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Nora was all over me in a pinwheel of hammer and raw force. I blocked and redirected her massive attacks, giving ground all the while and stepping back to get brief charges of my semblance in. I wasn't sure how effective this hit and run strategy I was working on really was but there was no way to know until I activated my semblance.
It arrived with the usual whoosh and I bashed Nora across the face with the shield and she whipped back at me with a large grin. "Ruby's right. It does make you stronger, but does it make you strong enough for this?"
She rotated the hammer over her head and I stepped back and to the side, giving her space before the hammer clipped me on the shoulder. I winced, in more pain than the blow would have indicated normally; irritating my wounds was a must, however.
I shut down Nora's worried look by spending the charge right in her face. The five hit combo I had used against the Scorpion which carved a massive Kanji in the air. Misfortune. Ren had informed me when he saw it. I unleashed the bad luck cutter right into her gut and knocked her back, bouncing her across the bricks. She was the only one in the group I felt comfortable using that kind of attack against in sparring. Ruby was made of paper-mache and Ren was a lightweight, too.
Nora on the other hand could really take the hit.
I checked her aura gauge. Maybe Ruby was right, maybe my own strength was a mystery to me. Nora was yellow.
She flipped back to her feet rushing me with the hammer but suddenly, without limit, I swayed on my feet, clutching my side. I held up a single hand and her steps stuttered to a stop.
"You're not just charging your semblance, are you?" She asked. I glared at her. "Good because that's funny nonce."
I panted hard and glared some more.
Ruby had been watching the fight unfold and walked up to me. She handed me a bottle of water and as she swung past me she kissed my cheek in a crimson flash. Her eyes glowed and a small blush marked her cheeks before she vanished in a small blur.
"So you and Ruby, huh?" Nora leered with a grin. As though she didn't know. The two of them had shared a room last night. What secrets had they shared? A total question mark.
"Yeah, me and Ruby." My voice had more confidence than I felt.
"How'd that happen?"
"She got tired of waiting for me and made a move."
Nora looked down and rubbed her right arm with her left arm sheepishly. "It's not that easy," she murmured.
"It actually might be."
"What if he's not into me."
"Nora, you're his whole world."
"He needs to say it." She said, sticking one hand on her hip. "Not you."
"So you two haven't done anything?"
"No we totally have, it's just not like that, or like what you have."
"That's not what I meant. Just… don't wait too long." I let a little agony creep into my voice. "You really really don't want to wait too long." It wasn't pain I felt wasn't from my abdomen.
She opened her mouth but I found a place to sit and plopped down, clutching my sides with a hiss.
"Was it a good idea for us to fight?" She asked.
"I need to stay fit and get used to the semblance and sword. You took it easy enough on me."
"You're hurting though. Also you didn't take it easy on me. What was that?"
"I was hurting before we started, though."
"Oh that makes it okay then." Sarcasm leaked through. She aggressively ruffled my hair. "You need to look after yourself."
"I've got you guys to help with that."
"What are you going to do when we're not around?"
"I'll muddle through."
Ren approached us, looking us both up and down thoroughly and distantly. His eyes lingered on me and for a moment I thought he saw right through me. His eyes nearly narrowed and with his semblance I couldn't really put how much he saw past him. He was the strongest empath on our team for a reason.
"So that's your semblance, it's very you." Ren murmured. "I had wondered when it would manifest."
"Do you have a name for it?" Nora wondered.
"Do you really need to have a name for it?" I wondered. "It's just a semblance."
"Just a semblance!" Nora exclaimed. "Of course it needs a name! Do you have a name?" She wondered rhetorically.
"Nora calls her's High Voltage. Mine, of course, is called Tranquility. Ruby's probably has a name like Scatter or something. Fallen Petals or some such."
"How about Summit Supremium Smash?" Nora went with.
"A bit of a mouthful, isn't it?" I tried.
"Boundless Bash," she whispered.
"Something shorter, then, like Limit Breaker." Ren continued.
"Limit Break sounds fine." I settled before some worse option could present itself. "Let's call it Limit Break."
"How are you feeling Jaune?" Ren wondered.
"I'm hurt but I'm getting through it." I needed a distraction. "How's enlightening Beifhing's men going?"
"All done!" Nora spouted flexing one bicep. "All of the king's men are ready for battle."
I sighed. I felt better leaving the village again if the guards had aura and the power to defend themselves against the Grimm. Of course enlightening so many people posed its own dangers but the Knuckleavee and the danger presented by Vernal was just too much. We couldn't be everywhere. We couldn't stay forever. There was a certain compromise there.
The fact was when you handed out tickets to the superpower lottery, someone might win. Example: Raven fucking Branwen who united half a continent worth of bandits in terror.
It was also much faster and safer for us as a group rather than Ruby doing it by herself in Higanbana.
I twisted and turned my torso, stretching my stitches to aggravate the wounds. Ren winced next to me and looked me over again. He said nothing though but he met my eyes in a certain suspicious silence.
"You feel up for sparring with me?" Ren quirked an eyebrow. I panted a moment longer before I nodded. We were gathering a bit of an audience in the small courtyard. A few young children and some older kids came out to watch the hunters practice.
"Don't hit him with that move!" Nora called. "The one you hit me with. Does it have a name?"
"Why would my moves have names if my semblance didn't?"
"Everyone has signature moves." Ruby explained. She was back in a blur and plopped down beside Nora with a drink. "Yang likes jab, left body shot, left head hook, right cross. She favors ending everything with a cross, regardless of her stance."
"So my moves need names?"
"Well sure!" Nora continued. "Whatever you just hit me with for sure."
"He used that against the scorpion, too." Ruby gossipped back. "It was devastating."
"That's the one he used to break his aura?" Nora wondered. "No wonder."
"Yeah. You should see the other ones he has too. He has one where he moves with it. It's hard to explain."
"It's pretty, though."
"I know right."
"Are we going to fight?" Ren wondered. "Or are you just listening to the girls?"
"Yeah." I answered cutely, drawing my sword into a ready position. "You ready?"
"Speaking of…" Nora continued. "What was the name of your semblance Ruby?"
"Petal Burst." Ruby took a sip of her drink, kicking her legs on the bench she sat on. God she was cute. She brushed her hair back out of her face by pouting her lips and blowing upwards.
"Boo." Nora ixnayed the creativity.
"Yang named it." Ruby defended easily. "It started when I was super young."
"How young are we talking about?"
"Young enough to not be able to control it. And to cause a few accidents."
"So what are we going to call that move?"
"Kanji Smash," Rens suggested.
"Slayer," Nora tried. "Penta Slash. What does the Kanji mean?"
"Misfortune," Ren answered.
"Unlucky Cutter," Nora continued.
I grunted.
"'X' slash. Cross Slash," Ruby listed. I liked the last one.
"Hold up, Ren! Don't just sit there and let him charge it!" Nora called out.
Too late. My skull roared and I rushed him. I swept my sword down at him with a blue blur. I made sure not to crack the pavement beneath Ren's feet. It turns out I didn't need to because Ren swept backwards. It looked like it was in slow motion compared to his usual speed.
I gave him no quarter. Limit Break only lasted so long. Fifteen seconds, maybe. Could be less. A long time in a fight but then not that long. I swept the distance between us, in a violent violet haze. I thrusted Crocea Mors in all six foot glory forward as I rushed him with an impaling flick. I caught him in the chest and lifted him up into the air. I followed it up with that baseball style swing where I pivoted my hips into a diagonal slash. I caught Ren flat footed. I was starting to think that that was one of those moves that Ruby had a read on me for.
It was comfortable though, it felt right.
He kicked at me, at normal speed now, but compared to the Scorpion he was moving through jello. I blocked it by raising Crocea Mors vertically but it seemed to be a trap.
Ren caught my weapon and swung around me kicking me in the back and I went down rolling. He pursued me with his weapons ready to grapple and whipped my leg out from underneath me with a hook of Stormflower. He ripped out a chunk of my aura with it and the other one at the same time.
I sighed even before I hit the ground. Semblance or not, some things remained the same.
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A wedding like the one GaiLong had in store was a large affair. People dancing, celebrating, drinking; it was one of the best ways to combat the Grimm which didn't involve actual combat. A big party. It was good to get the whole town involved and Beifhing and I both agreed that it would definitely be for the best if we made our own appearance at the wedding.
This would be the first such celebratory event since the black-out panic for GaiLong. If it was the first in the valley, I couldn't be sure since there were only three major settlements left. GaiLong, Higanbana, and a further large settlement called Ogedei which Ren and Nora visited.
They said it was larger and more military than Higanbana, let alone gentle GaiLong which relied instead on avoiding Grimm rather than fending them off. It was hard being that they couldn't move the city and whatnot, however, events like these were a critical weapon in the war against the Grimm. GaiLong didn't need walls or many armed guards, in fact, that would detract from the whole idyllic village thing they had going on.
It was subtle and powerful in its own way.
My presence made people worry. This wedding was perfect for an evacuation. If we timed it just right, if not, the Grimm would rush the disoriented village in mass.
Streamers were going up all over town those paper lanterns were getting set up to float away. Further down the road a man was struggling to push along a cart full of fireworks.
I jogged down the path to him where he was struggling. "How's the workload?" I asked.
"Oh, um I'm afraid that my horse has fallen ill. So I'm managing without it," he murmured. He didn't meet my eye for a moment.
"Please." I indicated to the cart. "Allow me."
He let me take over pulling the cart and I put it on my shoulders and set my hips against the weight of the fireworks, candles, and streamers inside.
"So you're the huntsman."
"One of them." I hefted the weight easily. To be honest I could probably carry the cart.
"You're the one who keeps meeting the Dono, though."
I nodded and started pulling.
"Y'know I promised one of my daughters that if I saw the opportunity I'd get her a dance from you."
"From me?"
"Don't be dense, man." He stretched as he walked beside me, letting a bit of a gut fall out. He wasn't in bad shape, but he wasn't militia material. "A guy like you."
"A guy like me?"
"Ya know? Tall, blonde, huntsman." He eyed my weapon. It was folded into a shape between shield and sword on my back. It was still nearly five feet long from handle to end of the shield and blade, even folded.
"I'll have to decline," I returned.
"You're with one of the huntresses, ain't ya. One or both?"
"Yeah," I said, processing the question. I grunted as I pulled the cart over a rock. I finally shook my head. "Just the little red one."
"I didn't mean no offense by it. The wedding, there's two grooms, you see. One bride."
"I didn't take any offense. Nora, the pink one, she's got her heart set on someone else. Where do you want this?"
"My daughter will be disappointed. The ballpark of the forge is fine, thank you young man."
"It was my pleasure." I set it down. There were a thousand advantages to being a huntsman. One of them was being able to move heavy things around. "Let me know if you need anything moved before the evacuation."
"Evacuation?"
"Don't play dumb, gas travels fast in a town like this."
"Ya caught me. I'll be sure to come find you for some of the heavier stuff." I nodded and waved him off. Ruby was waiting for me, leaning against the walls of the forge and chatting up the blacksmith as she want to do. She was toying with the sidearm we'd commandeered and playing with a child at the same time.
I stood there and watched her until the child's mother came by and with a brief word escorted the girl away from Ruby.
"Here comes the bride, all fat and wide!" The girl sang as her mother took her hand.
Her mother was quick to scold her. "If you sing that during the wedding so help me…"
"You alright?" I asked Ruby, she was watching the girl go with these long eyes.
"I'm fine, I'm just…"
"Just thinking, huh."
"Right, just thinking."
"I'm here for anything you need, Rubes. I promise." She smiled at me but it looked like she was masking.
"Thanks Jaune. Let's find some more busy work."
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The wedding itself seemed surreal. I couldn't put my finger on the entire thing. The entire celebration was done by candlelight, those sort of lanterns with candles inside were set off and hovering every which direction. Strings of colored flags in red, pink, and lavender were strung between buildings in wide arcs..
They waved in the wind which blew about the scent of pulled pork and an entire roasted cow. Just for the occasion they'd slaughtered upwards of thirty animals for a massive feast. That was a more than welcome sight and Ruby and I stuffed ourselves.
Nora dragged Ren to several carnival festivities and booths. Ren tried to look bedraggled as he was pulled along but the grin on his face was hidden from no one.
I was standing on a low hill, overwatching the affair with a certain dreamlike distance. It was an event I wasn't to partake in and an occasion that wasn't for me to truly immerse myself in and enjoy. Ruby came up beside me and put one hand on my shoulder.
"We should go down." She murmured softly. "Maybe dance a little."
I nodded. "After the ceremony." If she wanted to dance I was all for it. Even a bit excited.
We watched the bride approach the grooms. One of the grooms was in red, the other in that soft purple. When the bride in pink met them at the altar, they shed their robes with the different colors to reveal white shirts and a soft dress. This altar, so different from the last I'd seen, was also covered in red liquid.
It made me want to look away.
Together, they made their vows and I watched them pour tie dye on their pure white clothes, coating them in soft purples and reds until I couldn't tell where one color ends and the next began. They embraced and kissed to the cheers of their closest acquaintances with seats nearby.
"Come on, let's dance," she insisted this time, she took my right hand in her left and led me down to a small forum of cobbled stone. "You know how to dance right?"
"Sure, all kinds of dances. My father taught me. He wanted me to be able to move. Something about motor skills."
"He didn't just teach you to fight?"
I shrugged. "He wasn't like that."
We waited for the trio to have their dance. First together than in three groups. The happy set eventually left the dance floor free for others to join in and we did. Ruby dragged me out to the dance floor by my right hand. I slowly waltzed with Ruby, holding her close under the sway of the music. She rested her head against my chest.
"You're so warm." She murmured as we twisted through a crowd of people. How she could feel it through my armor, I wasn't sure, but then I remembered my aura and how she probably felt me that way.
I reached out and I could feel her presence wrapped in mine. She felt so small for just a moment before I felt the true breath of her. Her real size and scope was so much greater than the tiny form I held by the waist.
"You know…" she trailed off.
"I probably don't." I returned. "Tell me…"
"Never mind, then," she whispered.
We drifted for a moment longer before the moment was interrupted.
Screams. They burst from the crowd as the dust cart I had pulled into place exploded. The force threw people near it to the ground and ripped others in half. "Jaune!" Ruby called out to me. My head was spinning from the force.
I thought there would be time, time to react and prepare but to be honest the bandits were on the place in moments. Figures dashing through the crowd cutting down people as they passed. The guards we enlightened flickered out like little lights. The bandits had huntsmen weapons and training if our encounter was anything to base it on.
The screams turned blood curdling as they cut through the dancers. Bodies fell and blood ran across the cobblestone streets.
"I should have known," I murmured. "It was too perfect." I felt dizzy.
The wedding was the perfect target to any spy watching GaiLong. It was critical.
A kid with a sword no older than me got in my way. I blocked it when he tried to slash me and end it quickly. I backed up charging my semblance, the explosion already nearly feeling my internal gauge. I stepped back in, sweeping my sword across his gut then across his chest.
The burn in my skull activated from the damage I dealt and I destroyed him. I unleashed my semblance in the devastating combo Ruby had dubbed the Cross Slash. The first four hits shredded his aura and the next blitzed straight through his body. I crushed his rib cage like an aluminum can.
It was easier the second time. Killing someone. It was easier the second time. Alarmingly so.
Blood splattered across my face and I spat it back out. Ruby had vanished in a blur. She instantly went where she was most needed. I watched the crimsonette sweep around the village, moving at least mach three.
I paced forward looking for my next target. A young woman with tan-colored skin, short brown hair and icy blue eyes. She had a tattoo of a bird rising from flowers on her left arm.
She raised her weapons, two crescent curved blades, each with a ring-shaped center over a gun.
"You killed my friend," she said.
"Night's not even over," I muttered.
She started things by shooting me.
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-WG