I don't own anything.
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"What are you two working on anyways?" Weiss, sitting with Blake, Pyrrha and I in the library asked while my dark-haired teammate and I combed through more newspapers.
It had been a couple of days since my talk with Ruby, and the way I had been ignoring her made me realize that I'd done the same to my team. Ever since I'd started helping Blake look for Tukson's killer, we hadn't been spending nearly as much time together as before. So, I had been making an effort to spend more time with not only my own team, but team VLYR as well.
That said, Blake had been clear that she didn't want to drag anyone else into this mess with us. Hell, she would have preferred it if I hadn't butted in, and despite clearly appreciating the help, she had hinted more than once that I didn't have to do it. So, seeing the panicked look on her face, I blurted out the first thing that came to mind.
"We're working on a birthday present." I said, "One of my sister's birthdays is coming up and we always make each other gifts. Blake came up with this collage idea, putting together articles and stories since Rose is really into true crime and stuff."
As I spoke, I could see Blake relax slightly as the rest of our team bought the lie. Weiss seemed to lose interest almost immediately, though Pyrrha frowned lightly.
"That was nice of her. I could lend a hand if you'd like?"
I smile at the redhead, ever the helpful teammate and partner, but I just shook my head lightly. "It's fine, we're almost done anyways, it would take longer to get you up to speed than it would to finish it. Thanks though."
"Oh. Alright then."
While her words seemed accepting enough, I saw the way her eyes tightened a little while her tone shifted slightly. 'Strange, wonder what that's about?' I wondered silently, but I shrugged it off. If something was bothering her, Pyrrha would surely talk about it when she was ready.
It was around half an hour later that I finished the last of the stack of newspapers I'd taken with me, and I leaned back to stretch in my chair. "Alright, I'm done for the day. Anybody want to come grab a bite to eat?"
"I'm okay, I want to get this done." Blake replied, not even taking her eyes off of the paper in front of her as she stayed focused on her task. Weiss, meanwhile, was working on an essay for History that I hadn't even started writing yet. 'I'll have to finish that soon, it's due on Monday.' I thought with a grimace, it was on the Faunus revolution and the battle of Fort Castle. I wasn't looking forward to reading the reference material on that.
"No thank you."
"Sure, Jaune." Pyrrha, it seemed, was just as eager to get out of the library as I was. Quickly standing, the redhead's smile was a lot more genuine than the more brittle one she'd been sporting earlier.
"So, it's going to be your sister's birthday soon?"
"Yeah." I replied. "One of them anyways."
"One of them? You have two sisters?"
"Seven actually." I smiled lightly, anticipating the incredulous response most people gave when they heard how many siblings I had. Pyrrha did not disappoint. For a moment, she stopped, falling behind. Turning around to face her, I could clearly see her wide, emerald eyes and slack jaw and laughed.
"Seven?" She whispered.
"Yeah." I told her, my smile softening slightly as I thought of them. "Three of them are older than me, and the other four are younger."
"How?"
"Well, when a man and a woman love each other very much-" I idly dodged around Pyrrha's slap, laughing as her face turned as red as her hair.
"That's not what I meant, and you know it." She tried to scowl at me, but she couldn't keep the smile off of her face as she started laughing along with me.
"No, but seriously, how did you survive?" She asked, "I can't even imagine having one sibling. Let alone seven."
I looked her dead in the eye as I responded. "Bribes."
"What?" She sounded beyond confused, as any person without siblings would. I was serious though. Bribing your siblings was probably the ultimate way of getting out of trouble. Mess something up, bribe them not to rat you out, or just bribe them to take the blame. Of course, that also meant you received bribes regularly when they had the same problem. There was a whole economy to being siblings, and while I wasn't quite as prolific as Rose was, I did well enough for myself.
When I explained it, Pyrrha seemed to think it was the funniest thing in the world. Laughing loudly as I told her story after story.
"-and to this day, mom and dad think Jade was the one who broke that bowl."
"Having such a large family sounds wonderful." She replied, just as we arrived at the cafeteria, and I gave her a smile as I pushed the doors open.
"It was."
The smell of food hit me as we entered, and the sparse conversations that were had in the room washed over me. It wasn't busy, which was to be expected, really, since it was three in the afternoon on a Saturday.
Honestly, I wasn't even hungry. Hell, I wasn't sure if I even could become hungry anymore, but I'd needed a break from the search, and some food sounded like a wonderful excuse. With a big smile on my face, I scanned the assortment of food that was available. Since it was such an odd time, the only food left on the lunch counter was snacks, fruit and a variety of sandwiches.
I quickly grabbed myself a ham sandwich, a soda and an apple while Pyrrha opted for a simple chicken club. I was about to head up to the counter when I passed a tuna sandwich. Come to think of it, had Blake even been at lunch. She wasn't the most vocal of people, so I hadn't noticed at the time, but I couldn't remember her being there.
I snatched one as I walked past, stacking it on top of my own so I didn't drop anything and quickly scanned my scroll at the counter. We didn't have to pay for food on campus, but we did need to 'check out' when we did take anything. Something about keeping track of stock and making sure there wasn't too much waste. I hadn't been paying much attention when it had been explained, but Weiss could probably tell me.
Pyrrha gave me a strange look as I returned with two sandwiches instead of one.
"Hungry?"
"Huh, oh the second one is for Blake. I don't think she's eaten since breakfast."
"That's nice."
My reply seemed to draw a smile from Pyrrha, although it didn't seem to reach her eyes. Much like the smile she'd given me in the library before. Was I chasing ghosts here? It seemed like something was wrong, but I couldn't for the life of me think of anything that might upset her.
'I'll never understand women.'
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Boartusk
Level 32
I felt a light smile come over my face as I readied myself for the inevitable charge. Out of all the Grimm I had encountered so far, Boartusk might just be the most straightforward of them all. They only had one avenue of attack, after all, full-frontal attack. Whether that was by charging or rolling, their only means of hurting someone was by hitting the with their bulk or their horns, both of which was only possible by building speed and crashing into whatever they wanted dead.
This one opted to simply run at me, a screech leaving its mouth as it did so. I readied my shield, the black sheen of my only spell settling overtop the white metal with a flex of my aura. I lowered myself closer to the ground when it was within five feet of me, bending at the knees and bracing my shield against my arm and my shoulder both for more stability.
Then, the immovable object and the unstoppable force met with a mighty clang. Well, at least until I proved that I was more of an immovable object than it was an unstoppable force. The heavily armored monster was stopped dead in its tracks, the force it had built up in its charge coming back onto the horns that had just bounced off of my shield, cracking and chipping slightly as they did so.
I didn't move an inch.
Off balance and hurting, if Grimm could even feel pain that was, I pushed with my back foot and rammed into it. The beast landed on its back, and while it tried to roll over, I didn't give it a chance, simply ramming Crocea Mors into the spot I'd estimated its heart to be. Judging by the fact that it still had a sliver of health remaining, I'd missed.
It was no matter, though. I quickly withdrew my weapon from it, pushing off of the Grimm with my foot as I did so. The motion sent me far enough that it didn't manage to gore me with a swing of its head, and when it went to roll over, I booted it in the flank. The Boartusk tumbled sideways this time, and I didn't even wait for it to stop moving before I slashed out, cutting a deep gash into the black fur that peeked out from between armor plates on its side.
The last sliver of health vanished, and the Grimm died, dissolving into dust.
+7736 Dust
Jaune Arc
Level: 43
HP: 100/100
AP: 401/420
Vigor: 10
Mind: 21
Endurance: 17
Strength: 26
Dexterity: 17
Intelligence: 11
Dust: 17263
Damn, still not enough for another level. The Dust requirement was growing quickly, and it was getting harder and harder to find strong Grimm in the forest. There were still lots of smaller and weaker Grimm hanging around, but at this point I had to kill over a dozen Beowolves to even get a level. And finding that many weaker Grimm was just as hard as finding a single stronger one.
Still, it was worth it. Not only was I still growing stronger, but I was also getting more skilled.
4:03
It was still beyond dark out, and I could make out some of the twinkling stars in the night sky through the canopy of green, but I should be getting back to the dorm. I didn't want my teammates to wake up and find me missing. Besides, it wasn't like I wouldn't have anything to do, I still had to finish that essay for Oobleck, much to my dismay.
I sheathed my sword and clipped the collapsed shield onto my belt before I took off towards the school at a brisk jog. I might have quite a bit of stamina, but I didn't want to risk running, it wouldn't do to tire myself out and suddenly encounter a Grimm. As strong as I'd gotten, fighting an Ursa or two while tired and out of breath was not my idea of a good time.
A light sheen of sweat had built up on my forehead as I got back to the halls of Beacon. At night, the halls, which were usually filled with the usual hustle and bustle of a Huntsman academy, were devoid of people. It made it all seem a little too large, too empty. I hurried over to the locker room and quickly deposited my weapons inside before making my way back to the dorm.
This time my brisk pace had little to do with how empty the halls were, and everything to do with me being eager to get into the shower. I was sweaty and a little sore, and the glorious feeling of hot water would wash it all away.
I smiled lightly at my teammates when I carefully pushed the door open with a little click. I could see some strands of red hair peeking out of the blanket burrito that was Pyrrha. Next to her, Weiss was breathing softly into her pillow, her hair which was usually tied up splayed over the sheets. And finally, Blake was… not there?
Where the hell was she?
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Hey guys, we get some more Ruby interaction here, let me know what you guys think.
Btw, for the people arguing about the sword in the reviews, I'm going to clear this up here. Crocea Mors is an arming sword here, it just has a slightly longer handle so it can technically be used like a bastard sword, but it's a bit uncomfortable. It just makes more sense for Jaune to have the 'knight sword' as the arming sword is sometimes called. This weapon is also used for both stabbing and slashing.
If you guys want to talk about the story and get direct responses from me, or just chat in general, you can join this Discord at: b7JaQcpuc7
You can read up to 6 chapters ahead on:
P a treon . com (slash) Raven991
Have a good one!
Anyways, have a good one!