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Cover art by: Notgustiarp

Chapter 15


Flipping off ledges and landing on rooftops, Sun guided them away from the commercial district to a much more slum like area. Yet all he really cared about was putting as much distance between himself and the absolute crap storm that being caught by the police would bring.

Can't get caught, not now. I haven't even started my search!

To be frank, he'd need to get far away from not just the police but Vale itself. The only thing going for him now was that Summer and Tai probably hadn't noticed his absence yet. Which wouldn't last much longer.

He needed a way out of the city which wasn't helped by the fact he didn't even have a destination in mind.

"Not much further ahead, and we'll be safe—er, well not safe per se, but the cops definitely won't find us, I promise!"

Now that's…reassuring? Guess that'll have to do for now, though.

He kept following Sun through the labyrinth that was this new district's layout and hoped for the best. All he knew was wherever they were heading was pretty sketchy. The further they dashed, the more he noticed the graffiti covering the walls, the broken glass littering the pavement, and the groups of homeless loitering on every corner. It was an uneasy and uncomfortable feeling, more so with all the aggression and danger, he could sense.

Pretty scary place for a secret base, but maybe that was the plan? Hide in plain sight—Is that a dumpster fire?

"Are we almost there yet?!" he nervously shouted ahead.

"Almost. Just over there," Sun said, taking one final leap up to the tip of this tall, dilapidated tower. "But uh, if you hear any intruders get ready. Cause we're gonna have to go full monkey mode on them."

Was that racist? Wait, that shouldn't be his main concern with that whole sentence…should it?

Questions for later.

Sun took the lead leaping over the edge of the spire dive bombing into the alley below.

Wait, did they come all the way here for another alley?

Pushing those thoughts aside, he took a deep breath and skipped checking where he was going to land. All on the off chance the height would distract him. Or make him hurl, either one really.

Jumping feet first, he tried to hold back on using his Semblance till he was near the ground to avoid attracting unwanted eyes. Then as the wind passed, his clenched eyes squinted open to see imminent death rapidly approaching, and nearly craped himself. Clenching every muscle had that all too familiar calm of security as the ground came, and he bent his knees.

The shock rattled through him but didn't shatter every bone in his body like it normally should've. Instead dissipating through his Aura enhanced muscles. A pleasant surprise if he'd ever heard one.

"So what do you think!"

"…I think I'm gonna hurl."

"From being impressed?"

"Yea, something like that..." he mumbled, rubbing his sore thighs and disoriented stomach.

Guess the Aura flooding in from his Semblance strengthened the muscles enough to tank the damage. In a way, his Semblance offset the fact he didn't have a proper shield with dense muscles, but it wasn't nearly the same. Even this fall sent a dull ache in his knees when he doubted an Aura Shield would've let any of it through.

"Yea, I stumbled on this little old place when I first got here. Ain't it cool?"

"What? Oh yeah, I guess this place is…" it was just an alleyway with one giant pile of scrap metal blocking one side up and a bunch of old yellow tape blocking the other. "Neat.…"

He didn't want to be mean, what with Sun's beaming smile and even brighter emotions shining on him. This place was all the guy seemingly had, and while he wasn't impressed by any means…

"It's kinda cool. Wanna show me around this secret hideout of yours?" He'd never be ungrateful.

Like his sisters when he'd let them dress him up, the monkey faunus eyes shone in barely held back excitement.

"Ya, leave it to me! Come on, I'll give you the grand tour."

Being guided around again, he listened politely as Sun vaguely pointed to separate alley sections and arbitrarily labeled them different stuff. Initially, he treated it exactly like he'd treated his sisters during teatime. All with a big brother smile no matter how grating the situation. And he tried the same here, too.

Until that smile became so forced it hurt to keep up as genuine worry piled up. Worry for Sun's physical health mainly as he went on to show the place off, starting with the living room. Which contained only a bed bug ridden couch, a heavily rusted park bench, and trash bags seemingly acting as bean bag chairs.

The skylight he mentioned was the entire roof accounting for the fact that it was all in a dirty alleyway. Thus was open with absolutely no shelter from the elements. But all Sun did when he pointed this out was shrug and point to that scrap heap on one end and say that's where he slept if it gets too wet outside.

"Sun, there's more rust covered blades on that thing than any sort of a roof."

He wanted to press the issue here and ask him what he'd do if—No, when he gets sick. Either from the rain or tetanus from all that rusted metal.

But he knew that the answer wouldn't do much for his mood and instead just smiled lopsidedly as the other boy laughed as if his earlier statement was meant to be a joke. It wasn't like either had any other options, so what was the point in lecturing here?

That's not true. With the way he fought? He could so be a huntsman in a few years. Heck, maybe there was like an apprenticeship thing he could do in the meantime?

The guy had the skill, so what kept him in this place?

Keeping these thoughts in the back of his head, they continued the short tour, with everything else being pretty straightforward.

Yet he'd never understand why he decided to group the bathroom and the kitchen together in one section. Nor did he really want to this time.

"Oh, you wanna know why? Well, you see that manhole over there—

"Stop! I don't wanna know…."

With a shrug, the boys moved on. The bedroom was a pile of dirty laundry piled up to act as a mattress and pillow at once. The sack on the floor filled with the stolen scraps was the kitchen, and the less he said about the bathroom, the better. But Sun took genuine pride in this place, so he tried to be positive. Even when he remembered his old room back with Sum or worse, the one back in Ansel.

Even if I can barely remember it…

Distracting himself, he asked where the proper entrance to this place was.

"Oh, there was a car crash at one entrance, and I think a guy got stabbed at the other?" He said, not reacting at all to his panicked looks, "Too bad neither one of those keeps the hobos from trying to squat in my digs. But I found it first, so by the law of the jungle, it's mine! Ain't that cool?!"

Doing his best to ignore whatever jungle law was, he asked, "Wait, how exactly did you find this place again?"

"Oh, I fell in here when running from the cops. Man, that was a fun first day in Vale." He responded wistfully.

This was getting better and better, wasn't it? He didn't even bother to scan the guy cause all it would show was the emotional intelligence of a golden retriever. He couldn't even be mad about that. Just jealous that he had to deal with the anxiety of realizing that by intruders, he probably meant those same homeless people he'd mentioned batting away. Nor does Sun seem to mind the idea of being shanked in his sleep or worse, welcomed the challenge!

Ignorance really was bliss, huh?

"Oh! Oh, Your gonna love this last thing. Follow me!"

"If it's anything like the last surprise," Sun leaped back up the walls with himself not far behind. "-I doubt I'll—woah." He stood breathless as the open scenery blew him away.

At this late hour, the actual sun was setting on the horizon like usual. Still, he'd never seen it cresting over the ocean before. Even just seeing it like that floored him.

He always was a sucker for vistas.

"Beautiful, ain't it?"

That didn't even begin to cover this sight. He'd been a little busy trying not to be seen by the cops on the run over here, so it was fast paced yet uneventful. But the sun's rays drenched the water like skipping stones with deep oranges and fierce reds matching the looming clouds above. Looking the other way had the towering skyscrapers living up to their namesakes with their glass exteriors seemingly absorbing the light, bathing the buildings In magnificent hues.

"People living on the ground don't usually get to be this high, let alone see this view—not slum kids like me anyway." His peripherals caught Sun marveling at the same sight, "Kinda makes me wonder why someone would ever give that up..."

...

...He knows.

Knows I'm a runaway? Or at least suspects he's not just another homeless kid wandering the streets.

Honestly, with how their meeting went, he doubted he could be considered anything other than unusual. Either way, Sun knows something's fishy about him. Knows but wasn't prying. Wasn't even a hint he expected an answer either.

Just a bit of curiosity in his soul.

"And I'd have some questions for someone who chooses to keep living poorly when they clearly don't have to. Even if the view was this good." He retorted defensively.

But he didn't seem to mind the retaliatory tone. Just continued to stare as the sun finally dipped fully past the horizon. Taking with it that gorgeous sight.

"Come on, it's getting late. I'll show you where you'll be staying tonight." Said the boy with a knowing smile as he leaped back down.

Tonight? Oh right, he was still in Vale. He shuddered to think what would happen to him if he stayed even just one more day. Only then did the consequences of being reported to the police fully set in.

Tomorrow had to be his last day in Vale.

/-/

It was deja vu heading up this tower.

Felt like just yesterday she was getting dressed down by Oz up here. Honestly, she felt the same enthusiasm climbing it now that she did back then.

"Think Qrow's already there?"

"Him, showing up early to anything? Even three years isn't enough to work miracles," she quipped, continuing to tease him with, "How come? Worried?"

"Nope," he grinned viciously. "Just hoping to finish off what he started—Ow!"

"Hush," she said, jabbing his ribs. "You know he won't try anything with Oz there. But he will try and goad you into throwing the first punch, so don't fall for it."

"…Won't matter as long as I make it the last punch," he mumbled, thoroughly cowed.

Rolling her eyes, she noticed the elevator floors continuing to climb.

"Come on, we're almost there."

The elevator finally dinged as they reached the top floor. The doors slid open to reveal the massive office space at the tower's tip.

The first thing to greet her was the familiar incessant ticking and whirling of gears that hung overhead. As a kid, she'd been transfixed not just by the massive machinery above but by how anyone could stand the constant tick sounds without going mad after so many years.

Though the view is what would genuinely hold her attention. She was always a sucker for beautiful vistas.

Through the massive glass windows lining the walls shone Beacon academy, where she'd grown up and stayed until recently.

Leaving had been the right choice in her mind even now as they strolled into the office. She loved Ozpin and the academy but being here was just a reminder of that old life turned nightmare.

Speaking of that old life, a large part sat before her—somehow still wobbly.

"Yay for miracles, I guess…."

Though she guessed when it came to anything involving her adoptive dad and Qrow's surrogate father figure, things were always different. Even now, they seemed to be getting along swimmingly, with Oz smiling smoothly as he led their conversation like he did everything. At the same time, Qrow sat in front of his desk, a small smile resting on his grizzled face.

Seeing those two together reminded her of better times. It almost made her forget the oppressive atmosphere he'd brought into her home or the violence and scornful looks he'd thrown her family.

Almost.

"Ah, Summer, Tai! We were just catching up. I'm glad you've made it. Please join us and take a seat." Ozpin greeted.

Sitting down, she parked herself firmly between the two boys. Intentionally separating Tai and Qrow was her best defense against a catfight. Glancing around, she was horrified to find that the only other person she could trust to keep these two in line was absent. Mentioning such got her an oddly elated response, though.

"Apologies, but Glynda is currently preparing for a very crucial meeting. But I will, of course fill her in on our findings at a later time. As well for the other members currently absent."

A more important meeting than this? Curious, but…

"Can we just get on with this, then? Don't wanna hold up your busy schedule Oz." Qrow sniped.

"What, you jealous bird brain?"

"Tai…" she looked at him tiredly.

Too bad they were busy glaring daggers at each other to notice. Ozpin—who she made aware of the likely tension beforehand, stepped in. Ever the arbiter.

"Gentlemen, please. Let us return to the topic at hand, if you will?" He waited a moment before continuing. "Qrow, this meeting is regarding your return and the vital information you've managed to gather in Minstrel. While I am already aware of the knowledge, you've gathered over the years. It would be beneficial if you'd also explain here and now to the rest of the collective."

"Yea, sure" he eyed them, "I'll fill in these slackers all you want, Oz."

"Qrow…"

"Yeah, I'm going—I'm going, sheesh tough crowd. Alright, lemme just get this outta the way and confirm the rumors." He took one last swig of his flask before continuing. Makes her wonder if that thing ever ran out of booze.

"We can all go ahead and right off Mistral. It's not an independent kingdom anymore."

…and if he'd be willing to share with the class.


Author's Notes:

My Commands still a little overbearing, but thankfully I was able to draft this one up before the new year. With that, I've been trying to keep up the momentum while laying the groundwork for the upcoming sections. And much later on, the next big bad encounter.

Get ready cause it's gonna be a blood bath.

Short Story at the bottom, hope you check it out! A late merry Christmas and have a happy new year everybody.

See ya next chapter.


Short Story


"Ow!"

Flinching back, he instinctually tugged his arm away from the hand painfully gripping the broken limb.

"S-Sorry!" Tsune yelped, ripping her hands away like she'd been burned. "I didn't mean to squeeze so hard...or at all..." Nearly in tears.

Gods, this was the third time since they'd started that she's almost cried. Peopled think it was her wearing the cast and being checked up on, not the other way around.

He tried to reassure her again that he was fine, but it wasn't working—it never did. Nor did the quick pleading glances he sent to the only other person there seem to be working either.

Why does she even come if she's not gonna say a word!? It's not like I need her to walk me here or anything. Tsune already does that!

Nor did she need to get checked up herself. Every time Tsune tried, she got shooed away like she poked an injured cat. A very moody cat.

So instead, she just tagged along like a silent shadow for the last two visits he'd been forced to make this week.

Wrapped in a fresh white cloak, she immediately posted herself up in the corner, leaning heavily against the wall. Hair done up in a pretty braid, he'd had to begrudgingly admit she looked pretty cool. Made him wonder if the battle wounds would've made her look cooler—but apparently, she'd healed every single injury from that entire ordeal.

So unfair...

Again he tried to reassure Tsune he wasn't in pain anymore. At least not from her poking around, that was.

"Don't worry about it we can just move on. You said we were almost done today, right?" Please. Please let this end.

"Y-Yea, we're almost done. I just have to ask some routine questions like last time." Limply she reached for a clipboard with the same questions she always asked at the end of these checkups. Answering the same questions was pretty monotonous, especially since the answers were always the same.

"First question. Are you sleeping well?"

"Yep."

Even if he wasn't being totally honest every time—

"Stop lying."

He froze. Tsune froze. They both were frozen with similar levels of fear at the icy tone. Tsune's default state was scared though, so when anyone was made to match that level of terror...

Crap had really hit the fan.

"You haven't slept well all week." Kicking off the wall, Summer Rose stroud forward. Her irritated glare intensifying with every step, "so don't waste our time with crap like this."

That crushing weight settled on his chest, truly rooting him to the spot.

"So tell. The. Truth."

"H-How'd you know I wasn't—"

"How wouldn't I know?" She interrupted, "It's only been every day this week that you've spent the night chatting away with Tai—instead of resting like you were told to."

He'd have backed into a corner if he wasn't already sitting on this uncomfortable medical table. Not just from Summer's glare either but also from Tsune's shift from a meek bystander to a confused onlooker, finally settling as an active participant.

"I-Is that true, Jaune? Have you been lying to your guardian and your doctor?"

Busted.

"W-Well, I wouldn't say lying per se—

Oh wow, didn't know they could get any angrier.

"Yes, mam..." was all he could say as he slammed his head down in a bow. It didn't help, but it was sure worth a try.

After a moment where time might as well have stood still, a sigh was what broke the tension.

"How long has this been going on..."

He didn't have the courage to look Tsune in the eyes to answer. But in the end, it didn't seem to matter. As the question wasn't directed to him in the first place, as if he wasn't trusted to answer.

That somehow hurt just as much.

"Hmm...don't know," Summer shrugged, "but I'd put money on it being pretty early from when we got back. Maybe even while we were still making our way out of the frontier?" He flinched, all but confirming that suspicion.

"…Nightmares keeping him up?" The faunus wondered aloud.

Again his eyes darted elsewhere.

"Nope." Tsune muttered, "I'm not having this—I won't have my patients ruin their treatment like this!" yelling that last one.

Okay, so determined Tsune was new. New could be good, though…

Scribbling down some hasty notes, she determinedly marched to the cabinets lining her office. The telltale sounds of junk rattling around clued him into what was probably about to happen.

"Am I getting whatever was in that syringe again?" While he didn't like the idea of getting stabbed, he might welcome the near comatose levels of sleep he got last time. It beat staying here and dealing with this, at least.

Instead of replying, a little orange bottle was tossed into his hands, filled to the brim with pills. She threw two similar looking bottles to Summer as she scribbled down even more notes on that same clipboard.

"Make sure he takes two every night before bed for at least the next three weeks. If he's still having trouble staying asleep, tell me immediately."

The entire time the two ladies ignored his concerned looks and muttered questions.

Just like back in Ansel where no one ever listens to me!

It wasn't like he didn't wanna sleep or anything. It was just…

He glanced down at the bottle in his hand. Scared of what awaited him when he took them tonight.

"Well?"

"H-Huh?" Glancing up, he met Summer's bored gaze.

After a second of silence, she nodded to the bottle, "what are you waiting for? You heard her—take two."

He fumbled a little at the condescending tone, nervously glancing between the bottle and his guardian.

"N-Now? It's like…" he looked to the clock, "eight in the evening. Plus, we're still in the clinic! Shouldn't I, like—wait till we get back?"

As far as Summer was concerned, he was just stalling for time.

Which don't get him wrong. He definitely was.

But as much as he dreaded his nightmares, he feared what Summer was thinking of doing more—let alone what Tsune would do if he didn't hurry up.

Tipping the bottle, he reluctantly downed two giant pills swallowing them with water courtesy of one thoroughly peeved Faunus lady. That seemed to satisfy them or at least ward them off.

Now it was just a matter of time before he was face to face with his demons. So while waiting for that new trauma to be added to the list, he absentmindedly listened to Tsune. She began listing how long it was estimated for his arm and other minor injuries to heal up, which was pretty interesting. At some point though, his eyes began to drift shut. Now distant sounds of small talk mentioning treatments and therapy faded away as his body finally succumbed to a weeklong built exhaustion.

Maybe that monster won't be waiting for me in my dreams this time...

The boy could only hope.


Date Published: 2022/12/31