Arc 2 - Chapter 21 - Behold, the Nightmare!

As far as Jaune understood it, his Aunt Peach's semblance allowed her to use two distinct abilities. Sever and Suture. The former - granting her the power to cut any physical object in her line of sight, no matter how durable, no matter how far away. The latter - the power to temporarily bind any two physical objects together as though conjoined by invisible stitches, no matter how big, no matter how resistant. The latter is what she'd done to a slab of earth she'd carved out of the cliffside, then proceeded to tether to the other side of the gorge.

It was with a healthy degree of anxiety and respect that Jaune peered down into the gaping chasm, as the rock platform carried him and the others gently across like valued products on a conveyor belt. It would probably be a long fall if something went wrong. Death, most likely. Granted, they were headed toward a particularly dangerous heart world where death was a far more likely fate than ever before. Still, that was a bit further away. While the terror of plummeting to his death was, in the moment, only a single mistake away from reality.

Jaune looked around at his cosmopolitan band. Peach was standing at one edge, completely unaffected by the fear of falling, though since she was rubbing her temples she probably had a lot more on her mind than dying. Neptune and Ruby sat in the middle and talked about nothing, cracking jokes or telling stories to lighten the mood. Cinder stood off alone, arms crossed as she stared into the distance, dark hair tousled by the wind. She must have sensed him looking, because she turned her golden eyes on him and held his gaze for a moment. Any moment now he'd get her trademark smirk, or a horny gesture of some kind.

Instead, he got a sort of tame smile from her, as if she had some worries on her mind, but did not want him to feel ignored. She subtly waved at him with her fingers. For an instant less sexy and more… cute, he guessed. Jaune waved back, offered something as close to a smile as he could, then turned back to manage his own worries, of which he had plenty sans the threat of looming death, which trounced most others.

The decision to keep his distance from Ruby was a particularly galling change, even if he technically could still go back on it. But Cinder was right. Jaune as he was, was no good for Ruby. No good for anyone. That didn't stop it from hurting though, not when with her things had felt so close to good. His complications with relationships sadly weren't only in the romantic sense, though.. He still had his aunt to think about.

Jaune watched her now, back to him. He imagined she was not loving him very much right now, after so many instances of being disobeyed. He had put unnecessary weight on her, and was ashamed to not have acknowledged it until now. All because he'd been thinking about his own needs, rather than trying to help her, even if it meant staying out of the way. He would never have made the progress he had without his aunt, that couldn't be denied. And this was how he repaid her? Some nephew he was.

When this was all over, he would make it right. He would promise to never ever do something like this again. Probably do something nice for her. Buy her a gift. That sounded good. For now though, he'd simply check on her, offer a few more apologies. Jaune swallowed, scraped on over to stand beside Peach and opened the best way he knew how.

"So, with your semblance?" And he pointed down at their slab carriage. "Can you do this to anything?"

It took his aunt a moment to answer, and Jaune couldn't tell if it was because she was tired or was irritated by his voice. Both maybe. "I can, yes. But there are limits."

"Like what?"

"I can only use one ability at a time. For example, I cut out this rock for us to use, and then I used my suture to tether it to the other side of the canyon. One after the other. Never at the same time."

"So like, if you had an enemy, you wouldn't be able to suture him to the ground and then cut off his head? You'd have to release the suture first?"

"Precisely. Likewise, anything I cut cannot be stitched back to where it came from," She tapped the rock with her foot. "This chunk of rock cannot go back to where I took it from, even if I try to suture it. That make sense?"

Jaune nodded. "Those are some weirdly specific rules."

"Semblances can be strange like that."

There was silence for a while, somewhere between comfortable and awkward. No doubt on account of him yet to get to the topic of importance.

"Aunt Peach?"

"What?" There was a bit of anger in her voice, like she was tired of his questions already. "What is it now, Jaune?"

"Um…" It stung, to hear her talk to him like that. He deserved it, but that was probably why it stung. There's few things that hurt worse than guilt. "You could have made us take Ruby back. Me and Neptune. We would have been out of your hair, at least."

Peach huffed like he'd foolishly brought up something of which she was well aware. "It would only take one of you to bring Ruby back to the real world, and don't pretend that you'd have volunteered to do so."

Jaune did not answer. Knowing damn well she was correct.

"At any rate, Ruby is safer here thanks to our current circumstances. I suppose my life wasn't stressful enough, so I must now protect three children, while trying to save my old friend before it's too late."

Jaune lowered his head. He hadn't considered how this mission was probably personal for her too. Perhaps he didn't care much for friendship, but it couldn't be denied that night at dinner that Tai, Qrow, and Peach had all had history with each other. Years of friendship. And one of those could very soon be taken from her. "I'm sorry. Auntie. I really didn't -"

She chuckled, looking up toward the sky like she was just about done keeping her thoughts in. "Enough with your sorrys, Jaune. I am fed up with them. You clearly don't respect me or the work we're doing if you cannot do even the smallest things I ask of you. Do you think I tell you just to be mean? To be restrictive? The rules are there to protect you." Her eyes were on him now, hard and a bit wet. "Maybe you don't care if you get hurt or killed, but your father does. Your sisters. If you can't be bothered to give a damn about what I want, at least think about them before you do something this foolish again. You are truly your mother's son."

Jaune paused. He'd never heard her say that before. "What do you mean?"

Peach huffed. "Your mother was just like you. Always intent on going her own way, even despite the promises and commitments she'd already made. Could never stick to a plan. She drove me crazy."

Jaune stared down. He didn't think it was such a bad thing that he was similar to his mother. He felt a little proud, actually. To have the little piece of her in him. "I'll make it up to you, Aunt Peach. I swear."

She glanced at him, her deep blue eyes behind wide glasses burning into his for a long moment - anger, and a trace of melancholy, like looking at him brought on sad memories. Then she turned back to stare into the approaching fog, saying nothing. Jaune had more questions - never seemed to run out, now that he thought about it. But it was best not to irritate his aunt anymore. So, he opted to wait out the rest of their ride in silence.

In time, they began to pass through the thick fog on the other side of the gorge, so heavy and damp that Jaune could see very little of anything. Until finally, their ride thumped against something solid and stayed there, and as if that were a magic word, the fog quickly began to thin and fade out, like a hot shower being aired out. The world beyond was, at last, laid before their anticipating eyes.

Jaune's mouth gaped. Not because he recognized the place, but because it was not at all what he'd expected.

It did not have the fantastically medieval aesthetic of the world behind them. No bustling town or rich culture. Indeed, if there had ever been such things, they were now buried near completely.

Upon the cliff they now stood on, Jaune gazed out to a great expanse of dark city that stretched on so far and so wide that there was no way to tell if there was an end to it. It was due only to a distant backdrop of a red skyline, as if the very sky was set ablaze, that light managed to illuminate some of it. There was no stable ground to speak of. Everything was buried to varying degrees in what had to be ash, the coarse smell clawing in his throat and nose, still hot like the ashes were freshly discarded here from the remains of countless campfires. What might have one been looming cathedrals and clock towers now only just poked out of the dust, their clocks frozen in time. Rooftops stuck awkwardly out of the ground, spired towers were tilted at precarious angles, all looking more akin to tombstones over the world's biggest graveyard. Who was to say it wasn't?

"Look at the moon!" said Ruby, pointing up.

Jaune did, and what he saw he was not comfortable with. So big and close that it looked like it was getting closer by the second. That, with a simple jump, one could clear the distance and land on the surface. Only in a quarter phase, so the rest of it was submerged in darkness, but what was truly shocking was the fact that the clouds seemed to pass behind the moon. Entirely disregarding the disturbing implication that this celestial body had somehow crossed the boundary that kept it and the planet it circled apart, and had somehow not crashed down and destroyed everything. Yet.

"Well, this is certainly dramatic." said Cinder, in what might have seemed a joking manner, if Jaune hadn't seen the way her eyes narrowed.

Ruby had her hand halfway to her mouth. "This is my uncle's heart?"

"I'm certain," said Peach. "The despair is palpable."

Jaune was about to question how she knew, then he felt it like a mighty gale had just rolled in. His stomach began to ache and he felt a great weight settle on his shoulders and stay there. He could see that the others felt it too, with Neptune and Ruby dropping to their knees and holding their stomachs, gasping for air. even Cinder had to steady herself, lips twisted into a foul sneer.

In a moment of total mercilessness, Peach gestured for everyone to follow without giving them even a chance to get their bearings. "Cinder, vanguard. Kids, I need you three to stay between us." She raised a finger to them. "No matter what happens, do not wander off. We have no idea what this world is like. Stick together. And when I tell you to do something, damn well do it and don't question me. Understood?"

Obedient nods everywhere, and Jaune helped Neptune and Ruby up and let them lean on him until they were ready enough to walk on their own.

It was as they were precariously picking their way down the cliff that Jaune thought he heard something. Which, given the absolute stillness of this hellscape was not at all the kind of thing he wished to entertain. Still, it was there. What sounded like crying. Or was it laughter? It was a young child, that much was clear. Faint and distant, but it was there. It settled in the corner of his mind, too far away to disturb his thoughts, yet ever present like elevator music on loop.

Jaune turned and looked back at Cinder. "Do you hear that?"

She raised a dark eyebrow. "Hear what?"

She hadn't then. He was imagining it. Of course. That made sense. "Nothing. Never mind."

Since arriving in this wasteland - which carried an unfortunate implication since it was meant to be her uncle's heart - Miss Peach had determined that there were probably no people about, but Ruby hadn't thought too much about why this might be the case.

Now she had an idea.

They'd come upon what looked like the city's thoroughfare. Or what had been. What was once likely a great bustling street of activity and life, was now covered in thick ashen snows, street lamps poking their hands out from the dust, still alight with violet flames and casting violet light in flickering circles. Houses were in varied states of ruin - those which weren't totally buried anyway. The air was still and dead. Ruby couldn't feel it even when she took a breath or waved her arms around, as there was nothing anyone could do to get it to stir. and yet it was cold. But not on her skin. Inside. The chill had crept into her very organs just standing there. And why? Because the street was populated.

Ruby had been staring for the longest time at a wall. Not a tall one by comparison, just a mound of earth that served as the foundation for the houses built upon them. But the wall itself was not what had her attention. No. It was the statues climbing it.

It was clear they had made the attempt to scale that wall, and in a hurry too, like they'd been trying to escape from someone. Or something. One man in a big hat had made it halfway up, but was now just frozen there, one foot on the wall's edge, the other dangling, and for some reason partly absorbed into the wall. Another man and woman were clawing up too, hands clawing at the edges, their chests and legs eaten up by the stone as well. Another Man was trying to lift his young child to pass him to someone already on top of the wall, and now the child and the person reaching for him were now petrified inches from each other's arms, forever separated. Ruby's attention went to a more pressing individual. a girl perhaps not much older than her, who seemed to have been trying to climb the wall, but had turned her head to look behind.

Her mouth was stretched into a Disturbingly wide, painfully eternal scream, her eyes dead and pupil-less, as if whatever she had seen had driven her insane at only a glance. Ruby could almost hear her scream somehow - curdling, haggard, and in vain.

"Ruby? Come on," said Neptune as came up and tapped her.

Ruby looked between him and the girl, then hurried on with him back to the group. It would have been nice to say it got better from there, but it seemed luck did not favor her tonight.

All throughout the street, from the buried sidewalks to the high balconies, from the shattered roofs of houses to the twisted spires of churches and old apothecaries, statues were frozen in a perpetual state of panic and horror, a thousand people trying to escape a danger too horrible for Ruby to imagine. People were stuck in mid-sprint, fallen over, or trying to scrape back up. Others had turned to face what was after them, had fallen to their knees praying, or held their hands out as if being this thing to spare them. No one shows any attempt to fight. There were heaps of people scaling the walls, one on top of the other like some great and twisted mass of arms and legs bubbling out of the architecture. Some were frozen mid-fall, others reaching the top just to discover there was nowhere to escape to, and all of them grafted together, fused to the world, flesh and bone joined with stone and ash. Nothing was spared. No one was spared.

"What the hell…" Neptune whispered, face almost as frozen as the statues. Ruby wondered if that was what had done it. Had the fear these people felt turned them to stone? Into corpse statues?

Ruby couldn't even take solace in the idea that this was all just a big art project, that none of these were real people and just sculptures. Certainly, that was weird enough to be in a heart world. But Ruby did not believe much in that idea. Not at all. On and on it went, the same scene but growing more and more maddening as the numbers of the dead increased. If they even were dead. Maybe they were alive somehow, trapped in their own bodies, unable to get out screams even to those near them. Constantly begging for help. For rescue. For relief from their torment. Their nightmare.

Ruby might have taken that chance to hold on to someone - wishing that Jaune hadn't pulled away from her and now making it harder for her to know what to do with him. Even with the four of them around her, and the relative confidence of the leading Miss Peach, she didn't feel safe in the slightest. Who was to say whatever got these people wouldn't be coming for them eventually? It could be on its right now, even. Hungry for more victims.

The last person she'd expected to get any comfort from was Cinder, and she certainly brought none as she sidled up to Ruby with a stern frown on her porcelain face. "Is this what you hoped to see within your uncle's heart?"

Ruby had no idea what she'd expected, and least of all people was she going to tell her. She kept to herself, but Cinder went on.

"Truly fascinating, isn't it? the horrors one may find in the soul of a loved one. The deepest reaches of their subconscious. You can never know what will be there. And it can change how you view them. forever."

Ruby didn't know what she was trying to say, but chose to keep quiet still, hoping she would eventually leave her alone.

"I know how it can feel. I had an acquaintance once. He was a well enough man, and in need of saving. My very first mark. Well, I dived into his heart, determined to do my best to help… and I saw that he had a rather… fixated fascination with children. One's much younger than you. Of course, this never stopped me from doing my job. Life goes on, of course. Still, I will never forget what I saw. Never."

Ruby was not liking where this conversation was headed. "So?"

Cinder put up that nasty grin of hers. "So, my point is, you'd best steel your heart for what we may encounter in this place. A simple warning for our latest addition. Don't I get a thank you?"

Ruby glared at her, but Cinder didn't wait for her thank you and sauntered back to her position at the back, Leaving Ruby with a fresh helping of thoughts. She figured Cinder for the lying type and certainly looked as such, but she saw no reason for her to lie about this. This was the deepest part of her uncle's soul. There were things inside he would never want people to know about. Was she prepared to see such things? Would they change how she felt about her uncle? Ruby was considering now what a good idea it was to simply get out and go home while she still had her sanity. She didn't see herself returning home the same otherwise.

Ruby kept to herself as the group kept on, her boots sifting in the ash, worries and thoughts knotting around in her aching head.

Singing. Someone was singing.

By and by the city went, changing very little, and Jaune had suspected some kind of sound breaking through the static silence. Carried over on the wind, if there had been any. It was the way he heard it, though. He didn't get that feeling that it was passing through his ears. It was like recalling a song in your head. Then, like an annoying fly, it kept on playing in his head, scratching at his mind like it was trying to get in.

At first, he tried ignoring it. But that went about as well as ignoring a thing often does. Then he looked around at the ruins, wondering if he might spot someone nearby, maybe catch where the song was drifting over from. That was equally fruitless since it seemed like the song was coming from both everywhere and nowhere. And what was worse, was that it seemed like no one else had noticed but him, which made him think he was simply hallucinating. Like he'd used to. Only now he didn't have his medicine. Hadn't needed it for years. It'd pass, Jaune told himself. Just had to tough it out.

Usually, his episodes would pass in half an hour. So he gave it a grace period of double the time. The song persisted. At a particularly high peal, like the collective wail of choir women in a church, Jaune hurried up to his aunt and whispered, "Auntie. I'm…"

She looked at him, a little annoyed. "What is it, Jaune?"

He swallowed. "I'm hearing things again."

What annoyance she felt quickly melted away, replaced with cold shock. "Now? I thought they stopped years ago."

"Me too."

Peach took a moment to think. "Wait. What does it sound like, honey?"

"Like… I dunno. I guess it's a song? I don't hear any words, just… voices. Like a church hymn."

"You hear that, too?" It was Neptune who had spoken, looking surprised. "That song?"

Ruby came up next, looking like she had no idea what they were going on about. "I don't hear any - "

"I hear it as well," cut in Cinder, nodding toward Peach. "What is it? I've never heard such a thing. Could simply be an aspect of Qrow's world?"

Peach slowly shook her head. "No. I know what this is. Everyone join hands now."

As commanded and without argument, Jaune took Neptune's hand since it was nearest, while Neptune took Ruby's, and Ruby took Cinder's. though Jaune did not miss how they both looked disgusted with each other beforehand. The hell could that be about?

"Eyes closed too." Said Peach as she took Jaune's hand.

"Huh?" Jaune questioned.

"Did I stutter? Eyes closed, now!"

Jaune flinched at her yell, but obeyed. The world was dark, though not much darker than it had been already,

"I'm sorry about this. It'll hurt for a moment. Suture."

It was only a moment, but Jaune still yelped like a kicked puppy. It felt like someone pricked him in both eyes with a needle. The others made their own little shrieks as well, even Cinder. He tried opening his eyes, but found that he couldn't do it. What's more, it was painful to even try.

"Stay calm," said Peach. "The sound you're hearing comes from a type of Grimm. One that you cannot look at. Or rather you can't let them look into your eyes."

A Grimm that they could not look at? What in the actual fuck? "How do we kill it then?"

"You don't. Or you can't anyway, by normal means. It takes a special kind of power to eliminate them and it's a trait long extinct. In any case, These Grimm cannot physically harm you, so all we need to do is avoid them. Now come on, there could be many to get through."

A special power? Long extinct? Many of these Grimm to get through? The further Jaune went into this heart-hunting business, the more questions came up, with answers a long ways off. None of what he'd learned just now was reassuring. But what else could he do about it now? Like a blind centipede shambling awkwardly along, the group moved on, newly helpless without Peach's guidance.

It was a short time later that Jaune felt the air begin to change. No longer still, empty, and devoid of temperature. Now, it was cold, and getting colder with every step. Jaune felt his foot crunch through something and knew he'd stepped in snow again. The air was positively clawing at his skin.

Soon enough, He felt Peach let him go, and that tightness in his eyelids vanished. "It's safe to look."

It was safe, yes, but Jaune feared he would regret it. Turned out he ended up only half-regretful.

They stood now in the center of the city. A great fountain square surrounded by tall dark buildings. Or they would have been dark, had they not been encased in ice. Everything was. The ground, the lamps, the ashen ground, cold mist wafting up, up high into the air. Jaune did not need to guess at whose work this was.

"The Wolf did this." he said, "he used it on me and Neptune the last time we were here."

Cinder blinked at him. "This fellow turned this entire city square to ice?"

"And more," Peach had approached something jutting up from the ground. Knocked her knuckles on its frozen surface. "This here is the Grimm I mentioned. a Shard of the Brain."

Jaune couldn't see how the creature could be referred to as a shard when it looked like a full brain on its own. First off, the thing was big. Damn big. Its bulbous head seemed about as tall as he was and wide enough that it would take a couple of people to completely circle it with their arms outstretched. And speaking of arms, its tentacles were so long that they spread out like coiling straps of translucent silk, folding and floating around as if before being encased in ice, it had been floating off the ground. Behind the ice, the wet red organ that was its massive brain pulsed like it was still alive, faintly glowing red as it sat in a crown of teeth-like bone. It had no eyes that Jaune could see.

But it was watching him. It was watching them all.

"Look, there's more!" called Ruby, having ambled away from the group and was pointing at another Shard, frozen suspended off the ground.

"Here too," called Neptune, pointing at two more.

"They're everywhere," said Cinder grimly. Having adopted a face Jaune had never seen before on her. Fear.

They were everywhere, as she had said. Bursting from the ground like a meadow of flowers, popping from the roofs and walls like mushrooms, their giant brains pulsing. A great blooming of ice imprisoned abominations, held at bay from their dark intentions, and who was to say for how long. Jaune almost felt like he was underwater; there were so many, his breaths feeling restricted, his lungs tight, a trickle of sweat coming off his brow.

The whole time, their song persisted in the back of his mind, no louder for being so close. A whispering holistic hymn from a choir of wicked evangels, beckoning upon their god. We're here, the wordless song seemed to say.

"This many…" whispered Peach, shaking her head. "I can't believe it."

Jaune turned to her. "Sorry if this is a dumb question, but is this many here a bad thing?"

"Worse than you could imagine."

"They're just frozen. Why aren't they affecting us?"

Peach dragged her hand across the ice. "They need to make direct eye contact. Nothing can be in the way. Even a transparent wall would nullify their attacks."

"Attacks? What do these things do that they only have to look at you?"

"It's a psychological attack. And because of that, we can't be sure completely. What I can tell you is that it causes a great torrent of Despair to invade the heart by…" and she paused.

"By what?"

Peach sighed. "By showing their target their worst fear. And I don't mean things like spiders or the dark. I mean a very specific thing - something so horrible and specific to the victim that it causes a mental breakdown. Over time, the victim becomes entirely lacking in consciousness, in self-awareness. In a way, you could say the entire effect is like giving a person dementia and then pressing fast forward."

By the Brothers…. Jaune looked up at the giant demon jellyfish with newfound terror, the likes of which he'd never experienced in his life. He wanted nothing but to run, far away, and never looked back. Why had he come here when he didn't have to? He wasn't ready to deal with something like this. But it was too late. He'd made his choice, had he not? This was the bed he'd chosen to lay in, and there was no guarantee he'd get up from it again.

Out of the corner of his eye, Jaune saw someone. Someone standing half hidden behind a house, staring at him with one big bright eye. A little boy. Seven, maybe eight years old. A wild tangle of yellow hair like he'd just woken up from a nap and accidentally wandered into this terrible world. It was impossible to read his face, his mouth carved from stone and making it unclear if he was wearing a smile or a frown.

That and he was missing his eyes. What stared back at Jaune was but two little black pits, devoid of life, reason, or understanding. Jaune felt even colder just looking into them, seemingly drawn in like those empty eye sockets were black holes.

"Aunt Peach…" Jaune whispered, unable to get her attention for some reason. He should have tapped her, but he couldn't help but stare at the boy. Who was he? Why was he here? Just a hallucination, maybe? Since the song had proven to be the work of Grimm, Jaune had felt sure he hadn't regressed to his old problems. Now, he was again reconsidering. Or was Peach wrong and that Shard of the Brain was now showing Jaune something?

Was he now seeing his greatest fear? If so, why was it a child?

"Let's go. We can't waste more time here." Jaune felt his aunt take his hand, then he was walking after her, head turned to keep watching the boy, who only continued to watch him. He swore they watched each other until they were out of sight.

Perhaps long after that.

Jaune jolted as Cinder dropped from the sky and landed bent-kneed a few strides away, ash flying up around her.

He saw her for a moment, there from his hiding spot on a roof with Ruby and Neptune, where they'd been told to stay while the adults handled the enemy, which for once Jaune did not argue with. Cinder stood full height, and Jaune saw she had ash on her body, in her hair, a cut across her leg, and a bad scrape on her perfect face. Even her hair was a bit frazzled like it had been exposed to a hair dryer for too long. She didn't even meet his eyes, too focused on the distant rampaging Grimm as she summoned two black glass swords, squatted, then launched into the air on a jet of red fire, flying back to the battle.

If Jaune had once had an inkling that he was out of his depth, now he was dead certain. And would certainly be dead if it weren't for Cinder and Peach.

Jaune looked over toward where the fighting was, toward the distant part of the city that was quickly being laid to ruin. As if it somehow could get more ruined. Grimm everywhere, and of species Jaune had only seen in the bestiaries. An S-class Wyvern bellowed a roar so powerful that Jaune felt the blowback even from so far away, its mighty wings sounded like thunder with every flap. The devil unleashed a torrent of fire so huge that no Minotaur could ever hope to match it, blinding bright and spreading. The flames never got anywhere though, because they folded in like some invisible force was pushing them back. Cinder's work, no doubt. Then, it Was fired right back at its owner, scoring a screeching explosion in its face. The dragon hissed and dropped onto a cluster of buildings, sending up a mushroom cloud of dust and debris.

And that was just one of them. There were two more circling the battlefield too.

"Holy shit… holy shit…" Neptune was whispering, looking at the scene himself.

Jaune was thinking much the same. Giant raven-like Grimm called Nevermore came down in flocks, utterly dwarfed by the Wyverns but still huge compared to everything else. their collective caw sounded like holding a megaphone to nails across a blackboard. Alone, the beasts were a challenge equivalent to a Minotaur, but of course, that was when they were alone. Needless to say, Jaune was not equipped to fight even two of these winged beasts.

But Peach? It was practically like swatting flies.

In rapid succession, the Nevermores' wings were clipped, chopped off like a giant invisible knife was put to them. Some lost their heads or were split in half, their pieces crashing into their brethren until the whole swarm of them was like a flock of dead birds plummeting from the sky, mere chunks of what they once were. And none of thus accounted for the grounded Grimm, who'd swarmed and continued to swarm from all over. Jaune could not see what was happening, but he doubted they were causing much discomfort to his aunt and her old apprentice. The two of them against an army. And winning. Jaune was glad they were on his side. Who wouldn't be?

But after only a few days of feeling so capable and strong, he was reminded once again just how out of his depth he really was. There was nothing he could contribute to this fight. Nothing at all. So even if Peach would allow him to fight the Alter Qrow, it wouldn't matter. He'd be useless. Dead weight. A liability to those more capable.

Ruby and Neptune were no doubt thinking similarly, or at least Jaune liked to think so. That he wasn't alone in wallowing in a sea of crippling insignificance. The three of them all sat around one another like children at a campfire, while the adults took up their guns to take care of the wolves. Scared close to pissing themselves, yes, but for Jaune an equal amount of disappointment. For which he could only blame himself.

Ruby, sitting across from him, hugged her legs and looked very much like she needed a hug from another person. Looking terrified, naturally, but in that way like she was well adjusted to the feeling by now. She'd been quiet since entering Qrow's heart - perhaps that was on account of all the monsters and disturbing things they'd seen and would likely see more of. But it felt like more than that. Like something was bothering her beyond what was going on around them.

Jaune thought to go on and sit beside her, maybe press her to his side, gently coax her to let her feelings out. He might appreciate that warmth and closeness too, being honest. He almost did it, but found a way to control himself. It wasn't good or right. Ruby needed space from him. Still, that didn't mean he couldn't ask about her welfare, did it? Just as a friend, though. Yes. As a friend.

"Are you hanging in there, Ruby?" he asked.

She glanced up at him, silver eyes glistening, then back down. "I'm trying."

Another distant explosion, bits of burning Grimm rained down from the sky, far behind Ruby.

"Anything you want to talk about?"

Ruby was quiet for a moment, then looked up at him. "Have you ever gone into someone's heart and regretted it? Like, you learned something you didn't want to?"

Jaune glanced at Neptune, who cracked a weak smile and said, "I mean, I can't say I was too happy with the stuff I saw about myself, if that counts."

Jaune turned back to Ruby. "Are you afraid of what you might see in your uncle's heart?"

Ruby nodded, a flash of light across her face from the distant dragon fire. "I didn't even think about it, at first. Just wanted to help, but… then I started to think maybe I shouldn't see anything here. I mean, it's not right, is it? Diving into a person's soul, learning things they might not want the world to know." She wrung her hands together. "It feels like I'm crossing a line."

Jaune couldn't help but feel like this might be aimed at him, if only tangentially. Ruby's heart contained her deepest fears and insecurities, and he hadn't thought about that when he made the dive. "We have rules for things like that. We can't divulge the information we find except to fellow Hunters involved with our marks. And, normally, Hunters aren't allowed to dive into the hearts of family or friends. To avoid… well, a lot of drama, I guess."

Ruby nodded slowly. "I guess I broke the rules before I even knew what happened. What if there is stuff in this place I don't want to see? What if it'll change how I look at my uncle? I… I already might lose him. I don't want one of the last things I think of him to be something horrible that I'll never forget."

There was no more unique horror than discovering something about someone you love that changes how you see them. Jaune used to be well adjusted and prospering in his youth, now even his younger sisters were always wary of him, always looking ready to catch him in case he was about to break into tears. At times, he felt like some of them liked him less now, for the broken mess that he was. Wishing for a normal brother that didn't cause them so many problems. Now, Jaune was dealing with such a thing himself. Wondered what secrets his aunt was keeping from him, wondering why and feeling hurt that she was doing so, even if it might be for his own good. That feeling that if he discovered such secrets, it might be too much for his already twisted mind to wrap itself around.

"It won't change that you love him." It was the best Jaune could offer.

"You think?"

"I know."

"How?" Ruby looked at him pleadingly, her face ignited by the light of a distant explosion, a Grimm roared far off. "How do you know, huh? How?"

"I…" Jaune had no example to give her, not a perfect match for her situation anyway, and yet it felt like he understood that feeling still. Somehow. "I just know, okay? Isn't that enough?"

Ruby went back to staring at her boots. Evidently, it was not enough. It looked like she was about to bring up something again, but thought against it and stayed quiet.

The only sound from there on was that of the distant battle as the three of them sat together, as out of place as three teenagers could be, in this nightmare world they were too small, too weak...

And perhaps too sane to survive in.

Small Addendum: In the previous chapter, it was stated that two weeks passed inside the heart world. This is incorrect. It's supposed to be only a couple of days. So thank you to the reviewer who pointed that out to me.

Otherwise, hope you enjoyed the chapter and see you in the next one.

ISA