Chapter 3
Sitting her back against the wall, the corner of the room directly to her side, Jane released a tired sigh.
It hadn't clicked to her that, when Glynda Goodwitch had said they would be sleeping in the ballroom, it meant they'd all be sleeping together in one room. There was very little chance that she would be able to fall asleep in close proximity to so many people, beasts or not. And so, after picking her spot which let her see the entire room, she sat down, folded one leg under the other with her foot flat against the ground and rested her head on a knee.
Honestly, she wasn't sure if she even could fall asleep, not when there were so many sounds she could hear, of people shuffling and rolling over, a few quiet conversations, and even, to her slight embarrassment, the sound of a couple, well, copulating. What the other applicants did mattered little to her though, and so she tuned out the noise as best she could and closed her eyes, trying to reach for that tiredness to drape it over herself and succumb to the veil of sleep.
When she opened her eyes again, she was rather surprised to find that it had worked...to some extent. Rather than the ballroom she was expecting to see, she opened her eyes to see the great tree, and beyond it, the Hunter's Workshop. But it was...different, not nearly as oppressive and, dare she say, evil as it felt previously. There was always a malicious and cruel atmosphere present even in the sanctuary from her personal nightmare of Yharnam, but now, it was simply neutral, as if the cruelty and oppression had been wiped away. "Good Hunter."
Jumping slightly, Jane turned, and saw the Doll stood placidly to the side. "Doll, it's nice to see you again, I was concerned as to the fate of you when I was pulled back into the waking world." And it was true. While the Doll was just that, a doll that Gehrman had made after losing his protege and whatever else Maria had been to him, she still possessed her own personality, delicate and refined, tempered with kindness and empathy. More than once she had simply rested her head atop the Doll's shoulder when the horrors she had seen became too much for her to stomach. The gentle lullaby that the Doll knew never failed to soothe her mind and soften the blows she suffered to her psyche.
"And I you, Good Hunter, your disappearance was most unwelcome." There was the faintest tone of chiding in the Doll's voice, and it brought a smile to Jane's face to see that even with Gehrman's death and her own temporary disappearance, she hadn't allowed herself to become depressed. That led her to wonder if the Doll could even suffer depression, but she snubbed that thought out immediately. The Doll was a living, thinking being, even if her body was porcelain instead of flesh.
Reaching out, she gave the Doll a hug, one that was returned with the delicacy and soft touch she had come to expect from her. "I know, I'm sorry." Releasing the Doll from the hug, Jane straightened up. "But I did it, I made it back to the waking world." The Doll smiled, her eyes curving as the joy the Doll beheld for her achieving that lofty goal overtook her. "But...I found something when I awoke. Something is wrong with the headmaster of Beacon, he's touched by something. I don't know if it's a Great One or some other cosmos dweller, but..."
"But your fight is not yet over, Good Hunter." The Doll finished for her, a melancholy expression drawing itself upon her face. "Even in the waking world, you shall find no rest. But know that I will always be here, a shoulder to rest upon and an ear to listen to your troubles and lighten your burdens." Jane smiled and moved to sit down, the Doll following her down, and threading together their fingers as she took the Doll's hand and tilted her head to the side. "Tell me of the waking world."
Jane smiled, and began to talk about all that she had seen while she was awake. She told the Doll of Ruby and Yang, of Weiss Schnee and of Beacon Academy. She spoke of how the sun felt upon her skin after what felt like years without its warming touch, how the air felt, fresh and clear as it breezed across her face. And the skies, blue and clear, with a handful of white, puffy clouds gliding across the endless blue. And the Doll lapped up those gentle words, Jane filling a yearning for something that the Doll would never get to experience for herself.
Without any warning, more just the slow, irresistible slip that it was, Jane found herself back in the ballroom, the last thing she remembered being the feeling of her cheek resting against the Doll's shoulder, and a hand on her own shoulder. She forgot exactly what it was she had been speaking of, but evidently she'd fallen 'asleep' on the Doll, and therefore woken up back in Beacon. Just in time too, if the signs of sunlight peeking through the tops of the windows were any indication.
Rising from where she had rested, Jane cracked her back and her neck, the uncomfortable sleeping position not exactly the best way to rest, but it still counted for sleeping, since she felt at least somewhat refreshed. There were a few early-risers already up and about, but the majority of the room were still sleeping. Feeling a light hunger in her stomach, Jane decided that food was in order, and made her way towards the doors, and the two teachers present there.
When she'd fallen asleep it was Glynda and a large man with a moustache, who were now replaced with a thin, green-haired man and a redheaded woman. "Off for a headstart on the breakfast lunch I presume?" The green-haired man asked, and Jane gave him a nod in return. "Well, just follow this path straight along, you can see the cafeteria bulding from here." He gestured through the doors and indicated the building a short walk away.
Nodding again to convey her thanks, Jane started off down the path, and within just a few steps found her eyes drawn inexorably to the morning sun. It was...so incredibly beautiful to see. In the past, she never put any weight to the dawn, to the sun rising and banishing the darkness for another day. But now, having dwelt in darkness for so long, she could truly say that she was thankful for the dawn, and the light that it brought.
Putting off breakfast for a moment, she walked in the direction of the sun until she came to the edge of the campus, and the cliff that surrounded the place. Leaning against the railing, Jane simply basked in the sunlight, watching it rise above the nearby mountains and bathe the forest before her in sunlight. After a few minutes though, her stomach rumbled, and in spite of her desire to watch the sun rising further into the sky, she turned around and made her way back to the path, then towards the cafeteria.
Once there, she had her choice of a rather dizzying array of foods. There were so many options to pick from, and she eventually settled on some wholegrain toast, a fried egg, two sausages and a ladle of beans. Taking her spoils off to a corner table, she observed the other occupants as well as any new arrivals while she ate, keeping an eye on all the curious arrivals, many of whom had some kind of distinct theme or individuality that set them apart from the others.
It wasn't something she paid much attention to yesterday, but the way that Yang, Weiss and Ruby were all very distinctly colourful and different from each other spoke not just of fashion design, but also of a more important distinction. As for what exactly the point was, she didn't know, since her time in Yharnam was not filled with teamwork, and the dynamics of a group eluded her, but she resolved to add it to the list of things to investigate.
Speaking of which, she still needed to figure out how Ruby and Weiss had walked out of that explosion unharmed.
With breakfast consumed, Jane headed back to her earlier spot, settling down on the floor a few steps from the railing and laying down to watch the clouds and the sun.
Being honest with herself, that view up into the deep blue sky made her feel so very vindicated in her fight. There were times, far more times than was reasonable, where she truly felt as if she couldn't go on. Yharnam was dark, and full of horrific things, many of which sapped at her will to continue in light of what she had seen. Men, women and children suffering the cruelest fates imaginable. She herself was not spared that suffering, but where they found rest, she found herself forced to keep going, lest she succumb to the nightmare.
With her fingers laced together behind her head, and a cooling breeze blowing which balanced the warmth of the sun beaming down at her, Jane could truly say that she had found her way out of hell itself, and that the trials she had faced had not broken her, not entirely. She was self-cognizant enough to know that she was not one of the prospective Huntsmen who now surrounded her, not any more, she had seen the darkness of the world and come out of it warped, but that didn't mean she couldn't still grow and learn with them. She knew how to battle beasts, but Beacon still had much it could teach her.
A footstep flattening grass drew her eyes to open and her head to twist, her hackles rising as she felt the same sensation she felt when she looked upon the headmaster. Seeing that it was the man himself who showed up, Jane got up from where she lay, giving him a veiled look of suspicion. Nobody else could perceive what was wrong with him, and fighting him would vilify her in the eyes of the Huntsmen. "A beautiful morning, is it not?" He asked innocently, taking a sip from the drink in his hand.
His face, his body language, everything that Annalise had painstakingly taught her to recognise, told her that he was simply out on a stroll and had encountered a curiosity. But she couldn't relax, not when she felt that influence that wove itself around him. "It is indeed. Please excuse me, headmaster, I should be getting back to the ballroom." She inclined her tricorn hat in departure, far too uncomfortable to stay in his presence for more than a few moments. Gehrman had never felt like that, and he had been in some kind of covenant or agreement with the Moon Presence, which told her one of two things. Either whatever was influencing the man was far stronger than the Moon Presence's effect, or her absorption of that particular Great One had magnified her perceptions of the higher mysteries.
"A moment, please." Freezing in place, she turned her head slowly towards him. "May I see that blade?" Indecision thundered within her mind. She wanted to flee, quite intently in fact, but to do so would draw his attention most certainly. So, despite how much his presence set her danger sense off like crazy, she turned fully and drew Crocea Mors. "The Arc Family Sword. I seem to recall this particular blade was made of dust-forged steel when your father used it during his tenure here. Is this your work?"
Fighting to keep from grinding her teeth together at how offputting it was being so close to something that felt so similar to a baby Kin, Jane nodded. "The blade my father wielded was not strong enough to survive, so I reforged it." She flourished the blade for a moment, the purple-black blade singing as it sliced through the air. Returning it to the sheath within her shield, Jane waited, hiding her discomfort as best she could as the headmaster took another sip of his beverage.
"Well, I shan't keep you any longer. Best of luck to you during your initiation, though with your transcript scores, somehow I doubt you'll need it." Giving another nod and a repeated tip of her hat, Jane strode away from the man before she did something inadvisable. From a distance, she could bear it, but being within feet of something that she would have been in mortal combat against recently, and for longer than she could recall, it set every combat instinct she had into high gear, ready for a fight.
She held herself with great caution though, making sure to turn what would have been a run into a calm and measured walk worthy of Annalise's praise.
Striding into the locker room where she had been told to leave her weapons, which she had ignored utterly, Jane beheld a rather curious situation.
Weiss Schnee was talking to a rather beautiful green-eyed redhead, and said redhead was, at a cursory glance, indulging her. Looking closer though, Jane could read that she very much so wanted to get the fuck away from Weiss. Deciding that the last redhead she had befriended hadn't gone too badly, Jane decided to take a risk and step in. "Excuse me, Miss Schnee?" She asked politely, surprised at the look she garnered from the Schnee.
"Excuse me, but I was in the middle of a rather important conversation, so unless you have a very good reason to interrupt us, please leave us be." Now, Jane had to admit, she wasn't exactly a paragon of good, she had done her fair share of cruelties in Yharnam. But she still tried her best to help people, even if more often than not, she ended up carrying their blood on her hands, either figuratively, or, more than she ever cared to, literally.
But having the girl pretty much entirely dismiss her existence as unimportant rankled her quite a lot, which surprised even her. "I do in fact have a very good reason to interrupt you." That made the girl raise a finely-manicured eyebrow, and Jane took a step forwards, indicating to the girl that Jane had a good head of height over her. "You see, I don't think your conversational partner really wants to be speaking to you right now for some reason, but she's far too polite to say it as such. I have no such compulsions, and am glad to get between you two. Now, you can do the sociable thing, understand that this young woman-" She gestured at the stunned and red-cheeked redhead. "-maybe would prefer to prepare herself for our coming initiation, where we are going to be in combat and will need to be fully prepared, instead of making connections, and apologize for monopolizing this valuable preparatory time. Or you can argue like a petulant child."
The young heiress seemed ready to explode, but a look towards the redhead, who had a bashful and somewhat awestruck expression on her face, apparently clued her in that Jane was correct. Weiss cleared her throat once, then looked back at Jane. "As that may be, is it really your place to decide for Pyrrha Nikos?" Jane blinked once, slowly and deliberately, both because she couldn't recall who Pyrrha Nikos was, though obviously a big deal, and also to piss Weiss off more. "Mistral Regional Tournament Champion four times in a row?...Graduated top of the class at Sanctum?!...The face on the front of every single Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes box?!" Each time she finished Weiss searched for any sign of recognition, and Jane amused herself greatly by reacting to none but the last, which she simply gave a look towards the now named Pyrrha, who rubbed at her head sheepishly.
"And that means she can't be someone who finds it hard to refuse people making conversation with her?" With that one question she deflated Weiss's attitude, turning her attention towards Pyrrha. "So, four years in a row, that must have been exhilarating?" Jane asked casually, surprised at the somewhat upset look that formed on Pyrrha's face. "None-the-less, my name is Jane Arc, and it's a pleasure to meet you Pyrrha." She extended her hand, grasping Pyrrha's when she reached out for a shake and planting a kiss on her knuckles, mostly because she was curious to see if a little theory she had formed was true. From the large blush that formed on Pyrrha's face, Jane posited that it was likely Pyrrha was starved for touch, since if she'd won a regional tournament several years in a row...well, who would even get close to her?
Her previous social incapabilities lent credence to that, and the awestruck look she had on her face earlier when Jane semi-protected her from Weiss's one-sided discussion also clued her in that as someone on the top of her class and victor of a bunch of tournaments, she was probably seen as being just way too high up the ladder for anyone to reach up to, and someone who didn't need protection, even if she wanted to be protected. "I-uhh, thank you." She managed to eke out, taking her hand back. Glancing at Weiss, who seemed stuck between blowing a gasket and gawking at Pyrrha, Jane decided that it was her time to leave.
Of course, when she started to leave, Pyrrha didn't let her go easily, sidling up beside her and matching her pace. "So where did you graduate from?" Pyrrha asked, apparently a little more confident away from the Schnee heiress. Jane though back to her faked transcripts, trying to recall whatever the fake name written on them was. Try as she might though, that tidbit of useless information had completely vacated her brain.
So, when in doubt, misdirect, mislead and misinform. "Oh, nowhere important. Most of what I picked up was from my family and from those close to me. But enough about me, what about you? Top of Sanctum sounds impressive, but who actually taught you to fight?" She could see the dip in Pyrrha's emotions immediately, and moved to head that off. "Hey, no. if you don't want to talk about whoever trained you, that's fine. Maybe, hmm...favorite food?"
Pyrrha bounced back decently enough, and before Jane knew it, they were arriving at the cliffside for their initiation, a new redhead friendship acquired. Somewhere in her mind as they arrived, Jane wondered if maybe she just had a knack for befriending redheads, since first Ruby and now Pyrrha were people she could tentatively call friends, with Yang being more of an acquaintance than anything else, and Weiss distinctly on the other side of the spectrum.
They were quickly split and sent to move to different steel pads on the ground, and she focused on the headmaster as he stood off to one side. From that distance, she still felt ready for a fight, but not so much that she had to restrain herself from attacking him. "For years you have trained to become warriors. And today your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest." She listened with one ear as Glynda explained that teams would be assigned on that very day. And then, she heard the headmaster say something that baffled her.
"That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years." Jane felt her jaw loosen slightly at the sheer unbelievability of that. Eye contact would decide the person she would have to work with for the next four whole years? Subconsciously she glanced down the line at Weiss Schnee, and knew that if that happened, there would be a fucking bloodbath before the day was done. Then she caught the green eyes of Pyrrha and acknowledged that if she had Pyrrha as a teammate it'd probably be a good four years. Ruby was also an option, but Jane suspected her childishness would get irritating quickly.
Jane continued to listen as their objective was explained, and when Weiss Schnee was sent hurtling off the cliff with nobody even batting an eye, Jane realized that maybe she should have asked about the whole durability thing, because at that kind of altitude, she would probably break the majority of her bones on impact. Going through her entire arsenal, all the knives, bombs and other things she had equipped, she came up with exactly nothing that'd help her survive the fall. Well, maybe she could stab herself with all her blood vials just before she hit the ground, and hope she would survive the landing, but for one, there was no guarantee she wouldn't just die, and two, they were observing every participant, and landing in a pile of blood and broken bones was sure to get her kicked out of Beacon instantly.
Looking at the headmaster, Jane contemplated what she could do to avoid either forfeiting or getting turned into a bloody smear, and then, an idea came to her. They hadn't established rules of any kind, which meant it was a free-for-all regarding how she made it into the forest. Smirking thinly, she drew Crocea Mors and then took a step forwards, drawing the eyes of everyone else there. "See you all at the finish line." She announced, turning as she hopped off the edge and plunged Crocea Mors into the cliff, the blade slicing downwards through the rock but not so fast that she felt in danger. She still needed to use her feet and other arm to make sure the blade stayed at a ninety-degree angle and kept her from falling to her death, but after about ten seconds of falling, she kicked off the cliff face and rolled backwards when she hit the floor, spinning as soon as she was upright and bolting into the forest.
Unorthodox, sure, but until she figured out what made the others so durable, she would just have to make do.
