"Jaune! Your sword is floating!" Nora shouted, moving her eyes back from the maliciously floating sword and back to her cup of orange juice. The table and the chairs trembling slightly from the pure power his sword radiated.
"I am in the shower for one minute!" Came the disgruntled shout from the bathroom. Instantly the sound of running water died down, followed by harshly whispered curses and wet feet on tile. Not a second later and the bathroom door cracked open with a loud bang. Fearless leader coming marching out with only a towel around his hip, water falling of him with every step.
The screaming slammed into her like a sledgehammer, a shiver racing through her as one of the dozen floating ghosts sped through her. Nonchalantly taking a sip from her orange juice, she did her best to ignore the ghastly ladies as the eldest did her best at shepherding them.
"You missed one Chief." Nora called out, nodding her head towards a spirit that peeked out of the roof, hands covering her eyes while she peeked at Fearless Leader through her fingers. Ignoring the glare the eldest ghost gave her, Nora took another sip of orange juice. Having more important things on her mind. Like finding a way to convince some spirits to possess her grenades. 'Homing' grenades had always seen like an impossible idea even to her, now she wasn't so sure.
"I leave you alone for one minute." Fearless Leader growled under his breath, snatching his sword out of the air. A sound akin to a wail echoed from the sheath. The sword vibrating in the sheath, rising to draw itself as it screamed at him.
"Thank you, Nora." He chimed tiredly, breathing heavily before turning and marching straight back to the bathroom. Giving his sword a look that could curd milk the entire time.
"What did he even do to his sword?" Nora asked curiously, turning to the second youngest spirit who sat planted in her lap. Blue eyes never leaving the cartoons on her scroll. Oohing and ahhing along to the show. Hushed muttering in a language she didn't understand escaping the young spectre. Bit not that Nora needed to understand to get the gist of it. Not with how glee mixed with pure maliciousness in the spectres voice. Her nails growing black and sharp, the air around her taking on a chilly nip, and her hair began floating up like sharp spikes.
"Yeah, no." Nora replied with fond exasperation, bringing up some aura around her finger and poking Alexandra on the cheek. The spirit in question snapping out of what trance had fallen over her. The chill gone in an instant as her fair fell down. "No contemplating murder on my lap young lady. Schadenfreude is all good and well, taking pleasure of someone's suffering, not so well."
"The Kind Hunter trapped The Queen of the Vilebloods, and of Cainhurst Castle, in his blade, Lighting in a Bottle." Iosefka whispered in reply. The spectre aimlessly drifting through the air, a cloudy expression of pain and longing on her face as Fearless Leader looked right through her. "The Queen, her proficiency in the Arcane is only equalled by her cruelty. To make her reign over Castle Cainhurst eternal. Every Queen prospect was to study a year in the Queen's Tower, where they were ritually murdered and sacrificed so the Queen could wear their skin. In the process the would-be Queen's spirits were trapped between life and death, forever unable to pass on. Acting as anchors for the Queen's spirit, making sure she could never pass on herself."'
"So what you are saying is that she didn't suffer enough?" Nora asked poignantly, shooting a look at the sword in Fearless Leader's hand. A thousand ideas running rampant.
"Nora. No." She heard Renny sigh. Turning to him with a glare, she grabbed Alexandra under the armpits and hoisted her up towards him, earning an undignified squeak from the girl in question. But Nora didn't miss the way she lit up. A warmth bubbling against her hands. "Renny. I have only had Alexandra for little over an hour. But I swear on my mothers grave, that if anything were to happen to her, I will kill everyone, and then myself."
"You know I didn't mean it like that Nora." Renny sighed, shooting her a tired stare. "But please, if only for today. Please think before you act."
"Oh get of it, Renny." Nora shot back, heat creeping into her voice. "She killed children. Children!"
"She also ritualistically sacrificed infants." Iosefka chimed helpfully. Throwing oil on the fire that was her churning emotions.
"See! See!" Nora continued, glaring at Ren.
"You know I didn't mean it like that Nora." Ren sighed. Rubbing his eyes as he gave her a tired look. "It's just that we, who have little or close to no idea what we are doing, shouldn't go around and do something stupid. Like… I don't know… Let the evil Immortal Queen get out of her prison and unleash her on Remnant. Because I don't know about you, but that sounds like a colossal fuck up."
"Tch." Nora tsked, hating how right Ren was. But she didn't want to be logical, she wanted to be angry. She wanted to hurt someone. The Queen to be exact.
"And. Nora, how would you feel if you were to get in the way of what Jaune is planning?" Ren asked gently, taking another sip of his tea. "You know as good as me that Jaune can be… spiteful."
Huffing, Nora crossed her arms over her chest. Wildfire raced through her, only made worse by the usual lighting that coursed through her. Two spectral arms wrapped around her. Making the ever-constant buzzing stop. Returning the hug, Nora wrapped her arms around Alexandra. She didn't know what she said, she didn't care. The hug said more than enough.
"Yeah, yeah. I get it. Don't go freeing the Queen of evil and all that." Nora huffed, breaking the hug and grabbing her glass of orange juice. Rolling her eyes at how Alexandra huffed.
"Dad! Why are there naked women on your scroll?"
The question was spoken with childish innocent and naivety. Confusion laced every word.
Orange juice came spurting out of Nora's nose as she tried and failed to hold in her laugher. Flying through Alexandra, the young ghost in question screaming and flying up to brush herself up, even if it was Nora's legs and part of the couch that was covered in juice.
A snort escaped Ren as he chuckled to himself.
"Violet, I don't have-" Fearless leader started, taking his scroll from her hands and looking at the screen. "Why is there porn on my dash?" Never in her life had she heard Jaune sound so hollow and confused.
"Shush you." Fearless leader continued, rolling his eyes at the eldest spectre that floated and gave him a flat, unimpressed, look. "As if you haven't read a raunchy book or two imagining what your husband, or wife, would be like in bed."
"He got you there Chief." Nora chimed after she got her coughing under control. Setting her glass on the coffee table and getting up to get something to wipe the juice away with before it stuck and made everything sticky. The eldest Queen gave her a dry look, flat and filled with haughty indifference before floating away to the side of the room.
Not leaving, never leaving. Moving to far from Jaune was what woke her up early in the first place. Alexandra had exploded into their room, screaming and crying as the brand on her forehead burned crimson. As wakeup calls went, she has had worse. All she had seen was crying girl, so her fist instincts had been giving her a hug. Which worked wonders.
Grabbing a washcloth she quickly began drying of herself before going back to the coach. Chuckling to herself as she quickly glanced at Violet. The little girl looking at the bathroom door like she was going to barge in and continue asking her questions.
"Nora!" Pyrrha chided. Even if her own cheeks were red, and she hid a smile behind her hand. "It's not funny."
"No. It's hilarious." She countered with a grin. Beginning to wipe as she hummed to herself. Ignoring the impish giggle in the air as a weightless form sat on her back. "Lady, you called me 'lightning in a bottle' earlier. What did you mean by that?" She asked absentmindedly, both curious and just to start up conversation.
"Is that not who you are?" Iosefka replied, floating over her and humming. "To much energy trapped in a form. Unable to ever burn it away. Does not a constant buzzing follow your every move? Every moment feel as if the cage is breaking and you can finally be free?"
"What do you call Ren?" She asked, not liking how accurate the ghost's description fit her. The constant buzzing inside still there, always there. Even if Alexandra's and Ren's presence calmed it. "Oh! What about Pyrrha? Violet? What do you call Fearless Leader."
"Fearless Leader is an apt name for The Kind Hunter. Yet, it is not who he is." Iosefka replied with an airy tone. "As for the members of your family, Unmatched Prodigy is The Kind Hunter's partner."
"Not champion?" Nora asked curiously. Interrupting the spirit. Throwing a quick glance over her shoulder, seeing Pyrrha suddenly paying much more attention to the conversation.
"No. She is no champion." Before Nora could come to her sister-from-another-mister's defence, Iosefka held up her hand to silence her as she continued. Mismatched and ghastly eyes turning to Pyrrha. "Four-time untouched victor of the arena she may be, but she is no champion. Her word cannot marshal armies. Her mere presence cannot silence fear and bring forth courage and bravery. She doesn't champion a vison, she doesn't fight for faith, she doesn't lead people to clash against or fight for established order. And she lacks heart. Passion. That which pushes someone to become something more. Champion she may become, however she is not one yet."
Iosefka's words hung heavy in the room. The Queenly spirits were silent, hovering in the air, having completely removed themselves from the discussion. Pyrrha breathed, looking both relieved and affronted at the woman's words. "Then who, in your eyes, is a champion."
"In this academy, there exists only two proper champions. With the entirety of Vale, there exists three." Iosefka replied flatly. "Many more have the potential to become champions. Every single person may grow to claim the title. Yet as of now, they are lacking passion, drive, intensity, cause."
"Who?" Looking around for who spoke, Nora saw Violet stare at Iosefka with unblinking intensity. "Who are the champions?" Violet asked again, never breaking eye contact.
"The champion in Vale is the Beast of Burden, his followers all twisted by vengeance for a cause that is just."
"Adam." Nora whispered, they hadn't had any contact with the White Fang beside the docks and the tunnel. However that didn't mean she hadn't done some research of her own. Some of Fearless Leader's habit's brushing off on her, 'know your enemies and all that' she swore she heard him whisper in her ears while she went through articles.
"The other champion in the academy is the Red Rose. Young and unsure of herself she may be, yet she is a champion nonetheless."
"Who is the last one?" Violet demanded, Iosefka's expression turning gentle as she turned to her.
"You already know the answer little one." She whispered. Instantly everyone in the room, both living and dead, turned to stare at the bathroom door where faint singing could be heard. "Who else could it be? Who else make you feel safe, simply by being in his presence. Who else makes you feel fearless when you stand by his side. Who else can you walk besides and know that the future is brighter? There is only another man in this academy, in the entirety of Vale, that could rival the champion the Kind Hunter is becoming. And that man's drive is long lost, where there was once courage and bravery, you will now only find schemes and plots."
"Fearless Leader is Fearless Leader." Nora replied with a nod to herself. No doubt in her words. "But why don't you say our names? Why do you refer to Pyrrha as 'she' or 'her'? Again, why do you call me lighting in a bottle? And what, or 'who', are Jaune and Ren?"
"Because as a spirit, we 'see' more. You are not just flesh and bone, you are emotion, life, thought, and soul." Iosefka lectured, Alexandra floating by Nora's side, nodding as the elder spirit explained the intricacies of undeath. "And you are Lighting in a Bottle. Energy and life ooze of your every move, it is as beautiful as it is terrible. The Unmatched Prodigy is simply that. Everything about her, from her thoughts to her soul, are steeped in or around combat. And should she continue that path she is on, I have no doubt in my heart that she will be The Undefeated, by the time she reaches full maturity. As for your own kin, he is Serene Silence, for around him, even we dead can feel at rest."
"That checks out." Nora nodded, looking at the five or so sleeping spirits that lazily floated around Ren. Every single of them sleeping peacefully. "But who is Jaune? I get the feeling that 'The Kind Hunter' is a tittle, like Champion, and not who he is."
"You would be correct." Iosefka answered with a nod. "For someone so hyper, you are awfully insightful."
"Is that an insult? That feels like an insult." Nora replied, frowning up at the ghost. 'Wonder what would happen if I were to stuff a ghost into a dust grenade?' She thought idly, never breaking eye contact with Iosefka. The spirit's know it all attitude having long since begun to get on her nerves.
"But you would be right, The Kind Hunter is both a tittle and a 'who'." Isolde explained, sorrow flashing twinkling in her eyes as she turned to stare at the bathroom door. "Even if it is becoming more of a tittle by the days."
"Whatya mean?" Nora asked, something sinking in her stomach as she stared up at the ghost. Not liking the spectral tears that raced down her cheeks. Neither did she like the sudden hollowness in her tone.
"People change." Iosefka whispered. "It's the privilege of the living. To live, to grow, to change. The dead are static, in ten years, you will be another person entirely, Lighting in a Bottle. Yet, Alexandra, who you have taken as your own will still be the same. While she can learn, she is incapable of change."
"What… who is Jaune changing into." Pyrrha asked, fire burning in her eyes. It wasn't the sacred, overwhelmed, girl that asked. Everything changing to fast, to abruptly giving her whiplash after whiplash as something new and magical became mundane. For a spit second, The Champion showed herself. The girl who had conquered the international fighting right while untouched. And for a moment, Nora was glad that for how kind she was. Even if it stung to find out how much Pyrrha held herself back when they sparred.
"Scourge. Bane. Cursed and Redeemer. Hunter of Horrors. Harbinger. Echoes of Past. The Forsaken. Heir #%&"#%&"#%")"/#. Truth Seeker. Champion of the Lost and the Damned. Light of Dawn." One by one Iosefka listed out different epithet's that explained who Jaune was becoming. "Bearer of #%&?=/(", The Un)"#=!."
"You are full of shit, you know that." Nora replied with a flat glare. Standing up and throwing the washcloth through the air and into the sink she turned back to Iosefka. Only to break into a smile and do a little bow to Alexandra's applause. "And I for one is not going to stand around as you talk shit any longer."
Marching away, she grabbed her scroll and some spare change into her pockets and continued to the door. Alexandra wrapping her arms around her neck as she giggles as she was dragged after her.
"Remember that Alexandra can't be too far away from Jaune." Ren chimed helpfully.
"She can rest in my shadow when she feel's tired." Nora replied with a huff. "If she can rest in his, she can rest in mine. Simple as that."
With that she was out, frustration and anger bleeding into another as she marched through the halls. Huffing as the spirit's earlier words ran through her mind.
#######
"Why do I get the feeling that you have discussed something behind my back?" Jaune asked after having dressed up and gotten out of the shower. His hair was still damp, his white shirt was thrown on leisurely with a few buttons unbuttoned. The pant's sat good, even if his legs were still a bit damp. Walking barefoot, one hand around his now 'sleeping' sword, he took in the room before him.
Something lingered in the room, both Alexandra and Nora were gone. Not that he had expected much else with how the door had slammed. Both Ren and Pyrrha both being the types to close the door politely after themselves, no matter how incensed.
Sitting down on the closest couch, he let out a long-suffering groan. His scroll pinged again. Sighing he looked at what it said. Another groan escaping him as he collapsed further back into the couch. Wishing the couch would swallow him whole.
"Pyrh. My family is visiting Wednesday next week. And will be staying in Vale until the festival conclude next Sunday. Some of my sisters are guaranteed to ask for autographs." He stared, sighing again and wiggled around until he sat comfortably, throwing his legs over the armrest for extra measure. "Do what you want. I don't want to pressure you into writing autographs. You choose. Personally… I don't really care."
Fishing out his notebook, another groan escaped him. To say he felt burned out after last night was an understatement. It had gone downhill, hit rock bottom, drilled through rock bottom, and gone even further down. He didn't even have it in him to jokes about the night being perfectly fucked. It had been a shitshow from start to finish.
Noticing the silence around him, he shoot an eye over his journal. Smiling gently as he spotted Violet, who for her part looked caught between curiosity, self-doubt, and not wanting to bother him when he was so clearly tired. Setting down his journal he reached out and lifted her onto his lap. Violet squealing slightly and curling up into his side.
Not saying anything, he ran gentle circles on her back. Giving her all the space and time she needed to find the words she wanted as he went back to his journal. Nodding to himself when he felt she started to breath evenly, sleep having snuck up on her in a matter of seconds. Giving her a chaste kiss to the forehead, he went back to reading. Sighing softly and opening his other arm for Annalise. The youngest spectre quick to snuggle into his free side with a soft smile. Closing her eyes and breathing evenly. Laying down his journal, he instead leaned back and closed his eyes.
'Huh. I never tried napping after waking up in the Dream. Wonder what will happen.' He thought idly. Choosing to take a minute for himself.
"For a man with two children sleeping on him, you sure do lounge about in a whorish manner." Elizabeth criticised with a haughty tone of superiority Weiss could only dream about.
"Is this crap on Jaune day?" He sighed tiredly, opening a single eye and shooting the eldest of the queenly spirits a flat glare. "For if it is, I want you to know I have had a very long night with some mind breaking revelations. And I would very much get to rest before I start mind storming the funeral cum ritual to free you from your earthly shackles and kill the queen at the same time."
Crocea Mors began vibrating at his little declaration, the golden chains glowing. Another sigh escaping him, already having felt that The Queen fell asleep to easily. Giving his sword a glare that would make Gehrman proud, the shaking died down. Miasma seeped from the blade, congealing into two black and empty eyes that glared at him.
"No." He chided, glaring harder as more miasma tried escaping. Trapped and bubbling around the blade instead of breaking free. The golden chain's enchantment holding strong even as the angry Queen mustered all the miasma inside Crocea Mors to try and break free. The light flickered; rim frost came seeping out along the edges of the table she laid on.
Holding out his free hand, he clenched his fist. In an instant the golden chains clamped around. The miasma sealed completely. His eye twitched, feeling a strain on his spirituality as the Queen tried escaping. It wasn't much, even if she continued for months on end his spirituality wouldn't be close to becoming unstable. However that didn't make it any less iterating.
Because if his spirituality was strained, his mind, body and soul were also strained. A buzz rippled through his body, fog danced around the edges of his mind, and his aura felt sluggish for lack of a better term. He had had worse, far worse. But it was irritating, not to mention frustrating.
"Why don't you hurt her! She hurt us! Waltzing around in stolen flesh and bone that is not her own!" Elizabeth screamed at him. Rage and malice bubbling out of her as she stared down at him. "You hurt her in her chambers! Do it again! Make her feel as we did! Afraid and hopeless! Make her suffer! Make her scream! Make her regret ever being born! She was the one who picked you up from your easy life! She is the reason you were thrown into Yharnam! She is the reason life and death both have lost it's meaning to you! Hurt her! Be angry at her! Scream! Rage! Let out your anger and hate at her! HURT HER!"
"No." Jaune replied flatly. Opening an eye and glaring flatly at the hovering spectre. The young queen long since transformed into something hideous. Her hair floating like sharp knives waiting to stab down, the light was flickering madly, static escaped from everyone's scrolls, blood dripped onto the floor from her wounds.
"No." He replied again when the temperature dropped. "I won't be your tool for revenge. The Queen will have her funeral, everyone on the island will be laid to rest, and you will be free from your earthly shackles. What afterlife she goes to, I can't be bothered to care."
"Wait, there exist an afterlife?" He heard Pyrrha whisper.
"Huh, Nora's going to have a private funeral for Alexandra it sounds like." Ren whispered with a shrug.
"Ren! Afterlife!" Pyrrha whisper hissed.
Jaune paid them no mind. He had stopped caring about the afterlife a while ago. He would end up where he would end up, and that was that. There were other things he could worry about instead. Like how to hold a mass funeral cum burial for an entire township.
Breaking open his journal he sighed, pushing through the burnout as he began thinking. Looking up customs and other burial practices from other cultures to see what could fit in.
"When I'm done with this, I swear I'm going to sleep better than the dead." He muttered under his breath. The room must have been quieter than he had expected, because a second after he had said those words, he had a dozen ghosts screaming and babbling his ears off. Waking up the two girls in his arms with their loud clamouring.
"Jaune! No!" He heard Pyrrha exclaim through the pandemonium around him.
"I apologise." Jaune said with a hard edge, words cutting through the loudness around him. Sitting up and giving the ghastly spectres a hard look. "It was a poor wording on my part." That got them to calm down, the chill in the air easing. "What I meant to say was that I will be sleeping well. I'm taking a week of from Yharnam, I'm going to make the opposite of five-hour energy called seven days sleep. Where after drinking it and going to sleep, you will wake up feeling as refreshed as if you had slept through seven days straight. I'm not planning to dig my grave and jump into it."
"Good."
"You deserve life."
"Rest is important."
And a dozen other words of comfort were thrown his way. Ghosts and spirit coulndt lie, so he knew every word spoken came directly from the heart. It was why he coulndt be bothered to be angry at Elizabeth when she bit into him. Not when it was she who took on her sister's anger and burdens and made them her own. It was why he took it for what it was, a bunch of scared young girls who had been given a band hand in life wanting nothing but for him to be healthy.
Huffing and ruffling Violet's and Annalise's hair, he leaned back into the couch. Not missing how all the spirit's clung around him. Never drifting too far away. Some of the younger girls ran their fingers through his hair. It had grown out a bit, covering his eyes if he didn't brush it away, and tickling the back of his neck when he moved. While some of the older girls floated around him, pointing out good and bad ideas to have in the funeral.
The Funeral pyre idea he had going was switched out with an altar decorated with gold and every precious stone he could get his hand on while looting Cainhurst. Candles, all the candles were added to the list. Thirteen different types of funeral incense, multiple funeral songs. Blood. Enough aura to cover the entire island with his semblance. And that was just the beginning.
It didn't take long before Elizabeth relented, floating down and circling around him. Giving her input every once in a while. Anger and hate still fell off her, making some of the younger ghosts restless, but she didn't say anything. It was as if both of them had choose to pretend her 'tantrum' hadn't happened.
After a while, he leaned back in his chair. Closing his journal as he decided to take a break. Not wanting to make his burnout worse. Looking around he found that Ren was whispering with something. All the ghosts in the room, gave the air around it a wide breath. The chain that escaped out from him and disappeared into the ether made it crystal clear who it was.
Yet, Jaune saw no one. Even when his insight resting at forty-nine, he didn't see Iosefka. He didn't want to see Iosefka. He felt her sometime, heard her voice as a whisper on the wind. But there were simply somethings he coulndt bring himself to forgive. Had it been later, when he was already jaded and apathy followed his every step. Then he could have forgiven her. But not so early, not after she used him to commit suicide. Not when she was innocent.
Sighing heavily, he turned around. Ignoring the invisible wail he heard. The scream that made all the ghosts around dart into his shadow in a split second.
Instead looking at his partner as she poured something from Nora's alcohol cabinet into her morning coffee. He was about to say something, only for the words to die in his mouth as she held up a palm.
"Don't." Pyrrha said flatly, giving him a dead stare. "Please, let me be alone with my existential crisis for just a bit longer before you go and say something that will go and shatter my worldview for the nth time today."
"You know what. That's fair." Jaune nodded.
"What's an existental crisis?" Violet asked from his lap. Curiosity in her eyes as she frowned, shooting a quick glance at his shadow. "And why do ghosts exist? Don't they have somewhere else to go?" The last question was huffed, Violet giving his shadow a pointed look as it stared back. Jealousy and possessiveness blaring of her. The little nibble of doubt from earlier growing inside her.
"Because ghost's are formed from grudges. They are… echoes… of who they once were, they care only about one thing and that is their grudge. It is their obsession. And it is their 'life' and everything they do is based around it. It is what kept the silver ladies bound to Cainhurst even after they were dead. But the Queenly spirits are a bit different." He lectured gently.
"How so?" Violet asked, pouting as a dozen forms rose from his shadow. The younger girls shoot the space where he knew Iosefka was a furtive glare, before going back to playing with his hair. While the older spirits floated around aimlessly. A few floating over to Ren and falling asleep in the air around him.
"Because they are anchored to this 'realm', for lack of better word, thanks to The Queen's magicks. Even if their grudges are somewhat laid to rest, they will be unable to move on. Should they… they will just be dragged back from their final afterlife." Jaune explained patiently, not missing the twinge of hollowness that radiated from the younger ghosts.
The younger the ghosts were, the less their grudge sat Jaune had noticed. Even in Annalise, the youngest, it was something that had festered for who knows how long. Strong and pungent, he saw it creeping around inside her like a thousand insects eating her alive from within. Yet, he had seen how easy it was for those grudges to dissipate now that she sat and braided his hair. She was pure. Free from her grudges, content, at peace. She should have moved on, yet she wasn't.
And it wasn't just Annalise. Most of the younger girls were ready to pass on. If not ready, they were at least close. It was only when they went up in seniority that the grudges became more prominent. With Elizabeth being a revenant, banshee and poltergeist all at once. She was more moving grudge than the other spectres combined. Making him know in his heart of heart's that even after The Queen was well and truly gone, that she would continue to haunt and wreak havoc on the island for the simple reason it was where she had died. And she wanted, needed, everyone to feel her pain.
Sighing, he ran a hand through his hair. Chuckling sightly as the younger ghostly Queen's chastised him from touching the braid that lined the side of his head. Taking out his scroll and looking at himself in the reflection, he coulndt help but chuckle. With seven sisters, he had certainly had worse. Much, much, worse.
"It's nice, the quiet and all, but I can't help but feel I'm missing something." Jaune muttered. A second later the door was kicked open, lighting surging through him as he grabbed Violet and threw him over his shoulder. Grabbing his sword a second later when she was out of danger.
"I didn't do anything! I swear!" Nora shouted, as she slammed the door behind herself. Physically blocking it as if some great monster would come and eat her a second later. Alexandra furiously nodding beside her, hanging off Nora's neck.
"What? Why?" Jaune asked. His confusion mirroring Pyrrha and Ren's.
*Knock Knock*
Two gentle raps against the door rang loudly through the room. What little colour remaining on Nora's face rapidly vanishing as she turned just as pale as the ghost on her shoulder.
"Miss Valkyrie, if your team is not awake, please wake them. We have something important to discuss with all of you." Professor Goodwitch's voice echoed out.
"We didn't have detention today, had we?" Jaune asked, looking between Ren and Pyrrha. Quickly herding the ghosts back into his shadow.
"Not as I can remember?" Ren replied somewhat unsurely. Stopping his whispery discussion with Iosefka and taking a sip of tea. "Did we get some complaints? I don't remember that we have been too loud?"
*Knock Knock*
Miss Goodwitch rapped against the door again. "I can hear all of you talking. Please open the door."
#######
"Damn, what did you do Glyn? Missy didn't even flinch in the tunnel, but one look at you got her scampering away as if her ass was on fire." Qrow commented, partly to tease, and partly to see if he could learn her magic.
"Call my Glyn one more time and you will have other things to worry about." Glynda replied icily, shooting him a flat glare that promised swift retribution. Holding his hands up in mock surrender as he chuckled. "But Team JNPR have been on their best behaviour after the tunnel altercation, even if they have been quiet and keeping mostly to themselves. Which is understandable after what happened."
"Uhhuh…" He hummed. "Quiet." He prodded again. "Twenty lien on that lighting in a bottle over there robbed the alcohol stash again."
"Qrow, I think I have a better understanding of my student's that you." Glynda shoot back with a sharp glare. Chuckling, he only grinned back. Glynda's resolve falling like a house of cards as she sighed. "Suckers bet."
"HA!" Qrow barked. Chuckling and smiling to himself. A carefree whistling escaping him as he fished out his pocket flash and took a sip. "So what team do you like best? Walking mental disaster or my nieces?"
"Mr. Branwen, I would like it if you would not call one of my student's a 'walking mental disaster'." Glynda replied, voice colder than Atlases winters. "At the same time you should know that as a teacher we shouldn't have favourites. They are students, teenagers, they are here to learn. It's not like your team was any different."
"Touché, touché." Qrow replied, cringing slightly as all the stupid things he and the gang got up to when in Beacon. "So it's Juniper?"
"It's Juniper." Glynda sighed. "Team RWBY have come a long way, and they will be great. There is just a naivete, an idealism, to team RWBY that is dangerous to them."
"Their rose-tinted glasses have yet to come off." Qrow said. Getting a nod from the Vice-Headmistress.
"Yes. And there is nothing wrong with that. They are young." Glynda continued. Face as if carved from stone. "The docks. Three and a half million lien up in flames, and half of Vale's docks are still under repair for no other reason that a student by all accounts went rouge. That is without mentioning the thirty-nine casualties. I am aware that a huntress-in-training from Atlas is responsible for the most casualties. However, Ms Belladonna should by all accounts be dead. She was out-skilled, outnumbered, and out-gunned. And so should that boy from Haven that followed her. That is without mentioning the tunnels. As it stands now, Team RWBY have potential, but if they can't stomp out their naivete and control their hot-headedness, potential is all they will be."
"Not pulling any punches with your words there Glyn." Qrow winched slightly. While he loved his nieces, he wasn't to blind to their flaws. He coulndt afford to be. Not when Ruby had silver eyes. Even if she didn't become a huntress, he knew Salem wouldn't spare her. She needed to become better, and part of him was glad Ruby had a teacher like Glynda. Someone who could push her to be better without breaking her down. "If I didn't know better, I would have thought the Arc kid was yours."
"Excuse me?"
"Nothing." Qrow expertly deflected as he took another swig from his pocket flask. Not wanting to air the dirty laundry he overheard. It was none of his business. He wasn't above making it his business should the situation call for it, but not when the city square was still rubble. Two teens duking it out was nothing in the grand scheme of things.
Glynda didn't get the chance to drill him further. A loud *bang* echoed down the corridor. A hefty sigh escaping Glynda as he saw her migraine grow in real time. Sharply rapping her knuckles against Dorm number six-six-six, she called out.
"Miss Valkyrie, if your team is not awake, please wake them. We have something important to discuss with all of you."
Not a second later muffled talking rang out from the other side. Giving them a moment to gather themselves, before she knocked again. "I can hear all of you talking. Please open the door."
A second turned into two, before turning into three and four before the door was opened. Nora poking a chalk white head out between the glint. "Heh, hi Proof." She chuckled, oozing nervousness. "Any reason you are in our neck of the woods?"
"If you were to open the door, I would like explain to your entire team." Glynda explained politely. Giving her a stare so flat that even Qrow swore he could feel milk curd.
"Let them in Nora." Qrow heard Mr walking-mental-breakdown call out. Instantly it was as if a spell had been cast over her. Her shoulders falling as her nervousness disappeared like morning mist, replaced with a familiar devil-may-care attitude before she opened the door and invited them in.
Following Glynda inside, Qrow let his eyes drift. Buttoning up his shirt a bit more when he felt the nip in the air. Lazy eyes sat by the coffee table with a journal and scroll before him, no doubt doing homework, while miss champion sat by the table nursing a cup of coffee with some spice. Looking more dead than alive as she took a long sip. Arc sat on a couch; some golden chains wrapped around his sword's hilt that rested beside him.
Their room was clean, far cleaner than his nieces and what his own dorm room had been. That didn't do much to escape the bubble of laughter that escaped him. Something that became harder by the second as blue eyes stared back at him, crouched on the clerestory window's windowsill like a hissing cat as the little girl was.
"Mr Arc. Can you explain to me why Miss Gascoigne is currently perched on top of the clerestory windowsill with her pistol drawn?" Glynda sighed, rubbing her forehead. Rising her riding crop as a purple aura surrounded the little girl and gently lifted her down. The little hellion hissing and fighting through her semblance's grip the entire way down. Darting behind her dad the second her feet touched the ground.
"Panic mostly." Jaune replied with a shrug. "Nora might have kicked the door open. And well…"
"Have you considered therapy?" Glynda asked gently. Her sternness disappearing completely. "I can understand that it might not appeal to you. But maybe talking to someone who is not on your team can be helpful after what you experienced."
Taiyang Jr chuckled to himself as he stood up and stretched. "Maybe, I'll think about it. I don't think it will do much, after all, you can't have PTSD if you get new trauma every week."
"I'll drink to that." Qrow chuckled, proving his words two seconds later by taking another swig from his hipflask. Ignoring the growl that escaped from Glynda's throat beside him as she stared at him.
"May we please move on to next topic? While I, we, appreciate the visit. It doesn't feel like this is a wellness check. Or not entirely at least." Taiyang Jr asked, effortlessly lifting the little girl up in his arms as he turned to them. The little girl scowling furiously at Glynda, only scowling harder when Taiyang Jr spoke softly to her.
"We may." Glinda replied professionally, pushing up her glasses and looking around. "The council, together with Beacon and Atlas have decided to host a charity stream. It will be streamed live on both television and all streaming sites."
"Does that include Pornhub?" His new favourite student interrupted. Her smile instantly dying as Glynda turned to glare at her.
"It will be streamed live on television and most streaming sites." Glynda amended. Giving the orange head a stern look that promised detention should she say something again. "It will be from noon to midnight, where after you are required to lead a torchlight procession from the academy skydocks, through the main street, and to the city square."
"Is it just us?" The silent one asked politely.
"No, Mr Lie." Glynda smiled softly. "It will be one team from Beacon, one from Atlas, one from Haven and one from Shade. I will be working backstage together with a large moderation team to make sure the stream keeps on track."
"However we are the main attraction, me being the one to take out Roman and all that." Taiyang Jr commented. Frowning at Glynda as he saw the gears in his mind click.
"Got it in one kiddo." Qrow nodded. Lazily letting his eyes roam over taunt faces instead of the glee or excitement they had been expected. "Like it or not. The whole world saw you duking it out with Roman. Even going out of your way to heal a child during the fight. The whole world is already up in arms, and we rather the people go marching with us, than have riots break out in the street."
"So we are what? Nothing but pieces for the propaganda machine? Political pieces for the council to bring out when they feel like?" The quiet one asked. He hid it well, but the disgust on his face was evident.
"I don't like it either. But the General is stonewalling the council to do something." Qrow started.
"So what the General want's, he gets?" The quiet one interrupted instantly with a frown. "For that does not sound like a sound policy."
"We are bait, aren't we?" Jaune asked, setting his daughter down as he glared at them. Not a single hint of doubt in his eyes. "We, the torch march, the stream, everything is just to lure out Adam, some lose cannons in the White Fang, or the puppet master behind Torchwichs sudden career change. Even if they don't bite, you are willing to paint a target on our back and throw us the fishes. Knowing full well they will be making a beeline to us the next time."
Silence hung after his words. Realisation, horror, and disgust grew more prominent in his teammates eyes as they stared at them. Qrow could hear with crystal clarity what remained of Pyrrha's rose-tinted glasses shattering in real time. The pedestal she held Glynda up against shattering before their very eyes.
"And I have no fault with that." Jaune continued, walking towards them. Knuckles turning white as he glared. "I knew what I signed up for when I joined Beacon. I know fully well that there may come an hour where I must decide who lives and who dies in my team. And I have no problem with that. It is what we signed up for. We all know what being a hunter or huntress entails."
Blue eyes stared down at them, Jaune's pupils stretching and turning sharp while the irises changed from blue to a sickly yellow. "But I draw the line when it comes to involving innocent's. Especially when you plan to use everyone as bait. Innocents. Those still grieving, those choosing to march in solidarity. They are innocent. And you are going to use them as bait. Have you no shame? I thought you were better than this." Each word was punctuated with a finger rapping harshly into Glynda's upper chest.
"Don't lecture me." Glynda replied icily, gripping the finger that pushed into her chest and wringing it away. "There are things at play that are larger than you can ever imagine. We all have to make sacrifices for the greater good."
"Who's? Who's greater good?" Jaune countered instantly, looking ready to punch her in the face. "Because from where I stand, I know children will be joining the procession. There will be mother's carrying babies there. There will be the young, the disabled, those who can't fight for themselves for the simple reason that they were born with a disability or two. And if the greater good requires them to be unwittingly used as bait, then that greater good isn't something worth fighting for."
Glynda didn't reply, only staring icily up at Jaune before she locked at her wristwatch. "It's eight thirty, you have fifteen minutes. Meet me at the sky dock then."
The second she had delivered the order, Glynda turned on the spot and marched straight out of the dorm. Qrow quick on her heels. Knowing when he wasn't welcome.
Taking a sip of his hipflask, he offered it to her. Not surprised in the slightest when she rebutted his offer with a stern glare.
"They will be good." Qrow said, not missing the sharp nod Glynda gave him.
"They will be great. And it's our responsibility to make sure they live to become great." Glynda replied without a moment of hesitation. "Prodigies have a tendency to die young after all. You should know that better than everyone."
Qrow glared at the vice-headmistress, the quip on his tongue dying. The hipflask in his hand feeling as it weights a million tons. "That was low Glyn. Real fucking low."
#####
Note: Before Cainhurst so was Jaune's insight 44, now it's 49.
Note: As things in Cainhurst are finishing, things in the real world are picking up.