like a toxin to her system. She had always been exhausted, she had always been irritable, and prone to acting out. Perhaps that had been why the Madame had kept her on so tight a leash, made sure she slept so little. Because she'd enjoyed punishing her for her snappiness from having received so little sleep.

She'd never entirely kicked the habit, either. She'd gotten better about sleeping more since then – of course she had, she'd have been dead by now sleeping four or less hours a night – but she, on average, gets maybe six and a half hours of sleep.

That is a small number, even she knows that.

But... there is something about the warmth within her in this very moment. The way that Jaune's chest rises and falls, the way that his face is set so peacefully, that just...

It causes her to yawn, her jaw stretching out and causing her to reach up with her hand and wipe at her eye.

And again, for what feels like the first time in her life, she realizes she is very much comfortable with how tired she still is. The way that her eye feels heavy, the way her legs and those of her lights are intertwined in some odd pretzel-like pattern at the bottom of the bed, bundled beneath an admittedly lovely comforter...

...Cinder decides that maybe, just this once, she's allowed to have something.

So she closes her eye, and she just...

Leans into the pillow, and gives a tiny little smile.

It takes her perhaps two minutes to fall back asleep.

It is a peaceful one.

/

Jaune wakes up around nine in the morning. Early-ish for how late he'd gone to bed, but really, the circumstances of the situation they all find themselves in is enough to give him the energy to rise.

Or, well, it would be, but Cinder is wrapped around him, breathing softly into his chest, apparently having migrated forward during the night to rest against him.

And frankly, he's not going to interrupt her sleep. He gets the feeling that she doesn't get nearly enough of it.

So he lies back down for another hour, and enjoys the sounds of Menagerie filtering in through the cracked window at the back of the room. The way that the gulls call out in what must be an annoying way for the locals, but in an amusing and unique way for Jaune. The way that the smell of food being prepared has already begun to waft its way in from restaurants up and down the coast. But perhaps most noticeably...

It is the smell of the ocean air. Salty, and briny, but a one-of-a-kind sensation. Combining that with the sound of the waves lapping at the sandy shore. Jaune finds himself almost lulled to slumber once again, despite the way that he knows that the both of them need to get up, so that they can, hopefully, try and come up with some way to convince Ghira Belladonna to work with them.

Or, well, at the very least, coordinate a plan B for when that inevitably fails.

So, with a great deal of regret in his heart, he gently wakes Cinder from her sleep. She awakens with a quiet groan, before taking in his face.

Jaune doesn't think she even realizes the way her lips curl into an almost absent smile when she sees him, but he fears that if he tells her that, or gives any indication at all of that happening, it will disappear.

So it will be a secret for him alone to know.

"Hey." He says quietly. "How'd you sleep?"

Cinder, as he'd predicted, grows embarrassed. "...Better than I have in my entire life."

That makes him happy. Actually, scratch that, that makes him ecstatic.

"In that case, we could... make this a normal thing?" He offers, hoping beyond all hope that Cinder will accept.

"..." Cinder has often shown herself to be surprisingly bashful at times like this, and the fact that her face goes red, and she turns away from him entirely, facing the opposite wall, only reinforces that. "...I... would like that."

The care in Cinder's voice makes it all worth it.

Eventually, though, the sunlight streaming through the window becomes too intense for them to continue to laze through. He and Cinder get up and begin getting ready for the day.

Or, well, Jaune would do that, had he been in his room.

He tells Cinder as much, communicating to her that he'll see her again once he'd gotten dressed and ready for the day. Cinder agrees with him, also needing space to change without him being present.

That's fair. They're very close, surely, and have become closer still, but Jaune doesn't think either of them are at the level of seeing each other naked without... well, being blushing, idiotic messes for days after.

But, of course, something has to find a way to break him out of the, frankly, giddy mood he finds himself in as he steps out into the corridor beyond Cinder's bedroom, content to move back towards his room.

And that something is Nora Valkyrie.

And she looks at him, standing just in front of Cinder Fall's door, having exited out from it no more than a second ago, with a Cheshire grin that is already growing to fathomless proportions upon her face.

Well, Jaune remarks to himself inside his head. Things were nice while they lasted.

/

Ghira Belladonna had decided to let them stay a bit longer. Why, Jaune had initially not known, but apparently, he, his wife, and Sienna are going to discuss certain things away from prying eyes.

That translates almost directly to 'away from anyone who's working with Salem', but frankly, Jaune can't exactly find fault in his logic.

He'd honestly expected Blake and Sun to be among that number, but apparently not. He spots Sun lounging on one of the balconies, his gloriously chiseled abs on display.

...Jaune isn't jealous. Not even remotely.

Still, the two of them talk about what they'd done immediately following the Fall of Beacon. He discusses with Sun the way that he'd found out Cinder had been his soulmate, and Sun, for his part, discusses following Blake to Menagerie, realizing that the last thing she'd needed had been to be alone.

The conversation is actually surprisingly fruitful, and it gets Jaune away from Nora's teasing for around half an hour, which Jaune will take. He's just about to resign himself to submitting to more of it when he spies Blake, all on her lonesome.

She... doesn't look good.

Jaune has a feeling he knows why. So he makes his way over towards her.

She grimaces upon seeing him, although she'd evidently tried to hold back on said reaction. The way her face is sunken in, the way her eyes are weighed down by bags, Jaune can tell she hadn't slept much.

"Hey, Blake."

"Hey, Jaune." She mutters beneath her breath, her voice sounding weak. "...So, I hear you slept with Cinder?"

He laughs awkwardly, resolving to noogie Nora when he gets the chance.

"In a completely clothed, purely for sentimental reasons way, yes."

Blake smirks, this tiny grin that lets him know she'd just been teasing him. But it's a put upon effort. He can tell she's hurting.

She's got her scroll laid out on the coffee table in front of her, sitting down on one of the many ornate pieces of furniture in the Belladonna mansion. And...

The scroll is on her caller ID list. Centered within that list is a particular name.

'Yang'

Jaune frowns.

"You should call her."

Blake flinches at that way that he doesn't mince words, not remotely, but in truth, Jaune knows what Blake needs to do. She needs to stop running. Yang...

Yang needs her, more than she knows.

He hadn't heard much from Ruby, but from what he'd gathered, Yang had been down in the dumps, barely able to scrounge up the energy to eat some days, and certainly not enough to go about utilizing the brand-new arm that's being sent to her, custom ordered by General Ironwood himself.

...Jaune coughs, trying to forget about the time he'd slammed his shield into the man's skull.

It had been necessary, even if he regrets the brutality of the action now.

"I know... I know I should call her." Blake squirms in her seat. "But... I can't... How do I face her after all this time? How do I... how do I just..."

"You need to stop making excuses."

Blake goes wide-eyed, looking at him with a betrayed expression, but Jaune knows that the time to pull his punches has long-since passed.

"Yang is hurt, Blake. Mentally, emotionally, and yes, physically, too. There is no one on Remnant who understands her better than you do. You're her soulmate, Blake. That means... that means you need to be there for each other."

Blake takes a shaky, rattling breath, her hands balling into fists atop her thighs. Jaune's not entirely sure what she'll say to him. Perhaps she'll get angry and snap, or perhaps, as he hopes...

"...Okay." She finally mutters, and a weight lifts from off of Jaune's heart. "I'll... I'll call her."

"When?"

Blake's ears wilt atop her head.

"You should call her now Blake."

"I..."

Blake, in a rather shocking move, reaches up and slaps herself on both cheeks. Jaune winces, cause that really looks like that had to have hurt, before she looks up at him with reddened skin, but determination in her eyes.

"You're right. I need… I need to do this."

He smiles.

The moment that Blake picks up the scroll, and presses her finger on the call button next to Yang's name, Jaune makes to stand, to give them the space they need. He's admittedly quite surprised by the way that Blake reaches out, and grasps his wrist. He turns to see Blake looking up at him a bit desperately.

"Please, I... I could use..."

Jaune understands what she's trying to say. He nods his head, sitting down on the couch beside her.

The scroll rings for an awfully long time. At least seven or eight rings. Jaune is initially fearful that for some reason Yang's scroll is off, or she's out of the room, or any other of the multitude of reasons that it might be for the girl to not answer. He's worried that this will give Blake an excuse to not have to do this, to get out of it, but then–

"Hello?" A voice rings out across the line. Blake has put the scroll on speaker phone, and Jaune is both antsy for her and glad that he can be there for her sake.

But still, Yang sounds... she sounds horrible. Her voice lacks any of the normal enthusiasm it had once had when he'd known her at Beacon. She'd been bubbly and bright, a firm contrast to her soulmates moodier and introverted ways. Now... now she sounds down. Completely down.

Jaune can tell that it hurts Blake more than he could know to hear that, for tears immediately stream down her face, and she has to take a moment to visibly gather herself before she can say...

"Y-Yang? It's me."

There is a sound like a grand thump from the other end of the line, like Yang had fallen, or dropped her scroll, or any other manner of thing one might do while completely and totally stunned. Jaune cannot blame her. He doesn't think he would've expected a call after months of radio silence, either.

"B-Blake!?" Yang's voice is so horribly loud, like she's far too excited to modulate anything. "
"Blake is that you!?"

"Y-Yeah..." Blake seems like she's going to start sobbing at any moment, and she looks more guilty than Jaune has ever seen someone before. "It's me... I..."

"Blake, are you okay? You sound– is something wrong!?"

Blake shakes her head, before realizing that Yang can't actually see her, on account of it being an audio only call.

"N-No, no... I'm... I'm on Menagerie right now. Nothing's wrong."

"Menagerie? Why there"

"...It's where my family is from. I... I'm with them now."

"Oh... I... okay."

There is a potent silence, one that Jaune feels needs to be filled with hard questions. Because that's all that's left for both of them.

They both know that the other is okay, or at least still there. Now... now the only thing that can follow is...

"...Blake, why did you... why did you leave me?"

It is such a hard thing to hear, for both Yang and Blake's sake. For Yang, because she'd been abandoned, and the way that Ruby had once told them of Yang's mother, Qrow's sister, she had been abandoned before. It must have hurt doubly so for her soulmate to do such a thing, and in her hour of need.

But it hurts for Blake too because he can see the horrible, terrible regret upon her face. The need to apologize, to prostrate herself at Yang's feet and beg forgiveness. The way that it seems at any moment she might break down entirely, and fail to speak another word.

Blake is silent long enough that Yang comes in with another question.

"Blake, was all of this... is this because of what happened with Adam?"

Blake is crying again, albeit silently, tears streaming down her face.

"...It was my fault." Blake says finally. "Adam, he... he hurt you just to hurt me! If I hadn't–"

"Don't you dare blame yourself for him!" Yang sounds legitimately angry. "It's not... that wasn't your fault. Not at all. It's that bastards fault, and no one else's."

Blake doesn't say a word. Jaune can't help thinking she doesn't quite believe Yang, despite her assurances. That no matter what Yang claims, she cannot help but blame herself.

"We can't... no matter what we do, we can't control the actions of other people. Not even people we thought once cared about us."

Blake seems to interpret those words as having been aimed at her, for she leans her head back, trying to keep more fluid from leaking out of her eyes.

There is shuffling on the other end of the line, like clothing being taken off, or put on, and before Jaune can think too hard about that, Yang is speaking again.

"You said you're on Menagerie right now, yeah?"

"Y-Yes... I'm staying with my family at the moment."

"Are you guys in... what was it called..." Yang stops for a moment, the sound of her fingers impacting against the scroll the only noise coming from her side of the call. "Kuo Kuana?"

"...Yes. That's where my family lives."

"Okay. I'll be there as soon as I can."

Blake's eyes went as wide as saucers. "W-Wait, you can't! The White Fang is still here, and Adam–"

"Then that's exactly why I need to be there!" Yang interrupts, a fire in her tone that will allow no argument. "Do you think that hearing that you're in a place where the White Fang is active, where that bastard Adam Taurus is active, is going to make me stay away!? Do you think I'd let you face that guy alone? After what he did?"

That... that forces Blake into silence.

"No. We... you're my soulmate, Blake. And more than that, you're someone I love. Someone precious to me. Hah... I uh... well, in a way, this is just the kick in the ass I've needed. I've just been moping around in bed, complaining about losing my arm, or..."

Yang goes silent long enough for Blake to control her emotions, biting back on the sobs threatening to spill out.

"I doubt I'll be coming alone. Ruby's been chomping at the bit for a long while trying to assemble a team to go to Haven, but everyone in Beacon's either moved on or hunkering down. I'm sure she'll be coming with."

Jaune smiles. That sounds like a great time, honestly. It'll be good to see Yang and Ruby again.

They're only missing Weiss, and they'd have the full set.

Thinking of Weiss does him no favors. It brings down his mood considerably, and he forces himself to not think on her too terribly much.

He is brought back into the conversation by Blake taking a shuddering breath. It sounds labored, and pained, but...

"And..." Blake swallows. "And you're sure this is what you want? I just... I can't–"

"Blake, baby..." Yang's words are soft, gentle. "I'm coming, okay? And... we'll be together again."

Despite her complaints, Blake gives a watery smile at that.

"I'll be there as soon as I can, and I'll see if I can't ask my dad to call in a few favors to get there ASAP. And hey, before you know it, we'll have the whole friend group back together. Just gotta' go bail Weiss out of her father's clutches. Well, and JNPR too, I suppose."

Blake smiles, before she glances at Jaune out of the corner of her eye, and lets out a sad little laugh.

"...Actually... Jaune and the rest of JNPR are here, too."

Yang is silent a moment.

"Wait, what?"

"It's uh..." Jaune rubs at the back of his neck, chiming in for the first time, and feeling a bit awkward ostensibly revealing that he's been here for the whole conversation.

"It's kind of a long story?"

/

Jaune is honestly quite glad to hear that Yang – and presumably Ruby – will be coming to Menagerie sometime in the near future. He imagines it will take them a good week or two, largely because the journey by ship from Sanus to Menagerie is, if he remembers correctly, roughly three- or four-days travel.

It is later in the day now, a good three or four hours since Jaune had awoken. He'd honestly expected them to have been kicked out by now, but it seems as if whatever talks Sienna and the Belladonna's are having are going long.

That's fine in Jaune's book. He's glad to have a place of safety that they can all call home, at least for a while.

And yet... it is as he thinks those very thoughts, as he proclaims this place safe in his mind, that a flash of something courses through his mind.

He nearly collapses to his knees, such is the pain that courses throughout his skull in that moment as whatever it is assaults his mind with visions, with sounds, of places that are not here.

He tries to make sense of them, but they are a garbled mess, completely incomprehensible.

And then... suddenly, it is as if the magics that Salem has taught him emerge. It is as if they cover not just his eyes, as he's been taught to use them, but his ears, his tongue, his nostrils, his hands. It is as if his very senses are able to utilize this magic.

And he is somehow somewhere else, for a brief moment.

He sees a room marked in crimson, guards stationed in multiple different positions, spears and swords and numerous other weapons wielded in hand. He sees a set of soldiers, evidently higher ranked, kneeling before a throne.

"So... they were spotted meeting with the Belladonna's?"

"That is what our scouts reported, sir."

"Grr..." The man whose voice this is... Jaune recognizes it. It is that nasally tone that commands respect, yet does not deserve it. The name is on the tip of his tongue, he can almost taste it, almost–

"What shall we do, Lord Adam?"

Yes. It's... it's Adam.

"We react. The Belladonna's are, after all, harboring those who have attacked the White Fang, those who have personally assaulted numerous members of our cause. I do not believe I am alone in possessing the burns to prove it. The people will see our cause as just."

"Then..."

"We take the Belladonna mansion at nightfall. With it, we shall eliminate two birds with one stone" Adam says, and then he sneers, a vicious mockery of a laugh. "And I will have Blake again... so actually... I suppose that makes three..."

...Oh that is very bad.

It feels as if the vision should end there. Really, Jaune had expected it to. After all, the pertinent information that... that whatever this is had been trying to grant him has been communicated.

So it would have made sense for the vision to fade.

And yet... it doesn't.

Instead, he sees...

He does not know what he sees.

Color first. A wondrous, brilliant thing. Gold and a deep, rich, but ultimately dark purple are warring against one another. Life and death, order and chaos, creation, and destruction. From out of them a man and woman stand. They look at one another and smile.

But then... then the moon cracks in the sky. Then darkness floods the land. Then it is not the light and the dark who are warring, but these figures. They are facsimiles, and yet... they are puppets held aloft by strings. Nothing more than that. They are not–

Jaune feels pain more intense than when Cinder's left side had been burned away. He feels pain more intense than anything he has ever known. A woman tries to scream. Black envelops her. It encases her. Bit by bit, despite her wishes, it changes her.

She thinks of anything she can to hold on. Anything she can possibly conjure to resist, but she is fading, as is her strength. She has nothing left.

There is but a single name. A single word...

"Ruby..."

And Jaune gasps as he's returned to the here and now. As he falls to his knees, panting for breath, sweat dripping down his face.

It... it feels like the... the whatever that had been had lasted forever. And yet...

When he looks around, spies the clock on the wall...

It has not even been a minute.

That...

The magic inside of him... this is not the first time its acted up. And yet... this is the first time its shown him something... useful, Jaune would say. The first time it had communicated to him something uniquely important.

...And Jaune pales as he realizes just what's going on.

Adam Taurus. The White Fang.

They're coming.

And suddenly, Jaune is running, making his way towards where Ghira, Kali, and Sienna are.

Because they all need to know.

/

Oscar Pine still isn't really sure what it is exactly that he'd done to deserve going completely and utterly insane.

Of course, he'd been mean to his siblings on occasion. He'd once told his mom that he hated her and then never apologized. Once, he'd stolen a box of sweets from his father personal stash and blamed it on the family dog.

But this all feels...

"Are you ready, Oscar?"

He sighs, not for the first time disappointed that this whole 'there's suddenly a man in my head' thing hadn't been a dream.

"As I'll ever be, I suppose."

Ozpin makes a contented hum at that, and... gods damnit, Oscar is starting to actually call him Ozpin in his head, which can't be good for his already waning sense of sanity.

Just when he'd been slinging his pack onto his back, and readying the large branch he'd found to use as a walking stick, he feels his entire head pulse.

It is something entirely unfamiliar to Oscar. As if the entire world has, however briefly, gone upside down. As if the wind has reversed direction. As if the ground has risen; the sky fallen. As if the birds and bees and butterfly's songs are being sung in reverse.

"What the..." Oscar murmurs, gripping his head and groaning in pain. "What in the heck was that?"

Ozpin is disturbingly silent.

After what feels like far too long, the man answers his question.

"That... was something I have not felt in... millennia."

It feels like a bit of a non-answer, which is pretty customary of Ozpin, as Oscar has quickly learned.

"And... are you going to explain what that was, exactly?"

"...Nothing to worry about for now, Oscar." Ozpin answers, leaving Oscar to sigh annoyedly. "Let us focus on the road ahead."

Oscar stares out over the grounds of his family farm, finally realizing that he's leaving. That... that this is all really happening, that it isn't a dream. That he's following the voice inside his head, claiming to be the dead headmaster of Beacon Academy.

...And he resolves to think on most of that later, instead.

"Now, let us go..."

Oscar nods his head, even as he takes his first steps off of his family's farm in his entire life.

And his journey begins.

"We make for Haven Academy."

/

And inside her throne room, in the barren halls of Evernight, Salem feels an odd chill run down her spine.

End Chapter 25

Well that's not ominous at all.

Anyways, see you all next time!