"This is one of those prophecy moments, isn't it...?"
"Sorta yea, it's a family thing. I've been dodging this for the larger half of my life up until now..."
"Figures..." Azure knew he would hear the confirmation of his question, but he really didn't want it.
"Being here now... it's so surreal. Like a circle completing itself, I'm right back here." He could tell she was definitely having mixed feelings about all of this, that being said, she's still trying to push forward.
He knew that this meant that he was about to learn about a dangerous secret that would only bring more turmoil to his life. A life that even he wasn't 100% sure about and an unknown destination with no clue where it was going to lead. Regardless, he still desired to help those who needed it, and if that meant following a century old prophecy...
Azure quickly sucked up his annoyance and acquiesced to Moon's incoming explanation. "So... What's it all about?"
She slowly turned to look directly at him, a hint of a strange, solemn but unreadable expression was visible through her thin smile. "Well, to start off, what do you know about the Great War?"
Azure tilted his head in perplexed curiosity, "The basics of it, Mantle and Mistral wanted to force Vale and Vacuo to follow their insane policies of limiting creative expression and emotional expression to limit attacks from the Grimm. Their fear of the Grimm cemented the idea that less feeling was better, it wasn't and ten years of war came not long after that."
A light giggle escaped Moon's lips as she listened to his incredibly summarized and simplified variation of histories greatest recorded loss of life to date. She caught her breath soon after her small fit ended and cleared her throat to speak.
"I guess that's a good explanation to give on the run... but It'll do. All of that's definitely true, what you don't know... is that most of the council of Mantle at the time was nothing more than a puppet at the time. Figureheads for a real and terrible threat."
Right there. There it was, laid out nice and easily for all to see and hear. For some reason, Azure was having trouble keeping his eyes away from the dark and foreboding part of the room. The large mural seemed to pull intently at him, somehow vying for his attention.
"There's something darker than the Grimm out there...?" He asked quietly as the conversation slowly crept along.
"Yes. When our founder first encountered the Map, It showed him a vision. A vision of our crumbling world, It showed him images of two great forces leaving our world, and in their place came a monstrous being clad in white that would lead the Grimm in a worldwide conquest and spread them to every corner of Remnant."
Gesturing to both sides of the walls in the chamber before them, Azure was slowly beginning to put the pieces together.
"Years after the founder's time had passed, his descendant; my Grandmother, took hold of the Map and was shown the visions as well but this time there was more to see. It showed him how this... monster in white somehow took human form and stealthily infiltrated frozen kingdom, its primary focus. It corrupted those of impure heart and mind within the council into its fold with promises of opulence and power, having them sow the seeds of dissent in secret while destroying the morale of the people with near constant attacks from Grimm."
Just as she paused, a small, cylindrical pillar had begun rising on the opposite end of the chamber, completely jet black and covered in glowing white letters or symbols completely indecipherable to him.
Ever curious, he used his semblance to examine at the strange pillar for any unseen detail, what he got instead was the view of a dark mass surrounded by a world of color. The Aura that flowed in the air, actively avoided the spot of void black like it was oil and water. When he looked up and around again, he realized that the chamber itself was flowing with a massive amount of ambient Aura. It oozed and wafted from the walls and floor, slowly spiraling around the area and saturating it simultaneously.
'That's different...,' he commented mentally to himself while he stared at the phenomenon, completely bewildered.
Moon pressed onward.
"I don't blame the people of Mantle, they were afraid and the limitation of self-expression seemed to be the only thing that even remotely worked at the time. Nonetheless, this malevolent force successfully played Mantle, Mistral and effectively the world by making them kill each-other. Endless deaths from Humans and Faunus alike and the Grimm were even more ravenous then ever with the constant surges of negativity spiking on almost every continent. If it wasn't for Vale's King, Remnant would be a much uglier place now but the damage had been done and the Grimm have now successfully embed themselves into the essence of the land itself."
Azure took stock of everything that was said and sighed deeply. He thought that his former family's heritage was problematic but this was just ridiculous. Then again, his own ancestors fought in the Great War and gained most of their acclaim from that period so it wasn't all that wild to think about once it was put into perspective.
Moon continued on, seemingly eager to finish the prophetic tale as she quietly moved closer to the center of the chamber.
"To make a very long story short, every inheritor, myself included, have seen the glimpses of the past. This mural was made to tell the story up to this point, starting from the walls to the floor."
We aren't sure why the visions work the way they do, we aren't even sure about the origins of the Map itself, but what is certain is that the Map clearly wants the Grimm located on the map to be dealt with." She placed her hand up-to the pitch black podium and darkness violently writhed around the strange stand.
"Wait... You inherited it? I thought only the male heir could do that," Azure questioned.
"I...may or may not have claimed it before I left... to make sure no one else could. I was angry and it was years ago!"
He wasn't about to question that.
The glowing inscriptions faded away with a muffled hiss as the black substance covering the arisen podium began to flow upwards and straight into her palm. It congealed and formed into a perfect sphere before falling into her hand with a soft plop, cold and almost clammy to the touch.
"Hmm... I kinda thought it would be bigger," Azure thought aloud as he examined the small, black orb.
Moon was also eyeing the artifact with avid curiosity, "I said that years ago when I first claimed it... big things in small packages, maybe?" She too was a bit thrown off by the stature of the ancient marvel.
She rolled it around in her hands, subconsciously pushing Aura into the device until it stopped rolling and shot up into the air. It hovered over their heads, pulsing and eerily vibrating in stationary space before it exploded, covering the two of them in a cloud of darkness.
The young exile jumped in immediate surprise, the cover of the dark was giving them a strange sense of fight of flight responses. However, just before they could actually try and remove themselves, the cloud began to take shape.
The large splotch of black had shrunk by a enormous amount, before long it was splitting into different sections and spreading across the air in front of them. Familiarities began to show up on the various sections and started to look more and more like landmasses by the second. Some of them had been immediately identifiable before they'd finished taking form.
Azure was the first one to break the silence.
"Well at least now we won't need scrolls if it comes down to it," as he shrugged and looked back at what became a perfectly scaled map almost half the size as one you'd see on a classroom chalkboard stretched out for them.
Every kingdom, city and village was displayed on the black landscapes with frighteningly accurate detail. The known landmasses were clearly noticeable and some were even colored like the Emerald Forest and the Forever Fall. What took their attention the most however, was the white, tribal looking animal skulls that littered every, single, continent... Grimm.
Skulls of various sizes and shapes were spread across the world on the map, but amongst the smaller heads, there were also larger, throbbing skulls with the eye holes filled with red shining dots. He didn't exactly know why but his own eyes were quickly to Vale, and once he looked he saw it...
The dragon-like skull sitting right on top of where Mt. Glenn was located.
"What... the hell...?" He said to himself mainly as he continued stare dumbfounded at the revelation. Moon was staring at Solitas intently and didn't look happy in the slightest.
"Wow, Solitas has a-lot of packs and groups out there. I think we just took down the big baddie around here, but we've still got vast numbers to deal with."
Moon pointed and the various tiny, white masks that littered the frozen continent, the young exile sighed slightly as he scanned the map.
Just a ways from Atlas's southern coast and very close to the shores of Argus was another giant, Grimm head, pointed and shaped like some sort of swordfish. It didn't move at all and it eye holes weren't currently illuminated which made Azure think that it must still be dormant, 'Stay that way... please.'
Further south into Anima, another big and creepy looking white mask appeared near Mistral. Shaped like an angry- looking man with a long horn, this Grimm was sitting at what looked to be just a few hundred miles south of the Anima capital. It looked like it was in constant movement, roaming the hillsides near an abandoned village of sorts. Further west into the rocky regions was what appeared to be an oddly shaped bug mask or something of that nature, it crawled swiftly along the treacherous land it inhabited.
"Ugh..." Azure was not pleased, but his eyes continued to roam the map and he locked onto the unknown continent above the middle of Sanus. The sheer amount of white, boney masks that seemed to radiate from the center of the landmass alone, horrified him in a deep and very uncomfortable way. Almost every inch of the land was smothered with Grimm, he was surprised the water itself wasn't teeming with them, and in all actuality it probably was.
As he gazed lower on the map he noticed a lone, big one rotating the coast of Menagerie. Another one with a dragon-looking face, he was really hoping that it wasn't going to be a pattern moving forward.
Strangely enough, Vacuo's Grimm count couldn't be seen. In fact, if the Map was right, the sands themselves were obstructing the clearer view of Vacuo's Grimm residents. It made them look hazy and out of focus, which in turn frustrated the two of them a little but it really couldn't be helped at the moment.
"Well I guess that part of the map can't be helped, not now anyway," Azure said with finality on the current issue.
"The only thing left to do now, is to figure out what we're actually gonna to do." The heiress sighed in frustration before turning to look at her partner again.
"Hey, if this is too much for you to deal with, I understand completely. It's definitely not your fight or family quest, and I do own an airship. I can take you anywhere you need to go..."
The young exile looked down into his hands thoughtfully, he had a choice to make. Moon was right, he certainly didn't have to stay around and he was no longer tied to anyone, he could go and try his hand at making a new life for himself. It wouldn't be hard to find work in Argus as a city guard or something close to that.
However, his heart tugged at him angrily when he thought about leaving Moon alone to deal with such an insurmountable task. It just didn't seem fair that he had an out while she had none, this could even be a chance to reclaim and even receive some newfound glory for the both of them. More than all of that however, he just couldn't leave the world to chance when a threat that serious was just looming in the distance.
It wasn't like he could trust anyone "back home," to take up arms. He thought that most of them would probably run away as soon as they realized the monstrosity hidden under Mt. Glenn. Even he was having difficulties trying to imagine just how insane this Grimm could be.
Azure knew what he needed to do and his mind was set on it. "I'm here for the ride, Moon. Can't let you go cross-country Grimm hunting all by yourself, right?"
With a grin as big as the broken moon in the sky, she smacked his shoulder happily, almost toppling him over in the process. "Aww Azure... you're awesome!" In response, Azure couldn't help but start to laugh as well, it had been awhile since he had what felt like a genuine friend, it made him momentarily lapse into thinking about the better times from the old days.
That was the past however, this was now.
He had a new friend and partner and felt confident enough to venture out a bit more and explore. He was really starting to think that maybe his time in the wild was much more of a blessing than a curse.
Once the laughter had died, the two quickly left the chamber, the map had shrunk into its original shape on its own before they started walking... convenient little thing. After exiting the chamber, they gave the castle one last look over, finding nothing worth examining before walking out into the Main Hall.
Said hall which was now completely devoid of the horde that stampeded through earlier, replaced by the sounds of the howling winds just outside of the gaping hole in the door. As they left the castle proper and walked through the courtyard, Moon stopped to look back on last time. Azure could see her in deep thought as she looked at what was once her ancestral home, now in almost in complete ruins save for the Courtyard and Banquet Hall.
She took a deep breath, steadied herself and opened her mouth to give a last will and testament to once great Lunar Palace:
"Distant hills echo. Transmitting sounds of nature. Moonlight waves goodbye."
A small haiku filled with a deep emotion left her lips as she gave her home one last nostalgic glance.
With everything said and done she spun on her heels and calmly walked right out out of the courtyard and back into the lift. Azure wasn't about to wait for an invitation and was right behind her in seconds, he closed the door behind himself as the machine sputtered to life. The lift shuddered a bit before automatically locking the gate and starting their descent back into the cold forests of the Tundra.
"Ok... with that settled, where should we start? I'm sure Vale is out of the question currently with everything going on and the Vytal tournament coming up in a few months."
Huh, he'd completely forgotten about that.
To be truly honest, he really didn't care about it now that it was brought to his attention. He actually had no intention of competing at all when he was a student, his skills back then would've caused a massive loss of epic proportions.
Oh well, he shrugged off the thought and gave about a solution to their dilemma.
"I think our first major target should be clearing out the major Grimm in Mistral, but I also want to train a bit more. We could spend the time here tagging bounties and making some much needed Lien before we go."
Moon turned and gave him a sidelong look, "We don't need money Azure, I have plenty from my families left over funds to easily get us around to just about anywhere. How do you think I owned my own Inn and shop?"
"Oh." He gasped, stumped to silence.
Just then, the lift had reached the Mountain base and they climbing out fairly quickly. Finally back on solid footing, they took the same trail back to Titan with an easy stride.
"That's a great idea though, and I fully support more training, but not here. Mantle and Atlas can handle themselves and I've got a decently stocked warehouse near Higanbana that we can use. I'm sure we're going to encounter some crazy things on our Grimm hunt so being more prepared is a plus... and I wanna watch the tournament too." She quietly admitted that last part but Azure caught it anyway.
"Hahahaha..., ok that's fine Moon. We'll train up, watch the festival and then get straight to work." Azure felt good about this plan and was actually somewhat fired up for the adventures ahead. Moon definitely shared in the excitement, pumping her fists in the air happily and cheering.
"Well, you're in much better shape already," He commented.
"Yep! it's time to start fresh, I am pretty excited though." Her smile grew wider and wider the more she spoke, so much so that the cold looked as though it had no effect whatsoever on her excitement.
"Hopefully others find that chamber and decipher the story for themselves and understand what's happening around them," Azure stated aloud. Moon nodded in agreement to her new partners statement, she had a mind to burn the place down but he was ultimately right.
History like that should be treated with respect, especially this kind.
After another thirty minutes to an hour of walking and killing the occasional Beowulf pack or Ursa grouping, they were back in front of Titans main gate. Tan waved them through as he peeled his eyes away from his scroll somewhat begrudgingly, as if his job was so hard.
A few seconds later and they were back at the inn and packing essentials, weapons, light armor, dust and so much more. "Follow me, the ship is in the back," she chirped as she easily hefted two giant, near-bursting suitcases through a doorway leading outside. He trailed behind her through and onto what looked like a small, elevated landing pad spacious enough for what was parked on it.
A pristine, silver Manta, lightly covered in snow was parked right in front of them. Clearly a military-grade model evidenced by it's large size and wings. It certainly wasn't lacking any firepower either with six missile batteries overall and two aerial offensive turrets adorning both sides of the ship as well. The sheer spaciousness inside was very much appreciated for their equipment, all things considered, this was going to be their base of operations when they were on the road so the extra room was definitely the chef's kiss.
Not to mention it had two sets of pull-out beds at the back end of the interior. This ship was without a doubt, badass.
"This is my baby, The Argento!" Beyond excited to reveal her pride and joy, she grabbed him by wrist to give him a grand tour before leaving.
'She's like a kid at an amusement park, heh I guess I really missed having moments like this more than I thought,' Azure mused to himself as he let his new partner show him all the bells and whistles of her airship.
Before long, they were strapped into the cockpit seats and revving up the engines. Moon was driving, of course but it was as good a time as any for him to learn something new, so he paid apt attention to how she operated the machine. He made sure to memorize everything he could about the controls and switches as The Argento began to ascend from the landing pad and take to the sky.
[O]
One Month Later
Higanbana Outskirts
In a forest clearing not far from Higanbana, Azure sits at the center calmly in what appears to be a meditative trance. His breathing, steady and his heart beat relaxing significantly within a deeply focused state of being. Days like this had become a regular occurrence for the young man since their departure from Titan a month prior.
Since they'd landed here, they've been using a warehouse with an upstairs living quarters that Moon had bought a few years prior. She figured that now was as good a time as any to clean it up and make good use of it, she had a good signal even in the deep woods, plenty of food and water, plus the lower half of the warehouse was retrofitted to be a makeshift combat area. It was more than ideal for them, and if they had any major problems in the wild, Higanbana was just a few miles northwest.
Many of their days consisted of some hardcore morning training, during the day Grimm bounties which were made a-lot easier with the Map and finally, evening meditation and relaxation. They eased into the groove fairly well and considering what lies ahead, they easier they got along, the better.
When they weren't training or hunting, their downtime together was usually pretty nice. The former princess had movies and games galore, so they never lacked for entertainment and although they each had separate rooms, they found it easy and somewhat comforting just being in each others presence. They had both shared similar past experiences and could easily understand the others issues if and when they arose.
All in all, the month was progressing quite well. Which brings the current moment back to the here and now.
In the middle of a forest clearing, training his mind.
Within his meditations, he grew more and more in-tune with his Aura and by extension, his Semblance. Even with his eyes closed, with his semblance activated he could still see the darkened background and multitude of Auras around him and everywhere. What his recent focus was on now however, was his interaction with this new realm that only he could see.
He shot up to his feet with impressive speed before opening his eyes, Semblance still active as he looked around and concentrated.
Suddenly, the area at his feet began to shift slightly until a multitude of blue paths sprouted from them, many of them shooting off in every direction. Some of them even lifted up from the ground, as if to suggest he could just walk right up into the air... no way.
Right..?
Not wanting to think too deeply about the process at the moment, he walked along the path directly in front of him and feeling quite natural about going with it, almost as if he was going to go in this exact direction anyway. At the same time, he could feel the tingling vibrations of the aerial Aura flowing through and around him, he felt like he was being streamlined or zoomed to a point.
Before he could reach the line of the forest, he quickly turned and trekked down a different path to the left of himself. After that, he switched one more time just to get a better feel for the sensations his body was experiencing as he moved with the pathway.
Once he stopped and deactivated, he instantly felt a nice, fat chunk of his Aura deplete as he caught his breath hastily. "W-What, why did lose that much from just walking..?" He pondered until he heard footsteps behind him.
"Damn... Azure what just happened?" The voice of none other than Moon rung out just a few steps from his left side.
"One minute, you were all the way back there by the trees and the next, you were by the big rock over there and then here... what did I just see?" Her head cocked to the side in confusion, almost like a dog as she looked at him.
"Wait, I did what?" He asked, flabbergasted after hearing her explanation of what she witnessed.
"It was like you were teleporting or something, I've never seen anyone move that fast before...," judging from her fairly shocked facial expression, she really meant it.
'Huh, that's definitely something new,' he thought, immediately seeing the link between what his partner just said and the feelings associated with following the pathways.
That stream-like feeling... maybe that was because of just how fast he may have actually been going. Was it possible that his perception was slowed in that state?
"Ok, I'm definitely gonna need your help with this now," sadly, his pleas would not be heard or accepted.
"Nope! The Vytal Tournament is starting so save that for later!" She loudly huffed as she grabbed his arm and began to slightly drag him back to the warehouse.
Azure really didn't care to watch it out of seriously trying to stay away from things that would make him have to think about the past life, but his new partner had done so much for him so he figured he stomach watching some of it.
He made a mental note to come back outside later when there was a lull in the action.
Once inside, they'd made it to the couch in time to catch the start of the first round. Of course it would be none other than his former teammates now dubbed PNR, going against team BRNZ. The fight itself was already well in motion by the time they started watching, and with his former team starting quite strong.
He couldn't help but to notice how well his former team were performing, though he really was hoping that team BRNZ would do something besides rely on their snipers supporting fire alone for openings.
Before long, that same sniper was promptly knocked out of her position by the valkyrie and her hammer. Ren wasn't far behind either because after his partners attack, he followed up with a brutal combination of palm strikes and kicks before finishing the poor girl off with a clean uppercut. Her Aura shattered and she was finished.
May Zedong was out of the fight, and two of her other teammates soon followed suit. Their price to pay for trying to face Pyrrha two to one, they learned that very fast as they soared through the arena air and hitting the hard ground.
It seemed like in just a flash, the team facing PNR was quickly overwhelmed and forcefully shrunken down. It wasn't long after, that the last man standing was quickly subdued and announcement of victory echoed through the stadium.
"Damn, that former team of yours is pretty good. Too bad they didn't realize that they dropped a good thing." Moon smacked Azure's shoulder playfully as she joked with him, no harm meant from any of it.
"Yea well.. the past is the past. Not like I'll ever see them again anyway so I really don't care anymore," he threw his hands behind his head as he leaned back into the couch, enjoying the commercial break.
Moon wasn't accepting that cheap answer, "You don't care even a little bit...? So you wouldn't help them if they were in danger, if they apologized to you on their knees with tears in their eyes, you wouldn't forgive them...?"
She smirked, hoping to catch him and trip him up, he was way too quiet about when it came his own inner turmoils so she figured now was a pretty good time to air out some of it.
He always would say he didn't care, but she could tell that there was still some sting from the old wounds.
"I'll help anyone but that's because it's just the right thing to do. As for forgiveness..." He looked at her for a moment before closing his eyes again. "What would be the point?... I'm not angry with them anymore, I'm just done with them."
"I don't buy that even a little bit." She quipped, instantly cutting the rest of his reply short. "You do know that forgiveness isn't just for them, it's for you too," Moon countered.
"How so?" He definitely wanted to hear this one.
She was quick to answer as always, "Easy, you're forgiving them but you're also allowing yourself to heal and move on with a clean break. It's about letting go, basically, remembering that we're all just people. Human and Faunus, and we all make mistakes and fall short of the mark at times."
That made him look at her, "I really don't feel like I need to..."
With a smile of reassurance, she put a hand on his shoulder. "Just give it time, Azure. Maybe not anytime soon, but closure would do you good because you definitely still have grievances." With her trademark smirk, she finished her spiel and gave him one of her best cheshire cat grins.
"That Cardin guy for example and even with your family, too."
"That, I won't budge on." He huffed that one out with more than a little bit of annoyance.
"I know, I know~. Just something to think about." She wouldn't pry anymore for the day, she didn't want to ruin the good vibes they've managed to hold on to since Titan.
Right on cue, the commercials ended and Vytal Tournament was back on broadcast.
[O]
Vytal Colosseum
Vale
Finally, the day of the festival had come!
Thousands from all across Remnant have gathered to Vale to witness the best and brightest of the Huntsmen and Huntresses in-training, and Beacons own students are no exception. Here was where all the training and hard work was either going to pay off, or fall short... and with all of the contenders this year, it was definitely going to be one of the most memorable Vytal Festivals yet.
As the Amity Colosseum hovered above the quaint-looking city, the air traffic around it had quickly reached astronomical proportions. The air was tingling with excitement and awe, the peoples cheers and shouts quickly drowned out the city below as the first preliminary rounds of the tournament were soon to begin. The arena within may have been empty but the stands were packed to the brim with shouting fans, citizens and almost every other kind of person in-between.
So packed, that even the concession stands were covered in twisted lines of hungry people.
Sadly, even though all seemed well, It was here where a certain avian-named student was quietly having a sit-down with a rather... unsavory character.
"Mr. Winchester... there's no need to be so uptight. Yes, while I'm sure that the professors of Beacon still have their questions, I have nothing but guarantees. With what you and your family have given me so far, it's safe to say that no one with ever know or hear about the missing Arc child again." All of that short dialogue came from a man who from looks alone could and would never know anything but opulence.
His red and black bowl hat and classy suit screamed of a high society, the cane really made the look stick. Bits of short, orange-red hair spilled cleanly from the sides of the hat, the rest of his face was slightly masked by the smoke of his cigar.
This man was the elusive Roman Torchwick, thief extraordinaire.
"From what I've heard, his own family has already written him out of the will and has officially taken his name off of any kind of familial registry or census. Ouch... now that's brutal, getting the boot from your own kin... kinda reminds me of myself." He took another drag of his cigar before speaking again, exhaling another spacious cloud of gray.
"In any case, the boy is of no concern any longer."
"Yea, well how can you be so sure," the young Winchester questioned.
"Because, I paid off one savage, psycho, son of a gun to make sure he was dead. Gave him the coordinates you sent to me and he, knowing him... he's probably already done and is just hanging around out there," Torchwick explained as he took another drag from his cigar. "Damned freak that he is..."
Unfortunately for them, that man was dead, curtesy of Jaune. They simply didn't know it yet, but the crazy wanderer had been dead for months...
Nonetheless, Roman tipped his hat and began to walk away. "If that's all, I'll keep in touch," he said quietly as his visage shattered into glass before Cardin's eyes.
"Tch... stupid thief..." The boy angrily spat, he didn't trust the man even a little bit but he'd be damned if he'd let that loser or his family get in his way, the Winchesters way again.
As quiet as it's kept, the Arcs and Winchesters have been caught up in a feud that has withstood the test of time since the Great War. Being on opposite sides will do that considering they openly supported Mistral and Mantles absurdity and helped to fund many of their escapades and missions. The Arcs were neutral in the war but what changed that was when the Winchesters personally showed up to Ansel and demanded that the royal families of the area yield to Mantle or be subjugated.
An unwise choice of words to say to an Arc, man or woman.
What had followed was a brutal battle where the Winchesters were soundly beaten, humiliated and made to run home bloodied and bruised. Some of them were even killed in the battle that had lasted an entire twenty four hours.
By the end of the war, the Winchesters would suffer a loss of nearly half of their family, many of them killed personally by Arcs on the battlefield. This massive loss of life solidified their hatred of the Arc bloodline, even now apparently, the Winchesters still held quite the grudge.
Cardin wasn't just bullying Jaune, he truly was trying to kill him. Every shove into a weapons locker, every accidental hit, push and trip was all done with extreme malice in mind. Overhearing the Arcs revelation of his transcripts was just the icing on the cake, he made sure everyone, EVERYONE knew about it. Still, none of that brought death any closer to the blonde, Cardin was becoming desperate.
So when the opportunity presented itself in the form of a joint-mission, he jumped on it and intended to ride it to the finish line. The boy spared no expense either, hiring Roman to cover his tracks while paying off the pilot to say to how he couldn't wait for the boy and that he too had seen the boy mangled and dead. Sure, he had to enlist his father's help and funds but damn it, this was a personal matter and he couldn't sit on it any longer.
However, now it was done, the boy was lost to the frost and would no longer be a thorn in his side. Cardin grinned savagely, so deluded in his thoughts that he truly believed that with Jaune out of the way, his rise to greatness was surely underway.
He left the scene not long after, watched the entire time by a group of four a few tables over. One of them in particular, was a jet-black haired woman. She had eyes that glowed like the fire from the Sun, eyes which locked onto his retreating form through the crowded halls.
"My, who would've ever thought that the Winchesters would be the ones to finance this special day... in more ways than one."
The glowing eyed lady spoke with such sultry undertones, sensuality oozed from her vocals. "It seems our dear Cardin has much more of a thank you coming his way then he could ever realize... After all, it was his substantial contributions of funds and Dust that made all of this possible. The final lynch pin, so to speak..."
Beside her, another woman with a darker complexion and bright, lime green hair slightly raised her hand to interject, "...Can we really trust them? I mean, they are still a Huntsman family, the Winchesters."
"Trust, no. Eliminate if they dare to step out of line? Yes." The heated gaze of her glowing eyes seemed to intensify at the mention of murder. "Nevertheless, the second round is about to start so let's get going, after all... we each have to play our part~"
Meanwhile...
Vytal Fair Grounds
"Woohoo! Here's to team RWBY and PNR heading into Round Two!" Yang cheered loudly as the sister teams shared a collective hoorah and huzzah as they began to dig into their freshly bought feast.
"PNR for the championship!" Nora shouted, bravado having reached a boiling point and starting to spill over.
"Woah there, Nora... I think you mean RWBY." Yang made sure to check her sister team's ambition, not like it would do any good with Nora present.
"You heard me," the hammer-wielder quipped back.
"Eh?"
"Ok you two...," Blake stepped between them, she knew the spat was harmless but she also knew that Yang and Nora together could cause some mayhem.
"Let's not get carried away, Nora. There are still plenty of other competitors." Ren commented quietly as he dug into a bowl of steamed rice. Said valkyrie pouted and huffed before sitting down, Ren quickly sliding a plate of a large stack of pancakes to placate her.
The way her eyes glazed over as she dug into her fluffy meal meant that it was a resounding success. She joyfully smacked her lips on her breakfast-lunch.
At this point, Weiss had a few questions to ask her team, "So, its duo's next right? I think Yang and I should go this time. The two of us can deliver massive amounts of controlled damage and I highly doubt whoever we're up against can keep up."
Upon hearing this, Yang had the biggest grin possible on her face, "Hell yea! That's the best thing you've said all year Weiss!"
"Hey!"
Ruby pumped her fist behind her sister in support, "I like this plan."
It seemed that team RWBY was already set for the next bout. Sensing this, Pyrrha took the initiative for her own team, "Then how about you and me, Nora? That is if you don't mind Ren...," she politely asked her teammates.
Nora just threw a thumbs up in Pyrrha's direction while Ren smiled and nodded in silence. Just then, their scrolls collectively pinged and signaled to all participants that the next round would soon begin. "Well I guess it's time to go. We should hurry up, Nora so we aren't late. Bye ladies." The rest of team PNR waved their sister team goodbye as the cleared their plates and left.
Team RWBY quickly followed suit, not wanting to miss their entry into the colosseum. Ruby quickly ushered her team up and away from the table and back into the larger section of floating fortress. She herself however, stayed behind for a bit longer, staring into the sky in thought.
"I hope you're watching Jaune, wherever you are." Even now, the young reaper still couldn't fully let go of her first Beacon friend.
She truly hoped that somewhere out there, he was still alive and well, that he could see how far she'd come... even though she knows it would probably kill him inside to watch this now. Hell, she was pretty positive that he'd never get close to any of them again enough to care at this point. Betrayal was still betrayal and she could definitely see him taking everything that's happened to him as such, it was pretty obvious with how he acted after he was ousted.
Silent, morose and always with a somewhat angry look on his face, she remembered his face quite well... she'd never forget it.
Ruby had managed to at least shelve her grief and guilt but she somewhere inside her, she still blamed herself for being so pigheaded and naive that day.
It didn't help much that she now was starting to suspect that something was amiss with the official report.
After her little conversation with a certain rabbit faunus, she had started to see more and more oddities with the official story given to the public. For instance, how could the pilot have seen anything from the front of the Bullhead? The man made a public statement that he saw Jaune Arc fall to a pack of Grimm and was unsure of his status after seeing him fall, but thats impossible when he was stuck inside of a cockpit the entire time.
Unless he somehow turned around and climbed out of his seat at some point but that's highly unlikely when the engines need constant attention.
Cardin's own testimony was airtight, but something about it seemed so... rehearsed. She kept thinking about how Nora wasted no time in accusing Cardin of foul play via strangulation, she didn't hesitate for even a moment. Months afterwards, she still gives Cardin the same vitriolic glare... even now.
'Maybe... maybe I should talk to Nora about this,' her thoughts were quickly being pulled deeper into her mind until...
"Ruby! Come on!"
Yang called out from ahead, waving her hand to grab Ruby's attention. Hearing this, she shook the intrusive thoughts away and moved to catch up with her team.
Words from the Author:
Bam!~ another chapter hot of the MF-ing press! Next chapter will kick off Beacons fall and some extra goodness I think ya'll will appreciate.
Till next time, peeps!