No updates from 20th December to 3rd January.
Also, argh. Dry eye syndrome or whatever it's called. Hits me whenever the air gets dry and cold like in winter, and it just feels like I've constantly got sand in my eyes.
Cover Art: GWBrex
Chapter 88
Vale was in ruins.
There was no doubting that even with a technical victory over Salem, they had reduced the city to a sad state of what it had once been. Some people would be angry with that. Better subservience under an amoral madwoman posing as a god than an uncertain life without. Better to let her execute all the faunus in a paranoid rage than rock the boat. Better ignorant than wise. Better, in most cases, meant easier. People wanted their convenient lives back.
And he was at fault. The faunus, too, by association.
No one dared voice that to his face, of course. The soldiers he met with, who had fought alongside Blake and the others, were as respectful as they could be, but even they didn't like him. Whatever his reasons, he'd attacked Vale and many of their friends had fallen to faunus blades before the Grimm even arrived. Now that the mutual enemy was gone, they saw him as a conquering general about to take over the city.
No one decided on the segregation between the Valean locals and the people from Menagerie, but it happened, nonetheless. It wasn't some hard line that none dared cross, as food and medicine needed to flow from their ships, and refugees they'd saved before wanted to meet with family, but the two camps within the city were distant. There was a swathe of empty, ruined households between them, and the faunus whispered of not feeling welcome.
It was important people, either elected or having been in power before, who met with Jaune most of all. High-ranking priests of a now defunct religion who were for some reason still looked to for answers – habit, mostly – and ranking members of Vale's military, what little of it remained. There were no Chosen left barring Coco, Pyrrha and Weiss, and perhaps that was for the best.
"We've selected messengers and sent them on their way to Vacuo with an escort," said one of the priests. "We've also sent some of our priesthood. They will spread the news, Dar— Lord Arc."
He'd asked them not to call him Dark Lord now that they knew the whole religious aspect was false. Naturally, he'd asked not to be called a "lord" either, but they didn't listen. Jaune suspected the title came more from fear than respect, which was why he'd stopped criticising them for giving it. He was just making them more nervous.
"Well done. Do you think Vacuo will believe us? Or will they hold to their faith?"
"It's quite possibly the latter, my lord." The man waited to see if there would be an angry response, but Jaune nodded and let him continue at his own pace. "Asking them to change their minds without proof will be difficult, and the only proof we can offer is to invite members of their priesthood to Vale to see it for themselves. That will take months all told, and I expect they will hold to their beliefs until then. Will that be a problem?"
"Not for me and mine. I'm more concerned for Vacuo in the long run, and whether they'll do anything foolish like try to attack you or harm your priests for being apostates."
"They shouldn't. Vacuo was demanded to surrender much of its military might to Vale for the crusade in Mistral. We have sent what few of them remain in the hopes that Vacuo will trust its own." He clasped his hands, saying, "I can only ask patience on behalf of the Vacuans. Asking them to change their minds on thousands of years of doctrine will not be easy."
Jaune sighed. "I'm not interested in forcing them, but you all know that we only have a hundred years until Salem returns not as a goddess but as a queen amongst the Grimm." He said that not only to the priest, but to the various military men there. "That is time you will have to spend preparing yourselves."
"Us, my lord? What about you?"
"I will not be staying in Vale."
The reactions were as shocked as he expected. They had kept to the assumption that his conquering army would become an inhabiting one, and him as a new King even if he wasn't to become a god. Vale was the biggest city after all, and even in disrepair as it was there was still a lot of people and wealth to be had here. The farmlands were in good conditions as well, which was honestly a relief as people were out harvesting those right now to fill Vale's dwindling granaries and warehouses before winter.
It was no exaggeration to say the people hated the idea of him ruling them. No matter what he'd saved them from, he'd still attacked them. Their homes were ruined because of him. But they would put up with him because he was strong, and because they were weak right now and could use his protection. To find out that not only had he weakened them, but that he would be leaving them to fend for themselves was not something that filled the various leaders with joy.
"What—? But you must!" cried the priest.
"You would shatter our walls, break our armies and then leave us defenceless?" hissed the new captain of the guard. "Have you not done enough damage already?"
"Watch your tone," snarled Blake, speaking from her desk beside his chair. There was no throne here, this just being a room they'd commandeered. Blake was going over tallies of their faunus, to discover who had lived and who had died. The list was a long one.
"It's okay, Blake." He waved a hand her way, then faced them once more. "I understand your concerns and I won't be leaving you helpless. That's what I wanted to talk to you about today. I'd like to begin unlocking the auras of you and your soldiers." His words brought shocked expressions. "You know that there's no difference between male and female aura now, so there's no reason you can't start creating Chosen— No. Huntsmen and Huntresses." The old name. "You can start training your own, starting with those military members that can already fight." He eyed the priest. "Though I'd prefer it if they were kept apart from the church."
"Y—Yes. Of course. We're not even sure there will be a church for much longer. Our faith serves no purpose."
"It keeps people together and gives them somewhere to feel safe and content, father. You can continue that even if for a different purpose."
The priest smiled faintly but didn't look convinced. Jaune wouldn't force them either way. People had lost family to their goddess, first in the crusade on Mistral and now directly by her hand. It wouldn't surprise him if they tore down her temples and any record of her and burned them.
"The offer of unlocking aura is appreciated, and we will of course accept," said the soldier. "I can have names drafted and delivered to your aide." He glanced to Blake, whose ears flattened. There were a lot of assumptions going around, and not all in her favour. To be fair, she was good at the paperwork. "But we may need instruction on how to use it. A hundred years may give us only one or two generations to prepare. Today's children must become tomorrow's instructors if the generation after is to raise strong Ch— huntsmen and huntresses – in time."
And that was if Salem kept her word.
"I am intending to build an academy on Menagerie," he said. "A great academy that will teach huntsmen and huntresses." He had their attention now. "The first batch, I will teach and ask to set up new academies among the kingdoms. Vale, Vacuo, Atlas, and Mistral once it is rebuilt. Five schools for five kingdoms, taught by the best huntsmen and huntresses. This will not be quick, I realise. It might take ten years to build our own and train people enough to teach, but even if it takes another ten to construct your own, that will be eighty years. We'll also gladly take talented people from the kingdoms to train and return them once they graduate."
They conferred silently. "Sending our children abroad may not appeal to all," said the priest, at last, "but we are nonetheless grateful for your forethought, my lord. We understand there are former Chosen among your army, however. Could not some of them stay to teach us?"
"It will be their choice. I will not force them. We shall also stay for a month here in Vale and train those you choose as best we can. My own student, Lie Ren, will take on and train your most senior officer personally. They'll be far more advanced than the rest of your people and can serve to continue their instruction once we're gone."
"Of course, my lord." The priest bowed. "Any help is greatly appreciated."
"Was there anything else?" asked Jaune.
"No, my lord. The first harvests are coming in and the people are hungry. We thank you for your sharing of fishing vessels and your own stores, but we should leave to ensure the food is shared evenly among the populace." They all bowed this time. "Please excuse us."
"Of course." Jaune nodded back. "Contact us if you need further assistance, and have the list of names delivered to my… aide…"
They small party bowed again, seeming to think they had to do so by the door, before they left. The faunus who closed the door behind them, and who were much more used to seeing Jaune as another one of them, looked deeply amused. On the chair, which was beginning to feel like a throne, Jaune slumped.
"Ugh. This is killing me…"
"You?" snapped Blake. "You're not the one drowning admin work. Damn Sienna," she whispered, without much heat. "It's going to be even worse back home when it'll be me of all people who has to tell the families of the fallen."
"Do you want my help with that?"
"No. Better you get started on this academy. They're right in that a hundred years will go fast. Even if we won't live to see it."
They wouldn't.
It was almost a relief, even if it felt wrong to say that.
"I'll forgive you it," said Ozma. "You've sacrificed much to get here. That I can give you a life to yourself is a weight off my shoulders as well."
"And yet I'll still be abandoning you to continue the fight alone." Blake looked up, but she'd gotten used to him talking to Ozma and went back to her work once she realised he wasn't talking to her.
"It's the way this world is. The alternative would be to gamble everyone's lives on gods that have already proven fallible. And it is not always pain. I will be able to experience peace once more with my rule in ascendancy."
"How much of a rule will it be?"
"A quiet one. Once, many tens of thousands of years ago, I ruled as a king. It was a flawed exercise. The world progresses better without centralised command. It stagnates under an ageless ruler, as it has with Salem. The shortness of the human lifespan is a catalyst for the great changes you make on the world. If everyone lived forever, no one would feel any haste to innovate. Nothing would change."
"Some might like that."
"The old often do," chuckled Ozma. "But it is the young who wish for change, and it is their world to inherit. The older generation should smile to hand it over and see what marvels they can create. I am the oldest man alive and hold true to that philosophy."
Jaune nodded and walked out the room. In truth, he was looking forward to growing old as well.
If only to prove he could.
/-/
The unlocking of aura progressed without him. Ruby told him all about it however, and how the teaching was going.
"Awkwardly" was the only word for it.
"There's definitely only a tiny portion of the soldiers who have signed up," she told him. "Blake says that as many as three quarters of them are holding back."
"Why?"
"I'm not sure but Ren says they're paranoid it's a trap of some kind. Either that the aura will go wrong, or you'll take them away with you when you leave."
Typical. They couldn't even help out without people looking for the ulterior motive.
"What a pain," he said, sighing. "I don't envy Coco looking after this lot."
"I still can't believe she wants to stay here."
"It's her home," said Jaune, shrugging. "Maybe she still has family here. I know she wants to stay close to Velvet, but I'm even more surprised she wants to stay after nearly being executed."
"Hmm." Ruby crossed her legs and sat beside him. "A lot of faunus are wanting to come back with us to Menagerie. Not just because it's better for faunus there, but because they know it'll be safer wherever the first academy is built. It's gonna get really cramped back there."
That was a bit of an exaggeration. There was a lot of space on the island to expand the town into, but it would mean a lot more construction. Maybe it would become large enough to count as a city. With the world's first huntsman academy, it would certainly be important enough to count as one.
"I just hope Coco will be able to handle training them on her own," said Jaune. "She'll be the last of the Chosen." Her support of them had always been more resigned than Pyrrha and Weiss', too. He wouldn't say she was disloyal, but she had less reason to be loyal. No lost family, no betrayal, no big reason to want to stay in Menagerie.
"Do you think she'd turn on us?"
"On her own? No. I'm more worried people will see her as the last loyal servant of Salem and blame her in some way. The Chosen followed Salem blindly, and the people here are looking for someone to blame. We're too strong, Salem has fled, the other Chosen are dead. But once we're gone, Coco will be just one person on her own. I wouldn't be surprised if some people got it in their heads to hold her responsible for our actions."
"They might dislike her, but I don't think they'd dare harm her. Too afraid we – well, you mostly – would come back to punish them."
"True." Jaune sighed. "I'm worried for the future in all honesty. Menagerie will be fine, I think. Everyone there knows the danger and is united. But what of the other kingdoms? I worry by the time we have our academy up, they might decide they're better off running things on their own. Salem unified them even as she ruled them, acting like God and queen both. Who will rule them now? Not me," he said, before Ruby could suggest it. "Do you want Vale?"
"Not a chance!" she barked. "I'm going back to Menagerie with you."
That was the problem. No one among them wanted Vale, no one but maybe Raven would accept it, and he wasn't going to give a country to her. They wouldn't put up with her, either. They were going to have to leave Vale to its own people, which they would appreciate for sure, but there was no telling who would rise to the top. A king, a queen, a steward, a council. Whichever it was, there would always be room for corruption and greed.
"The Grimm will unify people," said Ozma. "You can trust them to do that much."
He supposed they would. It didn't feel right to rely on it, but he had to give people a chance. The alternative was setting himself up as some kind of emperor and taking over, and that sounded too much like hard work. An ungrateful task, too. Hadn't he given enough to these people? They might not think so, but he was tired.
"I want to go home."
"Hm?" Ruby looked over at him. "Me too. And we will, soon."
"Yeah. I'll be happy to see the back of this place."
"And that stupid temple outside."
"That too. I understand them not wanting to tear down one of the few standing buildings, but those states of Salem are starting to bother me."
Ruby grinned. "Maybe they'll make statues of you to replace them."
That'd be even worse. He doubted they would, though. He was less a saviour and more an exposer. He'd shown Salem for what she was, but he'd only landed them with a more terrifying fate. Still, he was done feeling bad about that.
"Got any other plans once we're back home?" asked Ruby. "Other than starting up the academy, I mean."
"Hmm. Not really. I suppose I'll relax for once."
Ozma sighed inside his head. "You really are a dense one, Jaune."
What was that supposed to mean—? Ruby's fingers touched his, her hand resting atop his. She didn't quite look at him.
"Any other plans?" she asked, her voice a little nervous. "Any at all?"
He heard Ozma's distant laughter in his head.
"I…" Jaune swallowed nervously. Of all the battles he'd faced, this one was new. "I suppose I could make some time to test out something new. I was hoping you'd help me found the academy. There'd be a lot of planning and stuff."
"What does the stuff entail?"
"Nights alone. Planning. Talking." Jaune trailed off, trying to find a suave or even remotely sophisticated way to say what he thought she wanted to hear. "I'm really bad at this. Will you be patient? I'm still in shock that we've actually won. And even that's only for the next hundred years. It's those who come after that'll have to keep what we've started going."
"Our children," said Ruby.
"Yeah. Our—" His brain tripped over his tongue. "Wait, our—? You—"
Ruby tackled him.
Some things were easier said without words.
/-/
Blake nudged the door open with her hip and walked inside, face down. "I've finished going over our supplies and exchanging some out with the people here. We should have enough to make the journey home without leaving them to starve, but they want to trade some perishables for equipment. I said I'd talk to you to arrange—"
Her nostrils twitched as a smell assailed her.
Blake looked up.
Ruby looked back, from where she was snuggled under a rug with Jaune, the two of them looking out guiltily from the makeshift bed. Their bare shoulders poked out.
"Seriously?" Blake snarled. "Seriously? I'm breaking my back with paperwork making sure everything works and you two are doing this?"
Jaune had the good grace to look embarrassed.
"H—Hey Blake. So… uh… if you leave it by the door then I'll get onto it later…?"
"..."
Blake tossed the work at them and stormed out.
Probably Last Chapter: 10th December
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