Chapter 36

Jaune walked in the moonlight.

The only sound was the sound of his footsteps crunching on the leaves. His hands were in his pockets.

He walked slowly, lost in his thoughts.

Back when he had joined Beacon... the only goal was to become a huntsman.

Just to honor the line of huntsmen that had come before him. His father, his grandfather, who fought in the Great War for Vale, his father before him, and his father before him.

To become a hero, destined to help those in need. That was who he had wanted to be, back when he had foolishly joined Beacon without even aura.

And now...

They were waging war against the Queen of the Grimm.

Oh, and she was immortal too. With nigh-instantaneous regeneration...

The fate of the world rested on their shoulders.

And, with that reminder, Jaune's shoulders felt like they were holding up the very definition of responsibility.

It was insane, stupid, crazy! He definitely wasn't cut out for this.

It was incomprehensible.

They couldn't do this. He would have backed out of this entire thing long ago...

But...

They had the best allies on their side.

Perseus Jackson, or Apollyon. His team leader, and his good friend. The most powerful demigod of his age, who held too many titles to count, and had already saved the world twice over. This was nothing new for him.

Qrow Branwen and Taiyang Xiao-Long, who were members of the famous Team STRQ, and experienced, powerful huntsmen in their own right.

Pyrrha Nikos, the Invincible Girl of Mistral, his partner, who was also a quarter maiden.

Oscar Pine, or formerly Professor Ozpin, or Ozma. A reincarnating wizard, who had been holding Salem off for thousands of years.

It seemed like he couldn't be relied upon, though. After what had happened... Ozpin, or Ozma, just didn't appear anymore.

Jaune, just like everyone else, wanted to punch his face out. Qrow and Tai had both wanted to cave his skull in.

What had happened in that story fractured what little trust they had left in Ozpin.

Lying to them, keeping things secret, and even causing the entire situation in the first place. It was...

Jaune clenched his fist. It was unacceptable.

Only the presence of Percy had helped them change things up, and allowed information between them to flow more freely. Teamwork.

Even so, their two groups weren't shabby at all. They had all come a long way since Beacon.

But they could lose. They weren't infallible.

Despite everything, they were just first year huntsmen trainees. What if something happened to one of them?

If assassins came in the middle of the night, or if one of them went down in battle... what would become of them?

He was still the stupid, foolish boy who had cheated his way into Beacon and faked his transcripts. He was the weakest of their group.

And so, if the day came that something would happen to one of them...

Jaune hated to admit that he would be too weak to do anything about it.

He was broken out of his thoughts by the snapping of a twig.

He whirled around, hand on Crocea Mors, drawing it. There was a flash of steel, and it was in his hands in an instant.

"Who's there?"

A certain black and red haired girl stepped out from behind a tree.

"Ruby?"

"H-Hey, Jaune," she waved at him, embarrassed.

He sighed, sheathing his sword.

"Ruby? Why are you here?"

"I heard you get up from your sleeping bag," she admitted, "You couldn't sleep?"

Jaune thinned his lips, "No. You couldn't either?"

"O-Oh... yeah..."

"Hey, Ruby."

"Y-Yeah, Jaune?"

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure!" she chirped.

"How do you feel right now?"

"What do you mean?" Ruby asked uncertainly.

"How do you feel about..." Jaune ran a hand through his hair, "I dunno, everything. How are you taking it?"

"I... I'm not super sure..." she admitted.

There was a silence that ran through the clearing. Neither of them really knew what to say.

And then, Ruby was the one to fill the silence.

"I-I always wanted to be a hero, a huntsman," she started, "Kinda like you, in a way. I wanted to be one of the great heroes in the fairytales, and to help the people..."

"I never thought it would have turned out like this, though," she continued, "With everything that's going on... it's almost too much."

Jaune's shoulders slumped, and he let out an exhale through his nose, "Yeah."

"Is that why you're here? Because you couldn't sleep?"

Ruby came closer to him, looking into his eyes. Jaune drew back, and she pushed forward.

"A-Are you scared?"

Jaune drew in a sharp breath.

"Y-Yeah."

His back hit the trunk of a tree.

"Why are you scared?" she peered at him, with those wide, beautiful, silver eyes of hers.

"I-I'm afraid. I'm afraid that something might happen to one of us. Maybe someone comes and attacks us in the middle of the night. Maybe one of us goes down to the Grimm..."

"And I'll be too weak to do anything about it. I'm the deadweight of this group."

"I'm not Percy. Despite all the training, I'm not even near anywhere you guys are. I'm still..."

He laughed mirthlessly, gesturing to himself, "At the end of the day, I'm still me. I don't have that much skill, or strength. I'm not like Percy, who has that much strength and power and skill."

"I'm not like Pyrrha, who is a quarter maiden, and can fight her way through anyone. I'm not like Yang, who can punch through whatever's in front of her, or Nora, who can smash through anything she wants to. I'm not like Weiss, who can use dust to do almost magic, or Blake, who can clone around quickly. I'm not like you, who can speed around, or even Ren, who can provide us with support and shield us from the Grimm."

"And, even if I had that much strength, I don't think it would matter. Even Percy couldn't save everyone. At the end of the day, I'm just..."

He closed his eyes. He let out a breath, shuddering.

A warmth clasped around his hands. Jaune opened his eyes, looking down.

Her small hands, somehow warm, clasped around one of his hands. Silver eyes met his blue ones.

"You're you, Jaune. Don't be so mad at yourself. None of us are all powerful," she said softly, "And like you said, if even Percy couldn't do anything about it, why should you worry? And that's what matters."

"You've come a long way. We all have. We have to be ready," she insisted, pressing into him.

"And how are we supposed to be ready for an immortal Queen of the Grimm, with insane magical powers and equally insane instant regeneration?"

Jaune knew he was playing the devil's advocate here, but part of him didn't care. He didn't care.

"I-I..."

"How are we going to do it? Isn't this just the world's most advanced suicide mission ever? What's even the point? We might as well all die anyway," he laughed mirthlessly, "That way we can die together!"

"J-Jaune... I-I don't know..."

He realized that he had advanced towards her, and her back was against a tree now. She had her hands out, trying to placate him.

A silence permeated throughout the clearing. He took heavy, deep breaths. He took a step backwards, and then another step.

He had been screaming at her. He had been yelling at her, like some child throwing a tantrum.

What kind of person was he?

Fuck, he was horrible. He had just blown up in Ruby's face, all for nothing.

He exhaled.

"No, it's fine. I'm sorry. I'm sorry for yelling at you. You didn't deserve any of it."

Jaune slumped, slowly lowering himself and sitting on the ground. His back leaned against the trunk of a tree.

After a split second, he heard Ruby come to sit beside him.

"Yeah, I kinda get it, honestly," she chuckled slightly, "Sometimes I also want to yell and scream too. It's like, super super insane that we're doing this. We're just teenagers."

"And how do you deal with it?" Jaune asked.

"Everyone has different ways of dealing with it. Yang likes to put her anger into workouts. Weiss and Blake would become cold and distant... I would probably, I dunno, funnel my anger into training too, and burst into rose petals, y'know? I don't really have time to sulk."

"That... actually makes a lotta sense..."

Ruby sighed, "Yeah. We just need to endure this," she shuffled closer to Jaune, their shoulders touching.

"We can do this! Believe in yourself, Jaune, believe in your team- Believe in us!"

The corners of his lips seemed to lift up ever so slightly at her words.

He cracked a smile, "Y-Yeah. Just believe."

"Sometimes, you just have to believe."

She laid her head on his shoulder, and he thought he could feel her smile. He smiled, too.

He didn't want to see that smile ever fade away. More than anything.

He vowed silently to never let it happen.

Arc's honor.

Liu Kalman, Heir Apparent of House Han, drew his saber with a flash of steel.

The golden edge shined under the moonlight, flickering. The rest of the blade, a white, stoic metal, did not.

He held it in front of him, handling it with practiced ease. Its handle settled perfectly in his hand, Despite the black titanium not having shined under the moon, it reflected an image. A man with golden orbs stared back at him, with long, sleek, white hair.

He began his crescent dance.

A low, sweeping strike, leaving an arc of blinding white behind it.

A shift to a high stance, a slice from the upper shoulder down to the left hip, which would have bisected an opponent. His white, flowing robes obscured the movement for his imaginary opponent, and the next swift, crescent slash finished them off.

He thrust, pulling backwards and unleashing eight slashes in rapid succession, each one flowing and twisting, and ensnaring the imaginary opponent in his trap. They would try, futilely, to look for some kind of escape, only to find none. There was nothing there.

And he stepped back, lowering his sword.

To be a sword of Mistral was to be many things.

It was to act honorably, and justly. Swiftly, and with courage and bravery. Not the lack of fear, but the ability to overcome that fear. To ultimately carry out the law of the Council of Mistral to establish justice. To be a paragon of the people.

It was to put the kingdom before yourself, to put service before fleeting desires.

So that one day, a god may grace Mistral with his blessing, and that, one day, Mistral may become the most powerful nation on Remnant once more.

Pyrrha Nikos herself had been well on track to becoming a Sword of Mistral, until she went to Beacon Academy. Nearly every Sword of Mistral in history had graduated from Haven Academy or achieved some glory in battle in some way.

Anyone could challenge one of the three current Swords and take their spot.

It was a motivator, to ensure that no Sword grew complacent in their position.

No one batted an eye when he took the position of a Sword of Mistral from House Roma.

It was expected, because he was the heir of House Han, one of the two greatest and most powerful houses in all of Mistral. None of the other heirs had even made it this far.

He readied himself, about to launch into another tirade of flashing attacks-

"Kalman?"

He turned around, seeing a familiar green-eyed, brown-haired woman in front of him. She, like him, wore flowing ornamental robes, but was adorned with various accented pauldrons and armor, and armored combat boots.

"Yoshimoto," he greeted her by her last name.

She was Yoshimoto Nao, of House Yoshimoto, a relatively unknown minor house.

She had challenged the previous Sword of Mistral a year ago. No one had high expectations. House Yoshimoto was one of the smaller minor houses, and had produced no praiseworthy achievements or heirs.

She was someone who was twenty four years old, and had already graduated from Haven Academy years ago, but she had never even participated in a tournament before, let alone a challenge.

But, in an absolute reversing of events, she managed to completely curb stomp the former Sword, and took the title. It was a surprise to everyone who had watched.

"Oh come on, you've been calling me Nao for some time now, I think you can do it here~"

He rejected her request.

"I refuse. It is improper to address another Sword so informally."

"Kalmannn~" she whined, nudging his shoulder.

When he didn't respond, Nao sobered up.

"Kalman." She said his name softly, "What are you doing up here?"

They were on the rooftop of the main cathedral of Apollyon.

The lights of Mistral's buildings glowed. On the higher portions of Mount Olympus, lanterns set the night alight. The wave of candles and lanterns could be seen on every ledge and building, down towards the base of the mountain.

He sheathed his sword.

"Are you training again? For what?" Nao wondered aloud.

"You have armor on as well," Kalman stated.

"Stop deflecting. I was going after you. So, what are you doing up here?"

Kalman didn't answer.

"You're not going to answer me, are you?"

He held out his right palm. The light drizzle of rain kissed his skin, as the droplets slowly coalesced onto a small puddle in the center of his palm.

"It's raining."

"You didn't answer my question."

"Perhaps I didn't."

If Kalman knew one thing, it was that Nao was persistent. But she acquiesced here and didn't push anymore. It was strange.

They stood in silence, a light drizzle pouring from the dark, grayish clouds above. There was a sound of thunder in the distance.

"Is that all?"

"No."

She looked him in the eye. "What do you think of Apollyon?"

"Are you doubting our god?" he instead replied.

"Not in the slightest," she countered. "I'm simply asking for your opinion."

"I see," he accepted.

Again, they stood in silence. Comfortable, but not comfortable.

Silence wasn't deafening. It wasn't caressing.

It was just that.

Silence.

"You should go inside." Nao broke the silence, "You'll get cold."

"Perhaps."

Already, his white hair was wet. But he liked to indulge himself in the rain.

Indulge himself in the will of their God.

He supposed Irwys and Nao were more practical, but...

Perhaps that was what faith was. The absence of evidence. Maybe even the absence of reason.

Simply pure belief.

It was a dark, rainy night in the town of Higabana.

Qrow Branwen sighed, taking a sip of his drink, trying to forget what Ozpin had told them. Other than that revelation, the journey so far had been nothing out of the ordinary, really. At least for him.

For the kids, it was a different story. They were learning how to camp outside and survive on the move. As far as Qrow could recall, his two nieces, Ruby and Yang, had never done such a thing before, and that kid that looked like Tai... what was his name again?

Either way, that Arc kid had only ever really gone camping with his family. The other two kids were more experienced, so at least that helped.

Tai and him would let the kids fight Grimm, and they even met a geist on the way there. Of course, Tai being the overprotective dad that he was, the guy got worried, but Qrow convinced him to let them grow and learn.

After all, there was nothing better than learning on the move. Forged in fire, was what Percy had called it. A crucible of war.

He was still trying to drink away what Ozpin had told them. He tried to take his mind off it. He couldn't see Ozpin as the same person anymore.

He kept secrets, crucial secrets from them.

For fucks sake, he had caused the entire fucking thing by cheating on the hag! Qrow slammed his curled fist onto the wooden table, causing the table to rock slightly, as splinters flew from the impact.

And that habit of paranoia was born from betrayal, from years of fighting against Salem, an immortal witch.

There was a fifth relic. The sword of balance, which was the only one to not have a name...

Percy would probably have something, right? The kid would have to, cuz this had all of them stumped.

Qrow heard footsteps coming closer to him, and he looked up.

A cute waitress approached him slowly, placing a drink down on his table.

Qrow looked up at her, "Oh, I didn't uh-"

"From the woman upstairs," she gestured, "Red eyes. Said you wouldn't mind bottom shelf."

Red eyes? Woman that knew him? There were two options. Raven, or Salem. Both were bad news.

Or, maybe it was a random chick who'd happen to find him hot. Maybe he'd get laid for once. But that option was also unthinkable, knowing his luck.

He sighed, tired, "Thanks."

The waitress leaned in, "But... I went ahead and gave you top," she winked salaciously, "Lucky you."

Oh? Was she hitting on him? Maybe he was wrong. Maybe he was going to get laid tonight.

A grin spread across his face as the waitress walked away, his eyes dipping downwards.

After a few seconds, he refocused himself, and stood from his chair. He walked towards the stairs, slowly ascending the wooden steps as they creaked beneath his feet.

When he reached the top of them, he saw a certain red-eyed woman sitting at a table.

"Hello, Brother," she smiled, and yet, there was no kindness or warmth behind it.

"Raven," he replied curtly.

He approached the table and sat down.

"So... whatdya want?" Qrow looked at her.

"A girl can't just catch up with her family?" she shrugged, smiling like the liar she was.

"She can, but you're not," Qrow rolled his eyes, "Now how 'bout you get on with it?"

There was a momentary lull in the conversation, and he reached for his drink.

He took a sip, savoring the taste of the superior booze, grinning, "Unless you're planning on keeping these coming."

Damn, his drink tasted good. Thank the waitress.

"Where. Is. He?" Raven leaned forward, narrowing her red eyes.

"What do you mean?" Qrow feigned confusion, shrugging as he raised his eyebrows. Of course,

"Where is Apollyon?"

"Oh, you mean Percy? Yeah, Percy's a pretty cool guy," Qrow shrugged, reaching for his drink, "What about him?"

She grabbed his wrist.

"I need him."

"You want another man to satisfy you in bed now? I didn't know you were into young guys like that-"

"I told you Beacon would fall, and it did," she glared at him, "I told you Ozpin would fail, and he has. Now you tell me, where is Apollyon?"

"What? You scared, or sumthing?" Qrow shrugged off her hand from his wrist, taking another sip of his drink.

"I-" she cut herself off, taking a deep breath.

"Cinder Fall and another woman approached me two days ago."

Cinder... Fall?

Qrow spit into his drink, red eyes immediately flicking to his sister's face.

"What did they want?" he leaned forward, suddenly on alert. Cinder Fall was bad news, he knew that by now. This wasn't just some random encounter.

They wouldn't even care about some random bandit tribe out in the wilds, would they? Even if it had one of Ozpin's former "eyes".

That meant...

"They wanted the Spring Maiden."

His back went ramrod, as his eyes bore into hers. It was one thing to have a theory, to speculate... and another thing to have it confirmed.

"And what are you going to do about it?" he instantly interrogated.

"I need Apollyon to stop those two."

"A bold request. You really think you can't stop them?"

If Qrow knew his sister, which he did, she was exceedingly proud. She wouldn't bend the knee to anyone and didn't like being toyed with. She would never beg for help like this...

And yet, she was blunt to admit it.

"Yes."

"Okay, but next question: why would I do such a thing?" Qrow raised an eyebrow, sensing that he had the upper hand in the conversation now.

"Family."

"Come on now," he snorted into his drink, "Don't bullshit."

"Because I have the Spring Maiden, and if you don't loan me Apollyon, I'll happily hand her and the relic over."

"Okay, first of all," Qrow raised his pointer finger, savoring the taste of his drink, "I don't control Apollyon. Neither does Ozpin. He's his own guy. If anything, he's running the show. I can't just loan you him."

Raven was undeterred, "Then convince him. If you want to keep the Relic of Knowledge out of her hands, then give me Apollyon."

Qrow sighed, slowly putting down his drink. This was too much for an old bird like him. He massaged his temples, ignoring Raven's glare that was boring a hole in his head.

How was he supposed to convince Percy? The kid did whatever he wanted, although once he explained it to him, Percy might oblige...

"He's in Atlas right now," Qrow finally decided to reveal that piece of information, "Until how long did they give you to decide?"

"A week," she answered shortly.

"Alright..." Qrow sighed in resignation, "You gonna tell me where your little tribe is?"

There was a momentary silence, before she answered.

"We will be north of Shion."

Figures. Of course, she wouldn't give her current location out like that, Qrow thought.

Raven stood up, placing her Grimm mask over her face once more. She grabbed her weapon, slashing her katana to create a vortex.

"I will see him there, brother. And as soon as possible."

"I don't know if you've realized this yet, but I don't work for you, and neither does Percy," Qrow snarked.

"If you don't want the relic to fall into her hands, you'll have to."

Feeding was delicious.

It was delicious to appear as a beautiful, innocent woman at a night club, in the lower parts of Mistral.

Then, eventually, some drunkard, fat fucker or perhaps multiple of them, would come along, and try to take her home. Of course, she always obliged. She wasn't going to say no to free food.

Then, they would get her in the back alley. And they'd try to rape her, like the disgusting pigs they were. Unfortunately, she couldn't act like a normal huntress and use her kunai. Poison in the bloodstream wasn't necessarily bad for feeding, but it would hinder both nutrition and taste.

So, she would unleash her true form.

It happened again tonight.

The same routine.

This time, it was four old, fat perverts who tried to prey on her. She played her part, acting like the scared, innocent maiden who wanted nothing more than to go home.

The best part of it was that, in the lower parts of Mistral, thieves and thugs were so numerous that no one batted an eye when someone had had a tragic accident; none of these people were especially high-ranking. Who cared if some chump disappeared off the face of Remnant?

Oh, their families might try and petition the Mistralian Council, but, really, there was nothing there. The Mistralian Council would try half-heartedly, and fail, or they would simply ignore you.

After all, you couldn't track down the culprit if there was no body to be found.

She sighed in contentment, taking a step back.

Her fangs retracted themselves back into her gums. Human blood and meat was so much better than whatever those stupid Mistralians cooked up.

Soon enough, the Goddess would have control of Mistral, and the Relic.

And even the false god wouldn't be enough to stop her.

AN: Join my discord for previews of the next chapter every week!

Discord links

FFN (remove spaces): discord . gg / M4yMguEz2J

Wattpad/AO3: /M4yMguEz2J

How'd you like this chapter? Review, comment, favorite, follow, vote, but only if you enjoyed! It helps motivate me to write more.

'til next time!

-thann3