LoamyCoffee: Well, this was something. Interesting talk for the group, though Yang can shut up. Just because you gave up, doesn't mean Ruby has to. Everyone is different when it comes to family missing or dead. The Rotoms, particularly Shadow Rotom are going to be little hamaknockers. If you've watched Man vs Food then you'll know what it means.
Alumon though, felt like he came out of nowhere. Though my feels got hit with Jack doing that for Weiss and that cliffhanger.
Re: Well, the funeral made for a great segue for that kind of talk. I mean, you can't just pull that sort of heavy-handed topic out of thin air; there has to be some sort of impetus from it. It also gave me an opportunity to have Mountain Glenn come up, and have there be a memorial for everyone who died there. That Arthur was born there and had parents who died there, is just more flavoring to give him dimension and make the OC really feel like part of the World of Remnant. The Rotom (the Plural of the Singular "Rotom" is still "Rotom" ;P) were a joy to write for, even if they can't all go to Beacon; it wouldn't make sense for them all to abandon the Old Chateau. As for "hamaknockers"… no fucking clue.
As for Alumon, the "World of Remnant: Airships" chapter was hint for the future crossovers I was going to work in from Battle Chasers: Nightwar, the video game continuation of the uncompleted Battle Chasers comic from back in the 90s. Jack's "Blood Artes" had to come from somewhere, and BCN was a favorite game of mine, and it felt so right blending it into Remnant, especially since its history is rife with "fallen kingdoms". As for the cliffhanger, yeah, I felt like that was a good note to end it on, given, with how-injured Jack is, he can't just "magic" their way out of it since stopping Alumon from killing Weiss took everything he had.
*NEW WORLD*
"Sooo…" Ruby hummed as Arthur pulled into a vacant spot. "You think anyone'll believe us?"
"Probably not," Arthur shrugged putting the station wagon in park. "Does it matter? We can't tell anyone anyway."
"Oh, right," Ruby replied, twitting her thumbs and unsure what to say.
The silence extending, Arthur was the first to open his mouth.
"I had a good time, today," he said with a smile.
"Wait, really?!" Ruby gasped incredulously.
"When I'm with you? Really, really," Arthur returned with a face-splitting grin, Ruby's eyes filling with tears before she wrapped her arms around his neck and drew him in close.
"Best, boyfriend, ever. Of all time," she sighed contentedly, a relieved smile on her face. "You're sure I didn't scare you away?" she asked worriedly.
"Ruby. If a literal haunted house and your dad in a bathrobe couldn't scare me off, nothing will."
"When the heck'd you see my dad in a bathrobe?"
"He called me over to help fix the WiFi that one time and forgot I was there after coming out of the shower."
"I am so sorry."
"For what? The Wifi, or your dad in a bathrobe?"
" . . . Yes."
*Knock*Knock*Knock*
"Hey, you two!" Yang shouted banging her fist on the window. "Either fog up those windows and rock that car, or help us unload all this haunted loot!"
"Yaaang!" Ruby cried with a red face, Arthur chuckling nervously as he scratched his cheek. A moment later the car radio came to life in front of them and played the opening notes of Careless Whisper by George Michael. "Don't you start too!" she cried jabbing a finger at the radio, only for the cassette slot to disgorge its contents at her. "Ah! My eye!"
"There, there," Arthur said consolingly as he pecked the space beside her eye, Ruby flushing brightly at the gesture alongside Arthur before the music intensified, and the two were forced to bail.
The music however… only continued playing, Arthur staring incredulously at the keys in his hand and then back to the car.
"It's almost like that Rotom wants you to fog up his windows..." Yang hummed thoughtfully.
"I'm… starting to regret opening my mouth," Blake hummed aloud as she eyed the possessed car in a new light.
*NEW WORLD*
"Hey, um, maybe it isn't really my place to ask, but… Where's Ozpin?" Arthur asked as he and the girls carried the haunted appliances to RWBY's dorm; Ruby held onto the oscillating fan, Arthur the toaster oven and Roomba, Blake the radio, and Yang was carrying the fridge like a champ.
"Dunno. Lost sight of him when he went to the teachers' parking lot," Yang answered.
"Hey…! You don't think he ditched us, do you?" Ruby asked.
"Would it really matter if he did?" Blake questioned aloud. "It isn't like we need him to hold our hands, and his friend did die…" she trailed off.
"Hmmm… I suppose not," Ruby admitted, the group of four soldiering on to the dormitory.
"Um… Guys?" Arthur said after entering the lobby. "Elevator's out."
"Wait, really? Shit!" Yang swore at the OUT OF ORDER sign taped to the metal doors.
"Guess we're taking the stairs," Blake hummed.
"Easy for you to say. You aren't the one carrying a whole fridge," Yang huffed.
"Yang. I've seen you lift a car's front axle off the ground," Ruby deadpanned. "I think you'll manage."
"Yeah, well… doesn't mean I have to like it!" Yang bit back.
" . . . You done?" Blake asked.
" . . . Yeah, I'm done. Let's get this over with," the blond sighed as they made their way up the stairwell. " . . . Hey, Blake?"
"Yeah?"
"How doo you know this guy will even take all this?" Yang asked gesturing to the haunted furniture Team RABY was carrying. "He owe you a favor, or something?"
"No, he's just… He's an inherently charitable person," the brunette answered, a soft smile tugging at her cheeks. "I'm sure if I stress the importance of these appliances going to a good home, he'll take them up with no protest. He certainly has the room," she hummed aloud.
"Does he now~?" Yang purred, waggling her brow at the brunette. The next moment as though sensing what she meant by that inflection, the radio in Blake's hands began to play sappy love music.
"Hey, cut it out, you! You'll blow our cover!" Blake hissed under her breath.
"Sooo… Who are we dropping all this off with, exactly?" Arthur asked.
"Room Advisor for our floor," Yang answered. "Honestly, I didn't know that was a thing, but it is."
"I see… I see…" he said eyeing the Roomba in his hands. "Don't you go making trouble for anyone," he directed at the cleaning implement. "Sitcom Law dictates if we leave this pickpocket to his own devices-"
"Oh shit, I forgot about that!" Yang gawped. "Blake, if that little troublemaker picks everyone's pockets and leaves the loot in Vincent's room, let's just say DIRT did it."
"I'm… sorry, did you say 'dirt'?" Arthur asked incredulously.
"Not 'dirt', 'DIRT'. You know, the acronym," Ruby corrected.
"There's actually a team called that?" Arthur blinked, still incredulously.
"Eeyup," Yang chirped. "Jack really let his old team have it~"
"Hey, speaking of which," Ruby interjected, "how do you know Jack? When he and Weiss went off on their little field trip, you were sort of the last person I was expecting for him to call in to replace them."
"Oh, uh, you know…" Arthur dithered nervously. "After you and I became 'a thing', he tracked me down and gave me the whole 'you break her heart, I break your legs' spiel…"
Blake of course knew the younger Faunus was lying out his ass, but an expression about glass houses came to mind, so she kept her mouth shut.
" . . . Well that makes perfect sense!" Yang nodded as she accepted his explanation at face value.
Blake would've face-palmed herself if she could.
The trip up the four flights of stairs was thankfully a short one, and after coming on the fourth floor landing, they turned to the left and made their way to the end of the hall. Yang taking the time to set the fridge down, Blake approached the RA's door and knocked three times, feet shifting before the door came open. It was truly a credit to the odd-eyed teen's trusting nature that he'd open up without asking who was there.
Of course that wasn't what was on the closet Faunus' mind at the moment. What was on her mind, was the delicious-smelling sardine dangling from his lips, on top of the fact that he was wearing a tight-fitting tank top over a lean, muscular chest.
If Blake were about to notice her heart skipping a beat or her ears waggling beneath her bow, that notice was swiftly diverted by the sight of a familiar long-tailed cat leaning up from her place in Vincent's arms and snatching the sardine away, luxuriating in a deliciously-firm-looking cradle as her belly was scratched.
"Oh, good afternoon, Blake," the whitette greeted. "What can I do you for?"
"Heh… 'Do you'~" Yang tittered, Blake's face flushing as the radio in her hands let out a chittering burst of static, forcing her to cough loudly into one fist lest the jig go up.
"That's an awful loud cough. Do you need a drink?" Vincent asked worriedly, oblivious to the byplay.
"No, no… I'm fine," Blake said composing herself. "So, hey, listen… I have some old appliances that really need to go to a good home. Is there any chance you could, you know, take them in?" she asked, trying not to feel like she were manipulating him.
"Really?" Vincent blinked, leaning through the doorframe and out into the hall, his eyes lighting up with childlike glee. "Oh cool, a fridge! Now I have somewhere to put my perishable snacks!" he smiled broadly causing Blake's heart to flutter. "And also something to cook my perishable snacks!" he added as his eyes turned to the toaster oven in Arthur's arms. "Are you a new student?"
"Oh, um, no, I'm just a visitor," Arthur answered. "Sooo… Where can we set this stuff down?"
"Oh, you can set it down anywhere," Vincent replied, the others filing one by one into his room. "Oh, here, let me take that off your hands," he said setting Blair down before extending his arms as Yang walked toward the door frame.
Yang made to protest, thinking the unassuming teen was about to hurt himself. However, her jaw swiftly dropped as the odd-eyed teen plucked the fridge from her hands with barely any effort, carrying it around like one would a cardboard box.
'Huh. Guess he's stronger than he looks,' the blond mused to herself.
"So, what's the occasion?" Vincent asked finding a vacant corner to put the fridge in, the power cable conspicuously lengthening to the perfect length to find the nearest wall outlet.
"Oh, um…" Blake paused. 'Shit! Didn't think that far!'
The bookworm casting a desperate glance toward the others was rewarded with… bubkiss.
"Still, it's a really weird time for you to be moving furniture around," the RA went on to say, drawing confused looks from the others.
"What do you mean?" Ruby asked.
"Didn't you hear?" Vincent blinked. "Your teammates got attacked on the way back to Beacon, one of them got roughed up real bad," he answered causing their eyes to go wide.
"What?! How long ago was this!?" Yang gawped.
"Um… 'bout an hour back, I think," the RA shrugged.
"Oh no!"
"Oh no!"
*BANG!*
"Oh yeah!" Nora whooped after Ruby and her sister. " . . . I mean 'oh no'," she amended as the door swung awkwardly behind her.
*NEW WORLD*
Even though Jack and Weiss had both been admitted to the hospital together before, it didn't take away from the sense of urgency that had Team RABY drop whatever they were doing; which was technically "nothing" since they'd finished their errand before hearing what had transpired. Team JNPR was swift to follow, the eight teens hauling ass across Beacon and ferreting their teammates' location out of the woman at the front desk, the lot of them proceeding to haul ass to the elevators, and then to the stairwell when the elevator proved too slow for their purposes.
It only took them a few seconds to get to their destined floor at full sprint, doctors and nurses shushing them angrily as they went. The gaggle of teenagers pouring into a waiting room and looking about frantically, the owner of silver eyes sighed in relief that one of their team was there waiting for them… before going wide at the haggard state of her exhausted-looking teammate.
Weiss Schnee had obviously seen better days. As opposed to her usual prim & proper bearing, the heiress' combat dress was marred with dirt and grass stains and riddled with tears, her hair a mess, and to top it off, there was a large bloodstain dominating the front of her attire. She looked completely despondent, knees hugged to her modest chest, and running down her cheeks were dried tear marks.
"Oh thank god… it's only Jack that got hurt," Jaune audibly sighed in relief.
*SLAP!*
"I deserved that…" he said nursing a red handprint on his cheek.
"Oh my gosh! Weiss! What happened?!" Ruby cried going over to her. "Why are you covered in blood!?"
"Don't… Don't worry…" the heiress said tiredly, not looking up at her. "It… isn't mine."
"That doesn't make it better," Nora said shaking out her hand.
"Jack… Is he…?" Pyrrha asked with a worried glance toward the red operating light.
"He'll… He'll pull through. He has to," Weiss said as her eyes darted to the door.
"Weiss… What happened out there?" Blake asked.
" . . . We were ambushed on our way back to Beacon. Our attacker hit me with some sort of Arcane Arte that would've killed me if Jack hadn't given me all his Aura, but… without it to protect himself, he…"
Her glance to the operating room said more than words could've.
"Sooooooo… Did you carry him all the way here?" Nora asked gesturing to the bloodstains.
"No… Professor Peach and the others came in at the last moment and saved us," the heiress.
"Just how strong was your attacker?" Pyrrha asked worriedly. "If what Ruby said is true, you've been waiting here for a solid hour already?"
"I don't think any of us would've stood a chance against him in a straight fight," the heiress answered, causing the others to inhale sharply.
"Was he really that strong?" Yang asked.
Weiss' answer was to incline her head at the red-lit sign at the end of the room.
"What happened to that guy?" Nora asked.
"Jack killed him. Ripped his heart out of his chest like something from Fatal Kombatants," the heiress answered.
" . . . Nice~" Nora grinned. "So did he reach through the ribcage, or did he go under and up?"
"Nora…" Ren sighed.
"I… don't want to talk about it," the heiress answered.
" . . . You want to go get cleaned up?" Blake offered, a hand on the heiress' shoulder.
"I'll get cleaned up once I'm sure he'll be alright," the heiress answered.
"Do you know who's operating on him?" Pyrrha asked.
"Dr. Stein."
"The nutball that tried to dissect you?!" Ruby shrieked.
"I don't think Glynda would've let him touch Jack if anyone else could've gotten him through this," the heiress sighed.
"Was it really that bad?" Blake asked worriedly.
"I don't know how much blood a person is supposed to have in their body, but I'm pretty sure losing half of it is 'bad'," she returned brusquely.
"Oh, so that bad," Nora hummed aloud.
"So… we just wait?" Jaune asked.
"We kind of have to," Ren hummed.
*NEW WORLD*
The time that wore on for Team RWBY and JNPR felt like an eternity. Sure, this wasn't the first time Jack had been hurt, probably wouldn't be the last, and the fact that it might be them on the other side of those doors one day didn't escape them. But the fact that Jack had been down for this long, on top of the blood covering Weiss' dress, and the fact he'd had to kill someone to protect one of their own on Beacon's own doorstep no less, only served to make it more… real, somehow. Weiss didn't go into greater detail of what had transpired, only going so far as to share a few highlights and how it was the closest she'd ever come to actually dying, and just how-scared she was by the occurrence.
It was actually a good thing she'd been frightened by it; it showed she had some sense in that pretty head of hers. Though it didn't stop the rest of her team from feeling guilty over it.
Eventually the rumbling of stomachs of the gathered teens proved too much to ignore, so Arthur volunteered to go out and get food for everyone. Team JNPR offered to show him around so he wouldn't get lost, giving them the opportunity to chat.
"So you're Ruby's friend from Signal?" Pyrrha asked.
"That's right," Arthur nodded. "I've heard a bit about you guys as well. Pyrrha Nikos, Nora Valkyrie, Lie Ren, and… Vomit Boy?" he asked with a tilt of his head.
"Dammit, I thought I escaped that nickname," Jaune moaned despondently.
"Hey, better that than 'Big Fat Phony'," Nora hummed as she skipped along.
"Hey, at least this guy came clean of his own volition," Arthur defended him. "It takes a lot of strength to own up to your mistakes like that."
'That and mind-numbing time travel loops…' Jaune thought to himself. "Wait, you know about that?"
"Ruby told me."
"Oh…"
"Sooooo…" Nora interjected. "You and Ruby are a thing, yeah?"
"What gave you that idea?"
"Well, you were holding her hand the entire time, and she was all up in your business," the ginger answered. "Tell me your seeecreeet~!" she whispered into his rabbit ear.
"Nora, don't pester the poor boy," Ren sighed.
"Fine, fine. One more question and I'll leave him alone."
"You'd better temper your sense of decency in expectation," the Mistrali boy sighed.
"Oh, come on, Ren, it can't be that bad," Arthur waved off. " . . . Right?"
"What's sex with Rabbit Faunus like?"
"Nora!" Pyrrha gasped as Arthur flushed to the tips of his ears.
"What? I'm asking for a friend!" Nora defended. "And by 'friend' I actually mean Ruby. That wasn't the 'I'm asking for a friend' double entendre that really meant I was asking for 'myself'," she clarified.
"Still though, that was really uncalled for," Pyrrha chided, still red of cheek.
"Why… would you want to know that?!" Arthur gaped incredulously.
"Because I need to now whether I should be worried, or jealous~"
"Don't you already have a boyfriend?" Arthur asked inclining his head at Ren.
"What?! No! We're not 'together-together'…" the ginger trailed off bashfully.
"Nora, there are people in the desert less-thirsty than you," he deadpanned.
"Aand that's pretty much par for the course," Jaune sighed aloud.
" . . . Well at least Ruby's never bored here," Arthur hummed, deciding to sweep his exchange with the exuberant red-head under the mental rug.
*NEW WORLD*
The food came and went all too soon, and no-one was really in the mood for talking, so once their food stores had been depleted and their food bins discarded, the long waiting in tense silence continued.
"Ruby… I'm really sorry, but I have to go," Arthur said as his eyes turned away from the clock.
"It's okay, I understand," Ruby nodded slowly as she got to her feet. "I'll walk you out."
"You sure you don't need to be here?" Arthur asked looking up at the red operating light.
"I'm sure if anything changes, my team will tell me. Right?" she said poignantly over her shoulder.
"Sure, sure, we'll let you know. Just make sure you don't get… sidetracked on the way out~" Yang purred suggestively. "Not that that'd be a bad thing. We could always host another… sleepover~"
"Sh… Shut uuup!" Ruby squeaked, red in the face as her voice cracked. "Come on, let's get going before the last airship to Vale leaves," she said hurriedly walking him out.
"Hah… Too easy," Yang grinned.
"At least she found someone," Nora sighed enviously as she eyed their departing backs.
"I'm happy for her," Pyrrha nodded with a soft smile on her face. "I hope it lasts."
"Hey… Weiss. You… You doing okay?" Jaune asked reaching over to her shoulder.
"No, I most certainly am not!" Weiss said slapping it away. "My teammate, my friend, was counting on me and I let him down!"
"Well, you had been fighting Grimm all day. A little exhaustion is nothing to be ashamed of," Yang stated with crossed arms.
"Yes, it is," Weiss spat, mostly at herself. "Thanks to Jack, I can summon a phalanx of Spartoi, a murder of Nevermore, a Dullahan, and even a Sword Fiend… but I couldn't bring any of that to bear when he was bleeding out all over the place."
"Weiss, Jack wouldn't want you to blame yourself," Blake said consolingly, the heiress allowing her hand on her shoulder. "I doubt he planned on getting ambushed after you put in so much legwork to expand what your Semblance can do."
"Maybe… But I still feel guilty over it," Weiss said looking down at her hand, a small Glyph flaring to life before she crushed it in her hand and let the powdery dust fall to the floor. "I have to get stronger. This can't happen again."
No-one knew what to say to that.
*NEW WORLD*
"Sooooooo~ I see the two of you are baaack~" Yang purred cattily as Ruby and Arthur returned a half-hour later, fingers interlaced and a dusting of pink on their cheeks. "Care to share~?"
Arthur and Ruby both bashfully opened their mouths to reply, but when they saw what the other was about to do, were quick to clamp a free hand over the lips of their partner. This of-course had the effect of making no answer forthcoming, only deepening the flush of pink on their faces, since their silence in turn spoke volumes.
"Tch. Lucky," Nora huffed under her breath.
Before the exact nature of Arthur's return to their company could be elaborated upon however, the red operating light above the door on the far side of the room shut off. Everyone's eyes immediately went to the door beneath, and a few minutes later, a woman with fair skin in surgical attire stepped out into the open.
She looked young, but gave off the vibe of a new mother as her large yellow eye immediately sought out Jack's teammates. Pulling her surgical cap off, her long yellow hair was allowed to spill free, worn loosely with no bangs, parted in a zig-zag atop her head. Her right eye was visible, but her left was concealed by a black eyepatch decorated with a ringed thunderbolt insignia.
"Nice," Nora grinned shooting the woman a thumbs up.
"Jack…!" Weiss said shooting up from her chair. "Is… Is he…"
"Don't worry," the woman said with a motherly smile on her face. "Jack pulled through. It was a little touch-and-go with all the blood he lost, but he should make a full recovery… Eventually."
"What do you mean 'eventually'?" Blake asked.
"You could talk to Dr. Stein if you want-"
"NOOO!" everyone was quick to rebuke, sans Ruby and Arthur who were still clamping their partners' mouths shut.
"Can… Can we see him?" Yang asked.
"After we've moved him to his room, of course, though I don't think he'll be in any state to talk," the woman answered, turning to leave.
"Wait!" Weiss spoke up. "What is your name?"
"It's Marie," the woman replied.
"Marie… Thank you, for saving my friend's life," the heiress said giving a grateful bow, the others quick to follow suit.
"It was my pleasure," Marie replied. "Although, on the off-chance Jack does come to while you're visiting… you might want to clean up," she said indicating at Weiss' blood-stained attire, the heiress having the decency to flush a little.
*NEW WORLD*
"Hmmmmhh!" Weiss fumed as she stood outside the room Jack had been placed within, finger tapping angrily on her forearm.
"What's the matter, Weiss?" Ruby asked, mouth now freed from Arthur's silencing palm, and he hers.
"This area is hardly defensible…" the heiress answered, biting her thumbnail.
"Well, it is a hospital, not a fortress," Yang said with a roll of her eyes.
" . . . I'm going to leave some sentries, just in case," Weiss said in turn. Thrusting out her palms to the space before Jack's door and willing a Glyph to appear, the ring of symbols flared to life, spun, and shone before guttering out like a candle in the wind. "Damn. I don't have enough Aura for this," she chuffed. "Ruby, give me some of yours."
"You got it, bestie!" Ruby squealed happily.
"I thought I was your 'bestie'," Arthur whimpered, his ears drooping.
"Aw, Arthur…" Ruby said, her hands going to her heart. "You have an even better title than 'bestie'," she said in a heartfelt tone.
"Is it 'fuck-boi'?" Nora asked.
"Yes it's-NO! NOT THAAAT!" Ruby squealed red in the face.
"It's totally 'fuck-boi', isn't it?" the ginger repeated with a satisfied grin, Jaune and Pyrrha completely red in the face.
"R-Ruby!" Arthur squeaked covering his face. "Is that really what you think of me?!" he asked peeking between his fingers, the tips of which had also flushed to a bright red.
"Yes-I MEAN NO-I mean-FUCK!" the adorable red-head swore cutely.
"Yeah, let's have this conversation in public," Ren hummed aloud.
*NEW WORLD*
Once the whole issue of whether or not Arthur was Ruby's "fuck-boi" got resolved, Ruby was finally able to get around to giving some of her Aura to Weiss.
It wasn't as-mystical as it sounded; at least not after Dr. Stein mutilated their romanticized view of its supernatural power during one of his early lectures.
If you treated Aura as an "energy source", like any energy, you'd know that Aura would take the path of "least resistance". In the case of people, Aura would move from a person with more Aura to someone who had less. Part of it was spiritual in nature, like "opening oneself up" to the other person, having the same frame of mind, and of course, consent. Familiarity was one thing that could help, but another was trust. For family it was easy, but long-lived "partners" could also have a bond that'd allow for a transfer of Aura.
This was possibly the reason Ozpin made students partner up in pairs, though it could've just-as-easily been coincidence.
Of course, it wasn't a perfect system. There would always be waste emissions and energy lost between any two people no matter how-similar or how-in-sync they were. The only way that a 100%-efficient Aura Transfer could take place was with a medical Semblance of some sort, or high-end medical machinery, but since the prior was a roll of the dice and the latter was slow-to-develop, Hunters in dire straits had to do it the old-fashioned way.
It was one thing to transfer Aura to someone undergoing the early stages of Hollowization, the "hollowing" of one's spirit created a natural vacuum to allow outside Aura to pour in. On a conscious person, more effort of both parties had to be made; one person had to be focused on "giving", the other "receiving". And wasn't that just bait for every sex joke ever made.
Thankfully, Jack's lecture about Auric Manipulation and Artes gave Ruby a better grasp on what to "visualize" to make the transfer to Weiss happen. Before it was wholly instinctual, but now it was with intent. It was only when Ruby began showing signs of exhaustion that Weiss broke the link, the younger girl slumping over backwards and into Arthur's waiting arms.
A quarter-dozen Glyphs decorated with bones and skulls appearing on the ground flanking Jack's hospital room door, in plumes of white snow, sparsely-armored skeletal figures even further-bleached-white than before manifested, a hushed wail passing through non-existent vocal cords as they rose to attention.
"You four. Stand guard. If anyone other than a doctor or an orderly tries to get through, stop them."
Two of the Spartoi, holding spears, raised them up into the air before slamming the pommels into the floor in affirmation.
"Ooooooh. Spooooooky~" Nora ooooooohed at the sight of them, their empty eye sockets filled with blue fire. "I wonder how they'd look with slippers and a hoodie," she mused aloud.
"And now it's time for the heavy hitter," Weiss said placing her Myrtenaster's point upon the floor once again. A new Glyph appearing, this one composed of battered-looking swords surrounding a pitted shield, bursting up from the Glyph was a fully-armored arm, a medieval helm with a ruined head plume appearing, before a whole body clad in cheap-looking armor of leather, chain, and plate followed.
"Awww! He's adorabllle!" Jaune and Nora cooed as Weiss' "Dullahan" appeared… in all three feet of wintry glory. "Look at that little grunt~" the blond tacked on. "I'd like to feed him a small cracker~ Aren't you cuuute~?"
The Dullahan's head snapping up to Jaune, without any warning the Summon ran up to him and punched him in the nuts eliciting a high-pitched- "OI!" -from the blond boy. The only son of the Arc family falling to his knees before going to the ground wholesale, clutching at his throbbing scrotum, the next moment the Dullahan leapt atop his back and began dancing from one leg to the other, a high-pitched- "Get some, bitch!" -sounding from the tiny medieval visor as Jaune wailed in agony.
"Weiss! OOF! Save! OW! Me! AGH!" the blond cried.
"Oh no. It's out of control. What do I do?" Weiss said in the deadpan tone she used after calling him "her hero" in the Emerald Forest.
"Damn, that's Weiss cold!" Nora shivered.
"Hey, puns are my thing!" Yang snapped.
"Wait, are you recording this?!" Blake yelped as the ginger took out her Scroll.
"Yes."
" . . . Whyyy?!"
"So Jack can fall asleep to it every night," Nora grinned. "Or at least every night until he's recovered."
"That's messed up," Ren stated. "Raise your Scroll up for a better angle."
"This is payback for me being glad it was Jack that got hurt, wasn't it!?"
-is what Jaune would've said had a dwarfed Dullahan not been in the process of kicking his scrawny white ass.
"Excuse me, what's going on here?" an orderly asked walking in on the scene.
"I'm recording for posterity~" Nora grinned.
" . . . Carry on," the orderly said as they walked away, used to such eccentricities from the Hunter Course students.
In a job occupation where you fought literal monsters all the time, a little eccentricity was a given.
*NEW WORLD*
Sentinels standing guard, Weiss insisted she be the first to visit Jack in his hospital room.
Yang insisted she go with, citing skinship and potential romantic interest.
That and if everyone visited one-on-one they'd be there all night.
"Sooo…" Yang said as she closed the door, drowning out Jaune's yowling in the hallway. "You're just going to leave him like that, eh?"
"He'll live," Weiss said dismissively. "Probably."
"Yeesh. That's cooold," Yang shivered. "Weiss-"
"You finish that sentence, and you'll be co-starring in Nora's home video!" the heiress growled jabbing a finger at her.
"Got it," the blond squeaked. "Geez… You said Jack buffed up when he fought this Alumon guy. You didn't say it was this much," she said eyeing the hospital room's occupant.
Jack, still in his "final form", was so long of leg and broad of shoulder that he needed three beds to lay upon; two side-by side, and a third going across for his feet. He was covered from neck to toe in bandages, the occasional line of fresh stitches peeking out for air. With how-big he now was, an entire bedsheet had to be refashioned into an impromptu hospital gown since they didn't have extra larges large enough. At the moment his vitals were being monitored, a couple of IV drips in his massive arms, and he was wearing a breathing mask, the rise and fall of his chest like the heaving of land in an earthquake.
"Sooo…" Yang paused as she lightly ribbed the heiress. "You think everything is to-scale?"
"That's vulgar!" the heiress cried as Yang pointed toward Jack's crotch.
"Hey, just trying to lighten the mood," Yang said raising her hands in surrender.
"AAUUuuughh…!"
"Please don't make me co-star," she swiftly amended.
Weiss for her part just chuffed and rolled her eyes, stepping over to the window and cracking it open before pointing her Myrtenaster at the floor once more. Another Glyph manifesting, in a plume of white snow a half-dozen Nevermore appeared, alighting upon the sill.
"If anyone tries to get in through the window… show no mercy."
The corvids *caw*ing in recognition, they flew out the window and into the night, the heiress closing the window behind them before summoning another four Spartoi, each one taking a corner of the room and standing in silent vigil, their bone-white forms a stark shock against the darkness of the dimmed room.
"Wow, princess, you're pulling out all the stops, huh?"
"FORTHELOVEOFGODSOMEONEHELPME!"
"I refuse to leave him here unprotected," the heiress returned, wiping a bead of sweat from her brow as she fell into the seat at the Faunus' bedside, the Aura that Ruby had given her all but gone. Slumping into her seat in an unladylike fashion, a deepened sigh of exhaustion left the heiress lips as she cast her gaze toward the wounded warrior at her side.
Yang, sensing that the heiress wanted a moment of silence, carefully pulled up a seat beside her, the beeping of the heart monitor slowly drowning out Jaune's yowling; possibly as the shrunken Dullahan lost interest.
Cue RWBY Volume 3 OST – Mirror Mirror Part II (feat. Casey Lee Williams)
" . . . Yang."
"Yeah, Weiss?"
"You and I… need to have words."
"What about?"
"The scars. On his back. I saw them, you know," the heiress answered in turn.
"Oh . . . ?" Yang blinked. Then blinked again. " . . . OOOH…!"
"Yes. 'Oh'," the heiress repeated dully.
"So uh… How did you know?"
"About where he got the scars? An inkling," Weiss said glancing back at Jack before eyes of icy blue locked onto lilac. "That's what changed between the two of you, didn't it? Why you changed tack around him once you started showering together."
" . . . Yeah, pretty much," Yang answered. "You can't tell the others about this. It'd-"
"I know how to be discrete," the heiress returned. " . . . I can see why he hates Humans so much."
"Yeah… But he's warming up to you," Yang smiled as the heiress' eyes wandered once more.
The heiress' hand reaching over before retreating to grip the armrest, fingers twitching, Yang reached over and pat the back of her hand, a look of silent understanding passing between the two before they went back to watching in silent vigil. The beeping of the heart monitor like a metronome, as Jack's chest slowly rose and fell, the color slowly but steadily returning to his features, Weiss began to hum softly to herself, Yang taking a moment to enjoy the ambiance.
'You know… I'm starting to understand why she has all those rabid fanboys,' Yang mused to herself, thinking back to all the fan-letters Weiss would put through the shredder once a week after giving them a cursory once-over.
"You know…" Weiss said as her humming came to an end. "When Jack was fending off our attacker, completely defenseless, for my sake," she said as her hands went to her chest. "I… I realized something, very important," she said growing somber. "Every time he got hurt, as he bled for me… I realized that somewhere deep down, I hurt too. I… I care about him. I think…" she paused, eyes wet with tears darting to Jack uncertainly before finding Yang's own. "I think I'm in love with him."
"Wow, just, going to come out and say it, huh?" Yang hummed, blinking large lilac eyes.
"He's asleep. When else could I have the courage to say it?" the heiress asked.
Yang in turn just shrugged, letting silence reign once more, giving the heiress space to process her revelation.
"Sooo…" she hummed breaking the silence. "What now?"
"Pardon my French," Weiss began, "but fuck if I know," she sighed tiredly.
"Speaking of 'butt fuck'~" she grinned cattily.
"Yang, I'm trying to establish a moment here!"
"I know, and I apologize for that," the blond said rolling her eyes. "So… You gonna tell him or what?"
"That I love him?" Weiss blinked, the realization that she could even find a love like this, with her family's track record, still new to her. "Not yet. Not until I'm… absolutely certain."
"Oh? You aren't already?" she asked with a raised brow.
"No," Weiss answered with a shake of her head. "When mom married my… father, there wasn't any love in it; not for long at least. And in the end, it cost her her life," she said somberly, wiping at her eye. "If I'm going to tell Jack about it, I need to be one-hundred percent certain. I won't condemn our kids…" at this she blushed, "to parents in a loveless marriage like my mother did."
"Geez, does everyone on this team have mommy issues?" Yang balked.
"I think Blake's mother is still alive. She doesn't really talk about her, but nothing she's ever said implies she's dead."
"Well, thank god for small miracles…" Yang hummed. "So…"
"What?"
"What are your thoughts on polygamy?"
"YANG! That's improper!" the heiress gasped.
END OST
"Not as improper as you'd think~" Yang hummed thoughtfully. "One of my uncle's inappropriate stories about 'Wild Seed' would actually support this kinda thing if we decided to share him~"
"And what, pray tell, is 'Wild Seed'?" Weiss asked rolling her eyes. "And what do you mean 'share'!?"
"Oh, you know the stories," Yang waved off. "A Huntsman saves a village from Grimm, does it with a village girl for 'gratitude', he leaves a kid behind to go on his next adventure, and the sowed oats continue the bloodline," she summarized. "There isn't a lot of hard evidence about Aura pools being hereditary, but enough people believe it that village girls would be willing to have a Huntsman's child if they're young and/or strapping. And no-one batted an eye when my dad banged Ruby's mom two years after mine left."
"Are… Are you being serious right now?" Weiss asked incredulously with wide eyes.
"As serious as blood loss, which mind you, made you fall head over heels for this guy," Yang said pointing to Jack. "You don't have to decide now, we've still got four years 'til graduation where we'll either stick together for life, or go our separate ways."
"I-I'm not so sure about this…!"
"Well hey, who says Jack will be the only one winning out~?"
"W-Why are you looking at me like that?!" Weiss asked leaning away.
"Oh, just examining the goods," Yang hummed thoughtfully, stroking her chin. "You might be on the skinny side, but you're drop-dead gorgeous when you want to be~ And you were a singer before coming here? I wonder what sweet music you and I could make together~" she purred.
"Yang. Read. My. Lips. I, am not, gay. I hold absolutely zero, zero interest, in your giant, bouncing cow-tits!"
"Uhhh… Should I go back to sleep?" a tired voice rasped out through a breathing mask.
"JACK?!" the two yelped, leaping up from their seats in shock. "Jack…! Um…" Weiss stammered with a reddening face fluorescent in the dim lighting. "How much… of that… did you hear?"
"I woke up around the time you were telling Yang you were straight."
'Oh thank god…' the heiress sighed, a wave of relief flooding through her. "Yang! Not. One. Word."
"My lips, are sealed," she said running her fingers across her lips. "For now~"
"Moving on. Jack, how are you feeling?" Weiss asked worriedly, hands finding his own. If his hands had been bigger than hers before, now it was just ridiculous.
"Like hell rolled over."
"You mean froze over?"
"That too," Jack groaned, breathing deeply through his mask.
"Well, the important thing is, you're safe now," Weiss said brushing his bangs from his face.
"Hey, you know, there's something I've been meaning to ask," Yang spoke up. "How'd the two of you get out of the Emerald Forest? Weiss let a few things slip while we were waiting, but I don't think we really got around to that part of the story."
"Well…" Weiss said with a nervous flush.
*Past*
"COME FORTH!" Weiss shouted as a plume of snow rose from the Glyph before her, imbued with all of her willpower.
*SKREEEEEEEE!* -the Vermin King from a battle past, barbed tail swishing angrily, squealed loudly.
Unfortunately, it was barely twice as large as Splinter…
"Boy, that must've been embarrassing."
"Quiet, Yang. I'm narrating here!"
"DAMN IT!" Weiss swore. "Damn it! Damn it…! Damn it…" the heiress sobbed. "Jack… I'm sorry… I'm not… I'm not strong enough…" she whimpered as the miniaturized Grimm hissed and spat at those around it, to no effect. "I couldn't… I couldn't save you…" she said holding him close.
"It's okay, Weiss…" Jack said weakly patting her cheek. "You can still… save yourself…"
"No! I told you before, I won't leave you!" she cried holding him tighter.
"THERE'S NO NEED!" a voice called out from the distance over loudspeaker. "THE CAVALRY HAS ARRIVED!"
"What the…? Lena…?" Jack blinked as a Pelican flew in from the distance, a long burst from the chin gun slicing through the surrounding Grimm as the airship drifted in a wide circling strafe overhead.
"The one and only, loves!" the British pilot grinned from the cockpit as the Grimm were forced back. "Port! Oobleck! Peach! Prep the kiddies for evac! I'll give you covering fire!"
The next moment and three of their previous teachers leapt from the Pelican's rear door landing in a small circle around them, Port with his Blunderaxe, Oobleck with his Antiquity's Roast, and Peach wielding what looked like a shovel in all-silver with a round green Dust crystal slotted into the pommel.
"Fire in the hole!" Port shouted as he belched fireballs at the Grimm around Weiss' ice spikes.
"Burn everything!" Dr. Oobleck added firing tongues of flame in the opposite direction.
"I'm glad we got here in time," Peach said taking a knee beside the two teens, planting the end of his shovel into the ground as he dug into one of the pouches on his belt. "We would've gotten here sooner, but reception for S.O.S. are a little poor right in the shadow of Beacon Cliff."
"S.O.S.?" Weiss blinked.
"You mean you didn't send it?" Peach asked as he scattered a collection of seeds into the crimson puddle around Jack's wounded body. "Normally I don't like feeding my plants on blood, but it does have incredible lifeforce," the diminutive professor noted idly as he tightened his grip on his shovel. "Grow: Doctor Aloe!" he invoked, the Dust Crystal in the pommel of his shovel glowing radiantly as the seeds scattered about drank up Jack's blood and actually burrowed themselves into the ground. A moment later and a verdant burst of green bandage-shaped plants shot up like weeds, wrapping around Jack's body from head to toe like a mummy. "Okay, the bleeding's stopped. Time to get out of here," Peach said drawing a solitary bean from another pouch before stabbing it into the ground with one finger. "Grow: Earth Bean!"
The ground rumbling, the next moment a large beanstalk burst into being from the ground, a giant leaf the size of a queen-sized bed lifting Jack and Weiss both up and away from the forest floor. Peach grabbing onto one of the giant Earth Bean's tendrils and letting himself be carried away, Port and Oobleck grabbed an arm of Alumon's apiece and followed suit, the Grimm yowling in impotent fury as they tried to ascend the massive bean stalk.
*Present*
"And that's what happened," Weiss concluded.
"Wow… Who knew Professor Peach was such a badass," Yang blinked. "Remind me never to underestimate the power of gardening."
"I'll be sure to," Weiss said with an eyeroll. "Moving on… Before the Grimm could surmount the beanstalk, Peach, Port, and Oobleck got the three of us loaded up into the airship, and Lena felled the beanstalk with a burst from her chin gun taking a lot of the Grimm with it."
"Three?" Yang blinked.
"Jack, myself, and our attacker. It wasn't like we had the time to explain he was our attacker, and even then, I doubt they would've just left him there. It's bad form."
"Oh. So where is he now?"
"The morgue. Where do you think?" Weiss huffed sarcastically.
"Okay, I admit, that was a dumb question," Yang conceded, a knocking on the door causing their attention to turn.
"Unless you're friends, a doctor, or an orderly, you aren't getting through!" Weiss shouted at the shadow of two crossed spears.
"Greetings, gatekeeper. It is I, Ozpin of Greene, the Headmaster of the Academy of Beacon. Forsooth!" a familiar voice answered theatrically from the other side.
"What?! Headmaster Ozpin!?" the heiress gawped, running over to the door and throwing it open. "Come in, come in!"
"Well, I'm happy to see your abilities have grown to such a degree," the headmaster hummed as he passed the spectral sentries, then noticed those in the room and beyond. "And please, when it's just us, feel free to call me 'Ozpin'. But not 'Mr. Greene', Mr. Greene was my father," the man said trying to inject some levity.
"So what're you doing here, Ozzy?" Yang asked, the heiress balking at her lackadaisical tone.
"I was hoping to have the room for a minute. There's something I need to discuss with Jack."
"Yeah, that's fine," Yang nodded. "Weiss and I need to have a little 'girl talk' anyway," she said grabbing the heiress by the arm and hauling her out, the heiress' flush momentarily lighting the room before the door shut behind her, leaving Jack and the headmaster to their own.
"So…" Jack hummed once his teammates were gone. "What is it you need to say? If it's another mission, I'm not exactly good for it right now," he said waving a sarcastic hand at himself.
Ozpin in turn pulled up a seat beside Jack's hospital bed, making himself comfortable and lacing his fingers together before initiating further dialogue.
"Tell me, this attacker of yours… How well did you know him?"
"Well enough to learn a few things, not as well as I would've liked," Jack shrugged, carefully crossing his arms. "Doesn't matter. I dropped him like a sack of bricks. He isn't my problem anymore."
"I see…" Ozpin said thoughtfully. "It must've been difficult. Killing one friend to save another, I mean," he hummed aloud, his gaze not on Jack, but some point in the distant past.
"He wasn't my 'friend', he was my 'teacher'," Jack huffed.
"And isn't that an ill portend in a school of all places~" Ozpin chuckled.
"Hey, I gave Alumon every opportunity to let Weiss go. As far as I'm concerned, it was 'assisted suicide', not murder," Jack said frankly.
"Well, at the very least, it seems like Alumon made you work for your victory," he said giving what had become colloquially known as the 'Jack Braxton Suite' a once-over. "Although, with how much blood you'd lost, we expended nearly half our AB Positive reserves to stop you from flatlining," he hummed as he eyed Jack's medical chart.
"Yeah, well, blood packs have a shitty shelf life, so you can treat it like me doing you another favor," Jack huffed.
"Not sure that's what I'd call forty-two days, but to each their own," Ozpin shrugged. "Anyhow, I'm glad to see you've recovered. If anything good came out of this, it's that Weiss will become a better Huntress out of it."
"Yeah. And all it took was her almost dying," Jack huffed. "Hey, Ozpin, I need to know. Alumon's really dead, right? He wasn't just faking?"
"Jack, you ripped the man's heart out," Ozpin deadpanned at him. "With your bare hand."
"Maybe, but there's all sorts of Semblance, mutations, and black market cybernetics in the world."
"Jack, paranoia is a good trait for a Huntsman to have, but no offense, you're starting to sound a little ridiculous. And this is coming from me."
"I suppose you're right," Jack conceded. "It's just… All the weird shit I've seen, I can't help but wonder…"
"Well, if it makes you feel any better, after this I'll personally confirm the man's death for you."
" . . . Thanks. I'm sure Weiss will be able to sleep soundly tonight."
"I'm glad to hear it," Ozpin nodded, taking the opportunity to look the Faunus up and down. "So this is your true form I take it?"
"Yeah, but it takes too much food to maintain muscle mass, and I move like a garbage truck when I'm like this, so I had Senjutsu used on me to make me a little… sleeker," the Faunus divulged. "Anyway, I'm sure you had a million better things to do than see me, so I have to ask… Why are you really here?" he asked skeptically.
"Other than seeing to the care of such a promising young student, I'd like to make you an offer."
"What kind of offer?" Jack asked with a raised brow.
"An offer to move you to a more-tranquil setting where you can recover, for a time, in peace and quiet," he said inclining his head towards the summoned Nevermore on the outside window sill, and the Spartoi in the room's four corners. "Your current accommodations aren't exactly… inconspicuous."
"Well… I have pissed a lot of people off," Jack admitted. "If I'm down and out for too long, I'm sure someone would come after me when I'm like this, Beacon or no Beacon," he said indicating his present accommodations. "Where would you be sending me?"
"Out of town, in a sense; think of it like an out-of-the-way day spa," Ozpin answered as he shifted in his seat, chain links rattling in his pocket as he steepled his fingers. "Tell me, how do you feel about cat girls?"
Jack had heard that Ozpin was "queer as a clockwork orange", but he never really understood the sentiment until that exact moment.
Of course, for the sake of propriety, Jack instead chose to say-
"Well that isn't infuriatingly-cryptic at all…"