A/N: Hello! And welcome to what is hopefully the first of three separate chapters I've uploaded today, or tomorrow. Hopefully. Anyway, after last chapter where we did mostly talking... We're going to have more, but also hopefully a pretty epic fight scene as well. Well, I hope you all find it to be a pretty epic fight scene anyway. I liked writing it that's for sure. You could also call this the actual beginning of this story, seeing as the journey part of it is finally beginning, rough starts and all that.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy it, as always!
RWBY is owned by Viz Media and was created by the late Monty Oum
Arc's Adventuring Accessories
Chapter 6
"So... Why do we have to go back for the, uh, th-the, the... thingies, again" Scarlet asked hesitantly as they climbed up the mountain path alongside Weiss and Ruby.
"Death Cores," Weiss intoned crisply but otherwise ignored the girl, stalking forwards to lead the group of four.
"Uh, yes... That. Why, again are we doing this? I thought we killed the Grimm. Isn't that enough?" She returned with a look to Jaune and Ruby in confusion after flinching under Weiss's tone. This was so not what she was thinking an official Adventuring Quest would be like. Or, that one of her Idol would be so mean in person.
"As I said, Lass," Jaune explained softly, not using his usual angry, rasping tone with her, and further confusing her because of that. "If an Core isn't properly Cleansed by a Priest or Priestess of some holy order other than that of the Church of Salem, it reforms as a new Grimm, creating a never-ending problem. One that worsens over time."
He glanced at the woman next to him for a moment before shrugging as he gave her a smile and said, "Don't take the Priestess's tone personally. Or, her words for that matter. She's got a lot going on right now and she doesn't mean to take it out on you. Once she calms down she come by and apologize for her attitude towards you." His smile turned into a grin as memories of the past shot through his mind and he ended up saying without thinking, "She's a good egg, like that. Always has been. Our Ivory Lady."
Ruby looked at him as he said that with a bit of shock before smiling herself as she took in his face and sighed, feeling some of her nervousness over this evaporate. Good. This was the right thing to do she thought quietly.
"Ooohh, so that's why she's so mad at the two of you." Scarlet said in response to him explanation, feeling better immediately. Then she did a double take as she took in what he said and squawked loudly, causing nearby birds to scatter, "Wait! She's the Ivory Lady! The greatest battle mage this side of White Lady?!"
"Well, I mean, they are sisters..." Ruby muttered a bit too loudly in response, embarrassed at the whole thing as she recalled her own fangirling in the past.
"They're sisters!" Scarlet exclaimed, stunned beyond all measure, causing more birds to flap away, crying out in protest.
"Just what is the meaning of all this racket," Weiss demanded as she stalked back over to them. "We're trying to be quiet in case of a-"
"You're the Ivory Lady!" Scarlet squawked once more in a shrill tone as she pointed at Weiss before she immediately began fumbling around in her pack, saying, "H-hold on, just a minute! I got my autograph booklet in here somewhere." Weis's sudden blush of embarrassment at that was only made worse when Scarlet looked up at Jaune and asked, "What's a strumpet, anyway?
"EEEEEEEEEEEEE!," Weiss squeaked out like a balloon losing air as she held her hands to her face in horror as she recalled what she had said earlier as her face began to glow bright red even as Jaune stood there for a moment and thought about how to explain it to the girl before shrugging as he said truthfully, "Tis another name for a, uh, Lady of the Night, as it were."
"Ah, wha?" Scarlet returned with Ruby strangely echoing her. Jaune glanced at the other woman in confusion then, not noticing Weiss's flailing form, before turning back to say, "It's a harlot?"
Scarlet tilted her head to side like a puppy and said sharply, "Eh?"
"Haaah," Jaune sighed heavily before facepalming and said, exasperated, over Weiss's continued squeaks of shame-filled protest, "A whore. A prostitute. Jeez, girl, do you know nothing?!"
"Oh," Scarlet flushed at that before with a glance toward both Ruby and Weiss she said somewhat stiffly, "How should I know that?! I'm not one, and you better not be saying I am, Mr. Arc!"
"Perish the thought, girl," He grumbled as he crossed his arms, well, mostly, and said, still exasperated, "I merely meant that as an Adventurer you should learn to used certain types of professions as a source of information. Particularly during an investigation while in a city." He started walking again, leading the way now, but not before he swiftly pulled the book she was looking for from her open bag and handed it to the still mortified priestess as he explained to Scarlet while she strolled lightly beside him, "Take a whore, for instance. You'd be surprised at what their clients say while their guards are down. Same for bartenders and dock workers. These are the types of people others overlook, and often have valuable information. That being said," he shrugged, popping his left shoulder as he rolled it. "You can't just accept what these people have to say either. Many just want a quick bit of coin and are willing and able to lie to you for it. Others are afraid of you for one reason or another and are willing to tell you anything to please you. Take all the information you hear, as hearsay, until proven otherwise."
He then muttered darkly, too quiet for her to hear but not their new companions, "Sometimes, not even then."
The two famous Adventurers glanced towards each other at that while Weiss signed Scarlet's autograph book and bow profusely, repeatedly, in apologies. Scarlet didn't seem to notice or care, too ecstatic at getting yet another of her heroes' autographs. Now, if only she could meet the Reliable Redoubt. That was her favorite Adventurer beside the Crimson Crusader.
/ /
"And, here we are," Ruby said by way of explanation when they reached a large camp full of tents, strategically placed supplies, and a variety of what appeared to be guards in cheap, but still finely made and polished grey half plate, many wielding glaives while others were armed with bows and arrows. Jaune noticed instantly how many of these "guards" immediately focused their attention on him, subtly gripping their weapons tightly.
He paused at that for a bit before grinning as he took them in. Even in his current state, he could take them all, as needed, of course.
"Oh, so cool," Scarlet then said as she bounded up to one of the guards, a tall woman with shoulder length auburn hair and bright blue eyes. "Your armor is so pretty, and shiny!" The woman blinked at that from behind her full faced helm before smiling with her eyes as she gave the teenager a half bow, hand to chest. Then, with a glare towards Jaune, she turned and strolled away, back on her patrol.
Scarlet then turned to face Ruby as she asked, "I thought Adventurers always traveled alone or in small groups. What's with all the guards and tents?"
Ruby hehed at that before saying with a smile, "Well, most Adventurer Parties are like that. We were once like that. There's not ever really enough money to hire on guards or camp followers of any sort, so most Parties still to the bare essentials while away from a Guild hall or Town Inn. The lucky ones can gain an independent group of assorted followers if they do well enough, perhaps even getting a kind of wagon train going on that's willing to make food, repair armor and weapons and, above all else, hold onto their loot for them." Ruby then looked around at the camp with a bit of whimsy and no small amount of pride before saying, "We're an exception to the rule. Being elevated by the Crown comes with a whole host of perks including having a cohort of well trained followers to help us out while on missions for the Crown. All others, we're right back to the same ol', same ol' as before."
"You've done well for yourself, Ruby," Jaune said then as he looked around once more, ignoring how the guards all tensed up as he entered the middle of the camp to stand next to her and Scarlet. "You should be proud."
Ruby turned to him with a smile as she replied with, "Thank you, Jaune." Then she had to ruin the moment, and break the surrounding tension, by smirking as she said, "Course, none of this would be possible without you, Jaune."
Jaune immediately burst into a bout of belly laughter at that before he smiled down at her, his one eye twinkling as he said, "Thanks for that." Then, with a groan, he sat down on a ready made log and sighed as he said, while rubbing at his pants leg, "Welp, now that you've ruined the moment, I guess we can wait until its time to go."
Not a second later a squad of five more of the grey armored soldiers appeared from out of the trees and ran over to where Weiss was stand before a low table piled with notes and maps of all kinds, and said as they knelt before her, "My Lady of Ivory, we've found it."
Weiss turned to them and nodded before saying as she looked over at the others, "Very well then. Let us proceed.
/ /
Scarlet looked on in horrified fascination as the team of ten soldiers did their best to hold off the onslaught of the monster before them.
"OOaarrrgghhh!" With an deep, gurgling roar, the beast whipped at a trio of the soldiers with a mass of lashing tentacles as it stepped forth on one great, big two-toed lizard-bird foot before turning to cast its other arm, a hulking bundle of bulging, greatly engorged muscles ending in a ropy arm, out at several of the other soldiers while they tried to shoot it with arrows from behind a loose shelf of rocks. The mighty blow scattered the solders while flattening two of them as it pulverized the rocks into so much dust and pebbles. It then looked around for another target, its two great bulging red eyes each the size of Scarlet herself, looking about independent of the other, as it roared once more. "OOaarrrgghhh!"
Somehow, in the weeks between now and when the two of them had first fought the two Grimm, their Death Cores had morphed together into this truly grotesque Abomination. Jaune stalked up next to her as she stared down at the thing and said as he placed a hand on her shoulder in support, "This is what can happen if you don't properly dispose of the Grimm and their Cores."
"Is this our fault?" Scarlet whispered as with a great crash of distant thunder the Abomination slapped a trio of soldiers into the air as they failed to escaped its continual assault. their bodies fell limply to the ground.
Jaune stared at the thing for a moment before saying resolutely, "No! While I was sure the Grimm would reconstitute by now, they shouldn't have formed something like this. There's something more going on here."
He looked to Ruby as she came to stand near them, her silver eyes glinting in the light as her cloak floated in a phantom wind her hood up over her head. She looked at him and nodded before saying, "You're right about that, Jaune. But I'll answer any questions you have after we're done here." Then she launched herself off the low rise they were on, over Scarlet's shocked cry, and dove down to land on the nearly twelve foot tall Grimm to cleaved a deep gash into it's upper shoulder and back with her scythe before springing off of it as it howled in rage and pain.
Jaune and Scarlet watched as the elite Huntress and Adventurer then began to run laps around the misshapen thing's feet, dashing to and fro under a veil of rose petals, looking for all the world like a red blur. The Grimm tried to crush her, first under its feet then as it flailed its arms and tentacles about, always just missing her form as she sprinted before it. Then, as she turned into the Grimm, swinging the cool steel of her scythe about, cleaving into the meat of its legs and ankles, forcing the Grimm to squeal and scream in pain with every hit, Jaune said to the girl next to him, "She was always fast, you know? The fastest warrior I had ever seen and fought against. Her speed was always her greatest strength, making even me having to turtle up at times." As he stared down at her, the memories of their battles running through his mind, he smiled and said, "She used to have no stamina to speak of. She's improved since then."
Scarlet could only nod, her entire being focused of the warrior before her, wondering if she could ever reach such heights of success and prowess.
And then Weiss made her appearance. Appearing on a small, jutting spike next to the battle but below where the two were observing the fighting, she suddenly appeared as she summoned a great pillar of light and flames, striking the Abomination squarely. The creature roared in pain as the outer layer of Grimm flesh was burned away before turning around to launch its bundle of arm-tentacles at her. Weiss deftly avoided the flurry of blows as she leaped off the jut of stone, flipping in the air to land on her feet as she fired off a trio of silver, arcing beams of arcane energy, the bolts of magic hammering into the Grimm colossus, knocking it backwards.
Ruby came in then, leaping, spinning, into the air to deliver a trio of heavy whirling slashes into the already damaged Grimm, tearing great swathes of flesh away under a shower of black ichor, before coming down into a roll to then spring back up swinging her scythe around vertically tear a further two deep furrows into its side. The Grimm howled and beated a quick retreat to the side to avoid further attacks from the annoying red gnat underfoot. But Ruby wouldn't let it go, dashing forwards she leaped lightly in the air, letting her momentum carry her forwards, to then land three attacks in rapid succession on one of its legs before landing and rapidly launching herself back at the same leg to cleave a massive wound into the scale-like flesh there in a great two-handed swipe before swiftly spinning her scythe in hand to deliver a second, lighter cut above that one as she flew by.
The Grimm whined and gurgled piteously as it sank to one knee before, with a quick assessment of its two new enemies, its seemed to swell up before with a great gush of sickening slime and ichor it hurled a massive flurry of blows with its lashing tentacles at Ruby, forcing her to dance and dodge away. Meanwhile, it shot its flexile, extendable arm at Weiss, disrupting her focus as she prepared a spell as she darted to one side. She made to prepare another spell only to have to dodge yet again as a massive swelling boil on its form burst, erupting in a beam of red-black energy that cut a deep fissure across the landscape. A fissure that then erupted into lingering flames.
At that, Jaune started, uncrossing his arms from around the nub of his right to grip his sword as he stared down at the battle, strategizing. Then he turned to Scarlet as she stood there transfixed in horrified fascination and placed his hand on her shoulder, shaking her back to reality as he asked, "You got your bow, girl?" At her nod he said, while pointing to a particular spot on the Grimm's back, "Good. Get down below as swift as you can and pester that thing in such a way that it has to stand still... Got it?"
"What about you, Mr. Arc?" She asked, her amber eyes large with concern. He looked down at the creature as he said, "I'll be making an entrance."
/ /
"Damn," Ruby cursed under her breath as she dodged around yet another flurry of tentacles as the band of flesh as thick around as she was slammed down, cracking the ground around her, preventing her from getting in close to the Abomination. Even from here she could see as the wound she and Weiss had inflicted on thing were starting to heal. If they didn't kill the thing soon things would only get worse for them. Already, she could feel the sweat pouring down her back as she panting lightly and her legs were starting feel jelly.
She flinched as another pulse of dark energy erupted from the Grimm's form, burning a line across the defenses the rest of the soldiers tasked with locating the thing had set up while they pummeled his form with arrows, bolts and javelins. She respected those men and woman, Faunus and humans, for their bravery, but their weapons were ill-equipped to face such a beast. Most Grimm bore armored hides that resisted, if not outright repelled mundane weaponry. One needed magic or Aura-unlocked individuals to face one in at least an even match up. Against something like this... she needed her team. Or, at least, some more experienced-
"Haaahh!" She looked up as, with a war cry of his own, Jaune crashed down on top of the Abomination, square between the bulging, iguana-like eyes, with his sword out, impaling it upon the beast. Before the Grimm could even register what happened the former paladin then used his own weight backed by his momentum to drag the super sharp blade of his sword down through the meat of the Grimm, cutting a deep wound into its flesh the length of the blade for a further five feet before he withdrew the sword and crashed down to the ground in a epic landing, using the blade and his knees to absorb what would otherwise have been a tremendously hard fall.
Then he stood and turned, flicking the ichor from his blade as he stood there before the howling beast as it focused both eyes upon him, glaring balefully at him as more ichor spilled from the devastating wound and said as he held aloft his sword in a salute, "By my Vow, I shall not fall!"
Whoa! She couldn't help but think as she saw all that, before swirling her scythe around so she could dash in towards the Grimm once more, shouting, "You're not the only one who can be awesome, Jaune!" Before leaping forwards using her Semblance to burst into a stream of rose petals that slammed into the creatures left eye, splitting it open with one awesome blow of her scythe, Crescent Rose. The Abomination howled in agony at that and actually took a step backwards as it writhed about in pain.
And that's when Ruby saw it, the Death Core! "The eyes!" She shouted as she looked down upon the writhing, twisting red-black orb. "The Cores are in its eyes!"
Then she was falling back to the air, unable to halt her momentum and prepared to make an awkward, if less bone jarring roll to mitigate the damage only instead to crash into a solid, but undeniably warm body and looked up to find Jaune holding her, his teeth grit in pain. He nodded to her as he said, "A fine showing, Ms. Rose. Exemplary as always."
"Haa-uthump? Ee-eep," She mumbled in response, her face heating up at the unexpected contact. Jaune didn't seem to notice, too busy looking at the Grimm, assessing, as he set her down, saying, "Now then, let's see if we can't bring this thing down together."
"Uh, uh, r-right! Let's do this!" She cried as she took up Crescent Rose in both hands and began to look for her next opportunity as the Grimm swayed back and forth, trying to guard its weak point. It came quickly enough as it howled with pain and she saw the girl, Scarlet launch arrow after arrow into its back. Something that all the previous attacks had failed to do.
"That's the way! Well done, girl!" Jaune shouted as the girl continually pestered the Grimm firing in the same spot repeatedly even as she was forced to run around the beast as it tried to turn away from her. Ruby noted that the girl was nearly as fast as her. Impressive.
Just then she heard Weiss finish the spell she was casting. Hearing her recite, "By Grace of the Great Tree, upon we all are born from and one day return to, guide my hand! By Root and Vine, I bind Thee down! Great Entangling Vine!"
With a sudden, swift rumble, from the ground sprouted a massive tangle of vines and roots that wrapped themselves around the Abomination's massive, stretchy arm, crushing it and holding the beast in place. As she knelt upon a massive glyph Weiss turned to her and shouted, "Ruby! Now!"
She nodded back to her partner as she felt as well as saw a soft glow appear about her and Jaune's weapon and knew Weiss was going all out for them. With a high-pitched war cry of her own she dashed in under the Grimm's trampling feet tp land a massive blow to its already crippled leg, nearly bisecting it, as Jaune charged in behind her to parry and counter slash at the thrashing tentacles it sent her way, lopping limbs under a flurry of reckless blows, even letting some the tentacles strike glancing blows his way so long as he could cleave two or three from the mass before him as she turned and landed blow after blow on its other leg and foot.
Meanwhile the girl kept striking the Grimm's wound on its back, infuriating it with every hit till finally with a ear-bleeding shriek that stunned them all it turned, twisting its upper body to tear of it's own arm as it turned to fire another of those dark energy beams. And that was exactly as planned. As Scarlet's eyes widened in alarm at that and turned to run right as the creature staggered before toppling as its heavily wounded legs gave out and it crashed face first into the earth, right as the beam fired.
The pointblank explosion of energy vaporized much of the earth below even as it ripped apart the Grimm's own flesh and sent it writhing about in flames, screaming and howling just as Weiss hit it with another massive pillar of light and heat. Eventually, the Grimm Abomination fell silent as it stilled and finally began to evaporated as so much dust, leaving behind two darkly pulsating, floating orbs of red-black energy, pulsating with arcs of yellow and white.
The quartet of warriors stood there panting for a bit while the soldiers gathered 'round them all. Then, with a deep inhale, Weis got up from where she was and walked over to the Death Cores, her hands placed before her in prayer. As they began to glow with a soft, white light she touched each of the Cores. They shrivel up and fell to the ground as dark grey seed as the violent energy surrounding them vaporized. She sighed at that before picking up the two World Seeds and handed them to Ruby for safekeeping before turning to the soldiers and commanded firmly, but softly, "Now. Quickly, bring the wounded before they are beyond my power to save."
"Aye! As you command, Lady of Ivory!" one of the men called as he and the other saluted her with a fist to chest before turning to dash over to their injured or slain comrades. As they did so, Weiss turned to the others and said, "Ruby, sigh, now's a good time to talk to, hm, Jaune about what's going on." At her nod, Weiss then said, "I'll meet you all back at the base camp soon enough." Then she turned, face stoically at peace as the injured began to limp up to her, not noticing how Jaune did the same, but in the opposite direction. Or the fact that his hand were shaking.
/ /
Ruby rapidly became aware that there was something wrong with Jaune as they made their way towards the camp once more, and she was concerned. He seemed... different, with a shorter temper than earlier as well as a noticeable limp now that she took a moment to look at him. He was obviously hurt, but it was more than that.
That temper, it... it reminded her of Blake, and Yang, after they had survived that ambush a year ago. It was the kind anger that came from having experienced something truly traumatic, at least to her knowledge of the subject matter. Only, she could not remember a single thing over the course of all the years they had fought against each other, or in the years afterwards in her search of him that could be that traumatic.
What's more, it seemed the girl knew about this temper, had experienced it before, as she was walking further away from him than usual, even as she continued to bombard him with a variety of comments from how cool he and Ruby and Weiss had fought to her own fear to randomly pointing out how pretty a patch of Myternasters were as the small white flowers sat under a beam of daylight. In order to make Scarlet feel better after all that, Ruby took upon herself to keep up the conversation of innate comments by replying to each in her own, fairly awkward way. The flowers were very pretty in Ruby's opinion.
Throughout it all, Jaune merely grunted in answer or gave one word comments back. Ruby was concerned.
/ /
As they entered the camp they all fell silent and stood still as Weiss entered from another direction at the lead of a procession of soldiers, and the dead they carried. It seemed that the High Priestess had been unable to save as many as she wished. Scarlet could tell that just from her face alone.
She brought her hands up and gave a prayer to the fallen herself as the procession walked by, asking the World Tree to take them in her bountiful branches for safekeeping. Weiss noted that and gave her a small smile as she gently patted her hands in passing, the symbol of the World Tree, a White Tree on a blue background, on her robes waving brightly in the light of the afternoon sun.
They watched the procession pass by in silence before Ruby turned to them and waved them to follow after her. She knew that Weiss would be by eventually after she finished giving the fallen their last rites, even those of another religion, and stayed long enough to give any of those grieving a moment to talk with her, should they need it. A priest's job wasn't just to give benedictions at wedding and births or prayers for the dead. No, they also acted as a kind of therapist as needed.
Weiss had done the same for her during the days and weeks after, after Mercury. She had done the same for Yang, for Blake, after surviving that ambush when so many of the people they had spent years befriending had not, as had the many civilians in that small hamlet.
Ruby led them into the tent she and Weiss were using as their Operation Center before making her way over to a side table where a pitcher of freshly chilled water was at. She filled a tall glass of water before drinking it in several deep swallows, ending with a brief panting gasp at the chill. Then she turned to them and motioned for them to sit down before saying, "So, I'm sure you have questions about what just happened, I take it?"
"Yeah," Jaune drawled as he sat down heavily with a sigh and began nursing his leg, rubbing at it in a strangely focused, circular way, almost like he was trying to wipe something clean. "That was a Grimm unlike any I've ever seen b'fore. No Grimm should grow that powerful within so short of a time. And, certainly not be able to grow from multiple Death Cores so early!"
"Um," Scarlet started to ask as she raised a hand, only for Jaune to sigh in exasperation before saying, "As I said, Grimm are composed of an outer shell, usually some form of nightmarish beast or creature and an inner Core, the Death Core. A single Death Core can, and will, reconstitute into multiple Grimm over the course of it's existence, eventually splitting into two or more Cores as it gathers experience over lifetimes. And, no, before you ask, I don't know why, but the Cores do not retain this experience when they split. None of the researchers and Grimmologists know why either."
"Oh, uh... 'kay," she said softly to that, shriveling under his tone, as he turned and glared at Ruby and snapped, "What was that back there, Rose! No Grimm should be that strong. Especially after only three weeks or so. What's going here? Has their Dark Goddess finally started Her Apocalypse?!"
Ruby flinched under that vehement diatribe, not expecting the sudden anger directed at her or Scarlet. She got up from where she had been sitting down with a sigh as she set down her empty glass and said as she placed her hands together in a calming gesture before her, "No. Nothing like that, thankfully. Our contacts within the Church have said nothing to the contrary. It's something, someone else."
"So, it Cinder then." Jaune rumbled deeply, his voice thick with wrath as she saw a flash of something terrifying in his gaze before he looked down again, increasing the motion of his hand on his leg. "So, that is why you want me, here with you."
"I-" Ruby started, hesitantly, before Weiss then entered the tent and said, as she took off her biretta, "Yes, that is correct, Sir Arc... But, that's not the only reason why we've gone out of our way to see you."
"By, of course, there is!" He snapped then before jerking upright as he snarled, "Well, you know what? Fuck it! I'm threw with that life! I'm done!" Then he stalked out of the tent before either of the two of them could say anything with Scarlet hopping up from her seat to say, "W-wait! Mr. Arc, wait!" before following after him as fast as she could.
/ /
Once outside the tent Jaune immediately stopped as soon as he made it to the treeline, honestly expecting someone to stop him, and began pacing back and forth as he muttered to himself, "Damn it. Why'd I say that? Why! It's not their fault! It's not the girl's fault! Damn it! Fuck! Idiot man!"
"Mr. Arc?" He heard Scarlet shout then. "Mr. Arc! Where are you!"
"Here," He sighed heavily as he stepped from behind a tree as a sudden sense of exhaustion took over as the girl rushed up to him in all the boundless energy of youth. "What is it, girl?"
"I, um, I have a question, Mr. Arc?" She stuttered hesitantly, worried about inciting his ire, having learned her lesson the last time she did... something stupid. Not that Jaune could calling trying to save a family member stupid, only the methods she took to do so. Nor could he say that his anger at her that day had been entirely justified. That, was his fault entirely.
So, he sat down with a heavy exhalation on a nearby log and motioned her over as he said while he looked down, "So, what is it, girl?"
"I, um, this... Cinder? That the Lady of Flames, isn't it?" She asked. He grimace at that was unseen by her as he nodded silently. "And, you worked with her? In the past? You were... a bad person?" He hesitated then nodded again, but otherwise remained unmoving, unconsciously stiffening for the coming rebukes and insults from her at that as she realized what that meant, what he was, like all the others before her who had learned the truth. Instead, she merely asked, "Why?"
Jaune flinched at that, taken back by so simple a question. No one, had ever really asked him that before. So, after a moment's hesitation where he failed to notice Ruby and Weiss's arrival, he stood and turned from the girl, wiping at he face wearily as he said, "For my past. For something I failed to do. I, I," He hesitated, trying to speak through so old a hurt, a trauma, before sighing and said, "Ah, but what does it matter now? I failed to make up it then, too." He looked up at the sky as he said, "I put my everything into trying to do right under Cinder's command, under what she said was a plan to save, everyone! I put my faith, my hopes, my dreams... and when the truth came out I, I lost all hope for myself, and in doing so, lost my link to my powers as a paladin, to the Maidens above."
"And, what is that you failed to do, Jaune?" Weiss asked quietly, speaking up for the first time on arriving. Jaune turned to look her way, his eyes haunted, before glancing away, taking a couple of steps to stand before a nearby, moss-covered boulder where he began to rub his hand on top of it in a seemingly calming gesture, round and round in a circle like he was cleaning something. Weiss stepped towards him, moving slowly, hands raised, like she was trying to calm a wounded, feral dog, and asked softly, once more, "What happened, Jaune? What did you fail to do?... Where are you right now?"
He said nothing for a moment, too lost in rubbing the moss from the rock. There was certainly a lot of it, wasn't there? He thought absently, wiping and scrubbing away at it. At that horrible, horrible color.Then he hissed in pain, tears pricking the corner of his eyes as the memories came back yet again, never fully leaving. There had been so much,. Why was there so much...
He had to clean the blood up before they could place the next body down for him and the various doctors, healers and priests to begin their administrations, but the blood, there was so much. So much! He kept scrubbing away at it, but it wasn't doing anything. And the screams, the smell. It was all too much. Where were the Gods in this? where were his Maidens? why was no one helping, and why wasn't this blood coming off.
"Jaune," Weiss asked just a bit more firmly as she stepped in close behind him a cautious hand reaching out to his back, and asked firmly, worried, "Where are you right now?"
He looked, not at her, but through her, as he stuttered and whispered while licking his lips nervously, his hand still making a circular motion on the nearby rock as he placed it there, "It's, it's the battle at Dormery. Or at Sauvignon. Or, Arcadia itself, my home. The Grimm, they came in such numbers... And, I could do anything! The p-p-people there, my friends and neighbors, my fellow soldiers, knights and paladins, they all died around me, and there was nothing I could do! Nothing! I was supposed to be the strongest! The best, of my Order! Everyone said so, so why-" He clenched his fist so tightly on top of the rock that he cut into the skin of his palm before pounding at it's surface once as he gritted his teeth and shook his head, tears in his eyes, and almost shrieked in a strained voice, like he was holding back a louder, more devastating scream, "There's so much blood! How can any one person bleed so much?! How? I, I have to clean it up. Have make room for the next one. Have to... have to... Hah, AAaaHHhh!" As he spoke he rubbed his hand at the boulder's surface repeatedly, over and over again, like he was trying to clean something up before he finally collapsed against it with an agonizing cry of pain and loss, the tears streaming down his face now as he clenched his fist tightly and curled in on himself, crying out, unseeing of those around him, "Why? Why is there so much blood?! Why aren't the spells working? Why is nothing working?! Why?! Why?!"
Suddenly, he felt a pair of warm arms around his neck, soft and gentle. Then another pair, stronger, firmer, but no less gentle. And, finally, a single, soft touch on his brow. One followed by the whispered incantations of a soothing voice, and, for the first time in a long, long time, he felt at peace. Felt... Warm, the warmth of his faith. He inhaled deeply at that and sighed, long and low, his body fully relaxing for the first time in so, so long. He blinked and looked up to find himself on the soft, loamy ground, being hugged tightly by both Ruby and Scarlet, tears streaming down their faces as well as his own. He looked up to find Weiss standing there, looking down at him with tears in her own eyes as she smiled softly, and he said, somewhat thickly, "Thank you, Lady Schnee."
"I," The priestess started, before with a shake of her head and a swallow, she said, "You are welcome, Jaune. I, forgive you for what you done, to me, to the citizen of Vale."
"Oh, is that why you were so mad at me earlier?" He asked distantly, finding himself instinctually returning the hugs of Ruby and Scarlet as he felt their grief for him. Weiss suddenly flushed at that and turned her head away as she coughed into her hand before saying, "O-oh, I, uh, no. No. I was, uh, angry, because Ruby kept maintaining that she was searching for you all this time, when it's clear to me that she knew exactly where you were all this time, anyway."
Ruby stiffened at that and began to pull away from him as he blinked in confusion and asked, "And, how did you come about this resolution?"
Weiss scoffed and shook her head as she tried to keep the disgust off her face before waving a hand in their general direction and said, "Why because you two have a child!"
As Jaune began to laugh heartily at that, Ruby immediately jumped off of him and started waving her hands about wildly as she flushed and squealed, "Weiss! We're, we're not together like that, okay! I, I haven't even been with a man since - I don't have- I not pregnant!"
Weiss paled at that, and Ruby brief slip, before stuttering an attempt at apology only for Scarlet to pipe up with, "What? Is that why you thought I was a whore? Because you thought Ruby was my mom?"
Weiss flushed at that and sputtered out a, "No! No! Nonononono! That's, That's not what I meant at all!" as she copied Ruby by waving her arms about wildly, flustered. Jaune laughed uproariously at that, cackling as he pointed as the derpy acting woman and her friend.
/ /
After a short stent of rest, and apologies all around while there at the boulder, Jaune followed the rest as they made their way back to the camp. He noted, absently, that the soldiers around them looked on him in sympathy now. But, sympathy mixed with a belated respect. He made an effort to nod in polite respect their way should their eyes meet. And, as they reentered the Operation Center's tent, he felt lighter for the first time in years.
"So," he said on leaning up against the large table in the center of the room, one covered in maps, charts and various documents, "how can I help? Why have you sought me out, after all these years?"
"Your legacy, Jaune," Ruby spoke up then, taking up several dossiers and bounty posters before handing them over to him as she explained. "When you, The Black Knight, vanished so suddenly after that last fight with us, dozens of men and women took up your moniker, your name as an epithet either in honor of what you represent, but more so as an epithet of fear and loathing." She stared down at the various circled and marked locations on the map with a grimace and a deep frown for a moment before looking up at him to say, "We killed or captured dozens of these men and women over the years, but for every one we took down, a dozen appeared elsewhere."
Jaune took that in stoically, his eyes downcast, before nodding as he looked up at her and stated, "So, you think Cinder's hand is in this."
"Wait, but, I thought the Valiant Band, uh, you, Ms. Rose, Ms. Schnee, beat the Lady of Flames, and her cruel Adventurer band of the Black Knight, the Bloody Hands and the Mind Thief years ago." Scarlet piped up while looking between them all, only to then flush in embarrassment as she realized what she had said in relation to the recent revelation from Jaune. He merely smiled at her at that and patted her on the shoulder as a means to ease her embarrassment.
Meanwhile, Weiss shook her head as she said, "We did stop the plans she had at the time. Or, so we thought. Now, it has come to our attention, and the Monarchy, that what plans she had set in motion are beginning to come to fruition. Moreover, now she has an army of disgruntled citizens as well as these Black Knights to do her bidding for her while she stays in the shadows." She turned to Jaune and said, "That is where you come in, Jaune. Not only do you have knowledge of where Cinder, or at least her chief servants, Emerald and Mercury, might be, you also have the responsibility of creating these... lesser Black Knights, if inadvertently. We require you to clear your name, by wiping them out in any way you see fit."
/ /
At that command Scarlet grew fearful and looked towards Jaune fearing he would have another violent outburst. Instead, he stood up straight and bowed toward the priestess with a hand to his chest in a salute as he said, "By your leave, High Priestess."
Shock from that quickly gave way to indignant anger for her semi crush and she found herself saying, "Hey, that's not right. It's not his fault that people to his nickname and corrupted it into some petty title. Why should he have to do this? Isn't it your fault that this has gotten out of hand in the first place?"
Weiss and Ruby both flinched at that, giving her words more credence than it should. She flinched back at that herself and made to say something more in Jaune's defense, only to stop as he gripped her shoulder tightly for a moment then pulled her back before saying as he looked down at her, "That's enough, Ms. Tear. While I, too, agree with that. However, it doesn't change that through me, and my conduct in the past, these people have taken up my name to enact evils deeds." He looked towards Weiss and Ruby then and said, "Now, what must I do to clear my name?"
Ruby gave him a brief smile while Weiss nodded toward him with respect as Ruby said, "Help us track down Cinder or her servants while helping us to remove as many of the Black Knights as you can, and when we reach the Capitol, I will do my damnedest to defend you before a Court of the Crown for your crimes. This I swear both as Ruby Rose, Huntress, and as the Crimson Crusader, Adventurer in the Monarch's Employ."
Weiss nodded to that as she said, "Think of it as the first step in the healing process, Jaune. Clearing your name by removing this stain upon your honor. And, while you are, we shall endeavor to do all we can to trying to determine a method at returning your powers to you."
"You... would do that for me, after all I've done to you and yours, Weiss?" Jaune asked, stunned and overcome with emotion at that.
"Yes. My own feelings notwithstanding, you don't deserve to be without such a gift for all these years." She nodded and and said.
"Well then," Jaune returned with a grin as he leaned against the table. "I suggest we find ourselves a ride out of here, and I know just the individuals to talk to. You'd be surprised at the quality of the characters who've taken up residence in the village over the years."
A/N: And, so we end it there. Jaune finally, truly opens up a bit, Weiss gets to be both a bad-ass and a dork, Ruby is still awesome and Scarlet is both losing her mind and innocence as she meets her heroes. Just wait till she meets Yang.
Also, ha! I bet none of you expected Jaune's constant wiping down of his counter to have an alternative motive. To be fair, until I started writing for this chapter I didn't think of using it for that either, so there.
For those of you who don't play any type of RPG a Paladin is both a healer and a warrior. A warrior monk, if you will. In fact, I recently read a meme that said "A Paladin is simply an ex-priest who realized you can heal stupid." They going to lay hands on you, one way or another. To that end, As bad as it was for Jaune to, in his mind, effectively lose so many of his men in the fights against the Grimm, the aftermath where he tried to save those still alive but heavily wounded was even worse. Man's a healer, always was. That's going to break you, especially if it happens repeatedly in so short a time.
Anyway, as always, I hope you enjoyed it, and I'll see you in the next chapter! Bye!
Essiter out!