Ch. 97 Silver and red
The moment Jaune took his first breath, the moment he regained consciousness, he felt his body cry out in pain.
Though it took mere seconds, it felt so much longer before the pain subsided as his wounds rapidly mended.
Every little movement still ached but he could move. Though immediately after attempting to pick himself up off the ground he nearly fell on his face. In the rush of adrenaline from being reviewed, he forgot about his arm or rather lack thereof.
Still he stood up as Ruby frantically ran over to help him.
"What happened? Something went wrong. Jaune you were- you weren't breathing and your heart stopped…"
He hugged her back, still woozy from the blood loss but getting better with each second. His Aura enveloped his body though he could feel the drain on it as his soul struggled to heal his body and keep him going.
Then he felt it, the smouldering spark. There, but silent, dormant for now. His Aura should have been used to fuel his magic, but it simply wasn't enough to set the flame of magic alight in his soul.
"I failed." he whispered.
Ruby raised her head, locking eyes with him "Jaune, you didn't…" she started, but Jaune shook his head before interrupting her.
"I failed, but I bought some time I think." he fell silent again for just a moment as he focused on his Aura "...I don't know how much though."
"But, but this was… Jaune! Don't tell me you'll have to do this again?!" asked Ruby, horrified by the idea.
Jaune wanted to refute that immediately, but stopped to think before replying. Was this something he'd have to do again? No, even if he wanted it wouldn't be easy, bordering on impossible in fact, to gather this much material again. And even if he did somehow manage, it didn't work. There was no guarantee it would ever work. There also wasn't any guarantee he'd survive a second attempt. Yet something had to be done eventually…
He thought for a while, still holding onto Ruby for comfort.
"No, I won't do this again. Even if I could, I don't think it'd do what I wanted it to. I'll have to figure out something else. Hopefully the time this bought me will be enough for that."
"...what now then?"
"Now we go home." he replied. "Equinus di Ardera Ventis!" he spoke as he extended his arm.
The bike entered his vision as expected, unfortunately his extended arm didn't. As he looked down on the scarred stump of a limb another thought pushed itself to the forefront of his mind, overshadowing the important problem he faced.
He didn't have a shirt on.
"Uhhh… Ruby? Have you seen my shirt? Also, I might need some help with the buttons…" he smiled wryly.
Ruby, emotions still running high, couldn't help but laugh at that. It was such a little thing, such an everyday task like getting dressed. Not the fact that he was a huntsman, or a blacksmith, no it was the thing that showed him as just him, as just a human that got the focus first.
She collected his shirt off the ground outside and shook off the red leaves that had since fallen on it. It wasn't exactly clean but it would do. Jaune meanwhile struggled to keep his balance as he put on his shoes, though he did eventually manage. Ruby held open one sleeve for him to thread his arm through and then helped him close it and button it up.
Once she tied up the loose sleeve though, she had an idea. Ruby unclasped her cloak and draped it over Jaune. It was a bit small on him but that worked out in her favour. As she slipped the hood over the missing arm underneath the cloak, covering the entirety of Jaune's left side in a sort of facsimile of a swordsman cape.
Jaune kissed her lightly in thanks before turning back to the bike. "Well, now to the main issue here. I can't drive it."
"Huh, wh… oh… yeah." Ruby stumbled over her words in realisation as she gazed on where the handlebars would normally be.
"Yeah, it's a modified glove slot for supplying Aura. And it's a left one since I wanted my right free to fight with." Jaune reiterated the problem, hoping he'd find a solution if he rephrased it out loud. Unfortunately no solution came to mind.
"Well… guess I'm driving…" Ruby said, her tone upbeat.
"What?!" Jaune exclaimed, but in lieu of an explanation Ruby just mounted the bike, sitting a lot more forward than she would when riding behind Jaune. "Since when can you drive?"
"Yang… well she didn't teach me perse, but I did drive Bumblebee a few times. I think my Aura can last for an hour or two… I'm not at you levels of Aura but I have been training you know." she said as she grasped the steering, the glove gripping her back. She pushed her Aura into the engine and the jet came to life with bright red flames.
Ruby spent a few seconds moving her fingers, observing how the hard light wheels changed shape in response, before turning back to the stunned Jaune.
"Hop on, we're wasting time!" she shouted over the roar of the engine.
Once Jaune hustled to sit in the unfamiliar seat behind Ruby and wrapped his arm around Ruby's waist tightly, the bike lurched forward picking up speed until it disappeared into the trees with a burst of rose petals.
=O=O=O=
"Okay everyone! Retreat from the wall!" Roman yelled both at everyone in earshot and through the open comm channel. "Glyn just gave us heads up that the civies have been evacuated from the entire agricultural district."
It wasn't ideal but it has been clear that the gate would fall for a while now. The antlered Grimm, or the horny bastard as Roman heard some of Beacon's students jokingly call it, was a doozie. Sure, Qrow's attack and the subsequent barrage of gunfire managed to disperse its Ursine form, but that hardly helped when the bullets just passed through the inner liquid body. Apart from a few cracks in its mask and the antlers Qrow took off, it appeared largely uninjured.
Unlike the Wyvern, which was solid until damaged, this one was liquid until it shifted form into something else. The next one was almost surprisingly a four legged creature that really looked like a deer, what with the antlers and everything. It charged the gate a total of four times until the huntsmen took it down again.
It hasn't taken another solid form since and it was the sharpshooters among them that pelted it with high calibre projectiles to the face, while the others focused on the small amount of fresh spawns.
Still it was only a matter of time before the gate fell once the thing took shape once again and Roman really didn't fancy the chances of anyone still on the wall when that happened. Better to move the fight into the fields of the agricultural district and hope they manage to stop it there.
"Qrow, think you could try and distract it again while we move down?" Roman called out to the more experienced huntsman.
"See this is why I don't advertise my feathers! Less than two hours after you found out and you're already counting on me flying out of trouble…" Qrow quipped back even as he motioned to the students around him to move back and down the walls.
"Well Glyn knows right? Cause suddenly sending you on all those recon missions makes way more sense." Roman returned with a grin, not moving to retreat despite his words.
The Grimm figure let out another screech as a particularly well aimed shot hit its eye. As the figure started gathering bulk again the huntsman that fired the shot quickly strapped his rifle over his back and ran towards a ladder.
Roman looked at Neo gleefully jumping down the wall and opening her parasol to glide down while sticking out her tongue at the humanoid Grimm figure. He didn't see her boyfriend anywhere so he could only assume he'd already gone down a ladder.
"So Roman, what's the play once it breaks through?"
"Stall… If our long range guys can break its mask and kill it, all the power to them, but the main thing is to keep it here for long enough that little red can arrive and put on a lightshow. I'm counting on little Xiao-Long to be the main force in the meantime."
Qrow frowned at that. It wasn't a bad plan. But it did centre around Ruby's silver eyes and Yang's Maiden abilities, even if not expressly. Both were secrets that he'd rather not advertise to the world. "You bastard, I hate that. It's a good plan though." Qrow conceded through gritted teeth.
"I know, let's hope blondie has the firepower to just end it outright but after seeing your little bird dive display I wouldn't count on it."
"Right… so why are you still here and not on your way down?" Qrow asked as he took a loose runner's stance. The Grimm fell on all fours again though this time its form resembled a wolf. Not a Beowulf but a canine on all fours with a dog shaped maw and antlers.
"Oh you know, just an opportunity to put on a lightshow of my own. Figured if it can't see you fly down it can't defend as easily."
Qrow smirked and took off running off the edge before flying up into the air. As he pulled his wings in and turned to dive down, he saw a bright flare of red dust shoot towards the beast's head before exploding in its face.
Roman watched the beast flinch back and close its eyes in front of the fireworks show and a black bird dive beak first towards the very beast. Then at the last moment the bird turned into Qrow and attacked with an overhead strike of his sword.
=O=O=O=
Jaune sat cross legged, leaning on a particularly comfortable looking rock. That is to say he was so sore from riding after everything that even a rock looked comfortable to lean on. Ruby sat in his lap, leaning against his chest as she rested.
Her scroll signalled her aura dropping under twenty percent a few minutes ago and so they were forced to rest. Still, Ruby managed to take them a good distance further than Jaune expected in the time they traveled. Ruby's Aura apparently had a knock on effect on the turbine engine beyond making the flames red as opposed to Jaune's white. While before Ruby needed to use a lot of Aura to envelop them in her semblance, she described driving it as "Its like… it kinda does it on its own… not like uncontrolled or anything, just when it wants to it takes no effort to just do it!"
The fact that Ruby could even power the engine for any length of time in the first place was a bit of a surprise for Jaune. In fact Jaune could have sworn he saw the Aura around her body almost ignite multiple times during particularly heartstopping manoeuvres, especially whenever they encountered a Grimm.
The amount of Grimm she ran over was frankly staggering. Not only because Jaune was convinced she wasn't trying to hit them on purpose, but because he was riding up and down this path basically daily for a while now and he barely encountered and before now. Today they encountered at least several dozen and they weren't even out of the borders of Forever Fall, where Keel tended to thin out the numbers before they got to them.
When both their scrolls pinged, neither of them was in a particular hurry to check them. That was until Ruby's scroll started ringing.
"Hello? Ruby Arc-Rose speaking?"
"Finally! I was trying to reach you and your husband for hours! I was finally able to locate your location beacon and connect you to my local network."
"Sorry, who is this? And why are you searching for us?" Jaune interrupted the man on the call.
"Name's André. I'm a Beacon pilot and Goodwitch dispatched me at Torchwicks request. Vale calls for aid. Last I was on the main network the south gate was breached. Torchwick is convinced you two are the key to dealing with that so I hope you have some idea. I'm just a pilot."
"Are you coming to us? And how did you find us?" Ruby asked, her team leader training kicking in.
"Yeah, on my way. Mister Arc, that is Doré Arc, pointed me in the rough direction of the crash crater and I just… wait, that can't be right. Your location beacon shows you near the mountain range, please confirm."
"Confirmed, we are near the plateau in the middle of the northern vertical climb, why?"
"How fast were you moving? Or did you not reach the crater as originally planned?"
"Fast and yes we did." Jaune courtly answered.
"Right sorry shutting up now, just surprised is all. Expected to fly further from the lake settlements. I'll be there momentarily." the pilot confirmed before cutting the call.
Now that the aircraft noises were no longer coming from the scroll, they could hear them approaching from a distance.
=O=O=O=
"Welcome back everyone to this emergency coverage of the current Grimm attack on Vale. My name is Lisa Lavender and I'm reporting from the air above the agricultural district. The attack on the southern walls of Vale has been ongoing for several hours now and it is my grim duty to report that the south gate has been breached.
Please do not panic though as the huntsmen of Beacon have managed to halt the invasion within the open fields of the district which has been completely evacuated about two hours ago.
The new Grimm type which people on social networks took to calling the Wendigo, has proven to be rather resilient. The shapeshifter Grimm has so far been recorded to take the form of a bear, deer, wolf, and a yet unidentified rodent of unusual size. In addition it features its base form of a humanoid figure with a smiling mask and antlers. Sharing many characteristics with the Wyvern, which was recently routed from Beacon, the Wendigo seems to be capable of birthing new Grimm. An alternative conclusion some have come to is that the Wendigo merely protects the liquid which seems to be the source of the newly spawned Grimm. Whether the black liquid is a separate entity from the Wendigo is unknown at this point.
It is our pleasure to report the sightings of many up and coming huntsmen as well as some familiar professional faces. Of note are the famed Qrow Branwen and Roman Torchwick, a duo that was last seen working together during their joint attempt at preventing the terrorist attack during the Vital festival. A for the up and coming youngsters it is heartwarming to see the cooperation of the known couple mister Cardin Winchester and Trivia Vanille. Mister Winchester comes from a long line of huntsmen and leaders of Vale, his father, councilman Henry Winchester, being a prominent leader of today.
According to Headmistress Goodwitch of Beacon academy, who serves as the main coordinator in the defensive efforts, the battle is proceeding in accordance to expectations and despite the breach of the gate no loss of life has occurred as of yet. While several members of the defensive force were injured and transported to hospitals across Vale, many have since recovered enough to join reinforcements in their preparations, ready to be dispatched at a moments notice.
The Headmistress has further reported an increase in Grimm attacking its south borders, however states that the increase is only marginal and doesn't pose a serious threat at this time.
Current recommendations for citizens are as follows: Those within southern portions of the residential and industrial districts are advised to start evacuation towards the commercial district shelters in order to prevent potential loss of life should any Grimm escape the battle, as unlikely as that seems at this time. Those within northern portions of the aforementioned two districts are to prepare to begin evacuating to their local shelters at further notice. While the battle analysts currently don't predict the situation worsening significantly, it is important to be prepared for the eventuality."
=O=O=O=
"Hey guys, did you hear? Apparently it's unlikely the situation will worsen." Sky spoke up over the broadcast playing on Cardin's scroll.
"Ha, right and I'm the king of Vale! Anything to prevent the civies form panicking huh." replied Cardin after he muted the broadcast.
Team SWNY, minus Nikos but up a Neo so still SWNY, was currently on slight break after Cardin managed to get the last blow on the rat form of the Wendigo. Of course Cardin knew it was Yang that did most of the damage, but it still felt nice to get the publicity for scoring the kill… or part of the kill seeing as it wasn't dead, but it's the sentiment that counts.
Neo was rapidly talking in sign to Cardin, though since Cardin wasn't translating the rest of the team wanted nothing to do with the conversation. She was somewhere between annoyed at being introduced by her old name and happy that her claim on Cardin was now public knowledge. They were getting publicity and she wasn't about to let some random hussy fangirl try and take him away from her.
Yang was silently glad about not being mentioned by name. Sure she was one of the better known huntsmen on her generation amongst huntsmen but to the civies it was better to present them with celebrity gossip in a situation like this rather than power stats. Though she was incredibly amused that the reporter mentioned Qrow and Torchwick in the same context as Cardin and his girlfriend. She was fairly sure the socials were already full of speculation at their involvement.
"Alright guys, our ten minutes is over." Sky stood up and looked at his team, expecting them to do the same.
"Hey! It wasn't even five!" protested Cardin jokingly.
"Nearly fifteen actually. Now get up. Roman says Grimm numbers are rising the longer we fight and the damn Wendigo thing is barely taking any damage."
"What's the new form?" Yang asked as she stretched her arms above her head.
"Turtle, so basically we might be fucked." answered Cardin as he picked up his scroll with the news coverage still playing on it.
=O=O=O=
Author's note:
Actually didn't fit as much as I wanted in this chapter. Just in case it didn't come through entirely clearly, Jaune indeed failed to jumpstart his magic. As for his domain, well that one is less of a binary situation, he's slowly growing into it you could say.
So I know this comes out a day early, but regardless - Happy New Year! I'll see about posting an extra story on January 1st so look forward to that.
Thank you so much for reading and thank you for getting this far. If you want to support me you can do so on P a treon . com (slash) OlympianScribe
Anyway I hope you enjoyed and are looking forward to the next chapter: Ch. 98 Lightshow