Jaune's never-ending nightmare

by herjoh

Beacon was suposed to be his chance to be a hero. It was his chance to live up to his families legacy and become a hero. Unfortuantly Jaune wasn't a lucky man and on his first night in Beacon, he finds himself waking up in a weird place called the 'Hunters Dream' And the night is long and cruel. But maybe, just maybe he could be a hero.

72. Chapter 72

Pre-Note: The chapter includes mentions of cannibalism.

{-ooo-}

Jaune hid a large yawn behind his hand. Sitting by yesterday's campfire as a knife bit into a stick he had picked up. Scrapping of the bark as he let his finger's work, mind somewhere else entirely. Violet clinging to his side, Mistral's humid winter's making Vale's morning chill a long-forgotten memory.

Hearing the tent's zipper be pulled down, he saw Oscar ever so carefully slip out of the tent. Quickly zipping the door back up so the inside didn't get cold.

"Can't sleep?" Jaune asked softly when he saw him. The farmboy startling, almost jumping out of his skin. A skittishness that hadn't been there yesterday clinging to him. Not that Jaune could fault him. With the adrenaline and confusion from yesterday gone, Oscar had every right to freak out.

"No… no, falling asleep was okay." Oscar whispered softly, making sure to keep to a whisper as he looked around. Not wanting to wake up the girls. "It was the waking up part that was…"

"Finding yourself in an empty tent." Jaune mussed, never taking his eyes from the knife and branch in his hands. Hands working almost on autopilot. He didn't know what he was carving, neither did he really care. More than content with just having them occupied with something. "Sorry about that, both me and Ren are early wakers. Violet is too… but, she's had some troubles sleeping as of late."

"It's not that." Oscar whispered, looking up as Annalise came drifting by on an invisible wind. Splayed outwards and 'sleeping' as well as a ghost could. "It's just… It's all real." A pregnant pause settled over them as Jaune let the younger boy gather his thoughts. "And-" Oscar eventually continued with a slight hint of disbelief. "And I'm not alone."

"You know… it's not too late for you." Jaune said with a heavy sigh. Not entirely sure if it was him or the trauma talking. "You can still go back. Go home, live your life without any shadows or ghosts haunting you. This can all seem like a bad dream. A lucid dream, but a bad dream nevertheless." Looking at the wood in his hands, Jaune saw some shapes beginning to take hold. Tooth and claw, fur and muscles appearing in the wood.

"It's the same for Ren, Nora and Pyrrha. Maybe even Violet-" Jaune continued, continuing to carve as he turned to give the boy a look. A boy that had the same eyes as him. They were green with an orangish-hue, where he had blue eyes that looked like the sea. But Jaune recognised the sparkle, the twinkle, the wide eyes that seemed to shine.

'You got a dreamer's eye's son.' His father's voice echoed in his mind. 'Dreams are a wonderful thing. But you got to be realistic.'

"-It's not too late for them. Moving the maiden's magic out of Pyrrha shouldn't be impossible. Hard, sure. But not impossible. If she want's, she could leave this all behind. I wouldn't blame her if she did."

"What about you?" Oscar asked.

"I made a deal." Jaune started. "I was forced into a deal." He quickly amended. "Even if I want, I don't think I can. And even then, I don't think it's possible for me to simply forget. Some things are just… branded into your soul."

"What have you seen?" The Infinitive Man asked, a familiar something in his voice. It was surprisingly easy to differentiate between the two. Even if it was just by tone of voice. Where Oscar was skittish, nervous, and curious, The Infinitive Man always held and spoke with a certain drawl. Caressing the words in a way to make them sound sophisticated.

"Your mom." Jaune coulndt help. His lips quirking into a smile as a loud snort rang through the morning mist. Red faced, tears in his eyes, and biting down on his lips, Oscar sat and shock. Then he changed, sitting straighter, blinking away the tears as a sigh escaped him.

"I can admit I walked into that one." The Infinitive Man sighed, eyebrow twitching. Before Oscar once again was back in control. Trying to be silent even as his whole body rocked, droplets welling up in the corner of his eyes. Neck and chin red from holding in his laughter to not wake up everyone else.

'He needed that.' Jaune thought with a little quirk of his lips. Oscar needed to laugh, to not drown in his own thoughts. Yesterday's revelations, together with having a voice in the back of his head egging him on to do something, it was all a bit much. And if a your-mom joke was enough to make him laugh. To make him forget, to take of the weight he no doubt felt on his shoulders. Then Jaune knew he really didn't mind. 'When was the last time I laughed like that? When was the last time I could laugh like that?'

"Here." Jaune said, fishing out a little pendant from a pocket. It was simple, a bit of pristine white bone carved with crimson red runes tied to a bit of string. Throwing it to the boy, Oscar caught it out of the air. A shudder, not of laughter, but of something else, racing through him as he held it. "I noticed how uncomfortable you are with your… invisible passenger taking over. If you wear that little amulet, you are immune against unwilling possession. It should make it easier on you, not having to worry about your body not being yours anymore. And, when shit hit's the fan, you can allow yourself to be possessed. With the added benefit that you can always force the possession away."

"How?" Oscar whispered, no doubt feeling some semblance of control regained just by holding the amulet. Putting it on with speed that would make Nora blink twice.

"I don't sleep. Or… I'm over there fulfilling the terms of my contract while I'm asleep." Jaune said, not at all minding to share it. After all, that was something both Oscar and his invisible passenger could learn if he were to ask any of his teammates and friends. There was a difference between secrets and secrets.

A frown etched itself on Oscar's face, idle finger's playing with the bone amulet. The runes pulsing like a heartbeat, shining stronger, then weaker, as Oscar tilted his head.

Now, Jaune wasn't some master in the Usurpation aspect. While he knew quite the arsenal of spells. The number of Usurpation spells he had anchored and could cast was one. And that spell was a purging spell in case he ever found himself victim to one the aspects many dominion or subjugation spells.

But even without being a master in the aspect, he didn't need to cast a spell to know that Oscar's invisible passenger was prattling on back in his mind. He even had a good idea about what talked about as well.

Jaune wasn't the slightest bit surprised when Oscar spoke, looking caught between being reluctant and curious. "Would…" Oscar started before sighing. "Do…"

"I don't have anything against sharing what I know of the contract." Jaune replied with a little smile as Oscar nodded. The awkwardness disappearing from him. "But even then, it's not much. It only really does two things, give me access to a base of sorts, and makes it so I don't die when I'm killed."

"Excuse me?" Oscar blurted out. Eyes shot wide open, a red glow from the amulet.

"You are excused." Jaune replied with a cheeky smile. "But yes, I am immortal in a way. As long as I am a hunter of the dream, I wake again when I die."

Before Oscar could ask more, he held up a hand.

"No." Jaune said with finality before he could ask. "There can only be one hunter, and one apprentice, contracted at any given time. Neither does the Divine behind my contract care about Remnant in any way shape or form. That can always change, but right now, It wants something in Yharnam. And… while I don't know what It wants. Remnant is inconsequential to It."

The crimson glow from the bone amulet flickered out in a giant sigh of relief.

"I wasn't going to ask that." Oscar replied with a little blush, scratching his cheek with a little smile. "The man in the mirror wanted to know."

"The man in the mirror?" Jaune asked with a raised eyebrow. Oscar only giving him a shrug. "That's how I met him the first time. I was brushing my teeth and my reflection just started to speak." Scratching his chin, something akin to guilt fell over him. "And… well… maybe it's petty… but, if he is not going to respect me… then I'm not going to respect him. Since I can't get him out, well… then I'm just not going to address him properly. It's not much…"

"But if it helps you get some peace of mind, go for it." Jaune smiled, looking down at the caring in his hands. His hands never having stopped moving. While it was nothing close to the real deal, he liked to think he at least had managed to get Alfred's eyes right. The pious zealotry carved into the human side, while the ravenous bloodthirst clinging to the beastly part like a stench that drilled into your nose and refused to leave.

"But what was it you really wanted to ask?" He continued, reaching over to prop up Violet against him. The little girl almost falling of the log, clinging to his side while laying sprawling out. He had no idea of it was comfortable, but he also knew that she was at that age where she could get shot and still run around full of energy.

"Have… have you died?" Oscar asked in a soft whisper, some morbid curiosity in his eyes. "You don't have to answer if you don't want. It's just…" He trailed off with a nervous roll of his eyes.

'Smart lad.' Jaune thought, not knowing if he should be proud or sad. Oscar was dying. Maybe not physically, but his sense of self and identity was ever so slowly eaten and assimilated by the Infinitive Man. The worst part wasn't the guilt, he had long since gotten used it. This was just another weight on his shoulders, another failure carved into his soul. Yet, somehow, the worst part was that Oscar had figured it out himself.

Jaune wasn't going to let him die. He liked the boy, and he was going to do everything in his power to make sure he didn't die. Be that by forcing the assimilation to stop, forcing the Infinitive Man into another host. Maybe even killing him. Jaune had his mind whirling with ideas about what he could do.

Eyes ever so slowly drifting to the floating ghosts before staring back into Oscar's eyes. 'You really can't help yourself; can you Arc.' He snarked in his mind. Knowing that the bleeding heart of his was going to make him shoulder even more burdens. 'But still, one thing at a time. Pay my debt by exploring the Tomb of Gods. Maybe brush up on the funeral ritual at the same time. I really don't want to know what happens if I hold the ritual without clearing out my debt. And then help Oscar with his body hopper problem. Still, if the curse is how he said it was, I may have some ideas.'

"Yes." Jaune said softly, keeping his thoughts to himself. "I have died. Mora than once at that. And so have Violet, two times. Even if I have paid the tithe for her."

"Tithe?" Oscar whispered softly; eyes wide open in disbelief. Jaune could swear he saw two sets of eyes inside the boy's eyes. Knowing that he had both Oscar's and the Infinitive Man's undivided attention.

"Yes. A tithe." He replied easily. "It's not an impossible cost. Just, a memory, the smallest sliver carved from your soul." Unintentionally he felt his mind drift to what he had lost. Every time he did, an eerie emptiness was all that remained. There were blank spots. Small moments that were completely gone. Classmates he had spent a good twelve years with and having completely forgotten their names.

He could hardly remember the shape of his best friends face before he headed to Beacon.

But the worst part was when he didn't lose a memory, but instead lost the feelings tied to a memory. He could think of his old crush, he knew he had crushed on her, he had written about it in his journal on length, but when he thought back on her. It was as if she was a stranger. And it wasn't just her. Fond memories of sitting on his grandfather's lap and listening to stories, while they were still there, he coulndt remember the warmth of his grandfather's lap, the twinkle in his eye, the pride in his voice. It was as if his once warm and loving grandfather had turned into an empty and withered husk reciting think and heavy textbooks.

"The soul heals. Becoming whole again." He continued, pushing the way his heart throbbed painfully to the back of his mind. "But the scars remain. So does the emptiness."

"What did it cost?" Jaune looked to Oscar, opening his mouth before looking down at Violet. His daughter looking up at him, a twinkle of guilt in her eyes. Having asked the question.

Running a gentle finger her cheek, Jaune felt his heart beat painfully again. "I forgot the first time I saw you truly smile." Taking a deep breath, he gently ran his fingers through her hair. "And dying have never been more terrifying."

"Oh." Oscar mumbled, not knowing what to say. Only sitting on his stump with a slightly nervous smile. Uncomfortableness falling of him in great waves, eyes twitching around as his fingers idly fickle with the bone amulet.

"You know. I'm not the first contracted to the dream." Jaune shared, throwing a weighty glance towards Oscar. Staring into the boys eyes until he started into someone else's. "The first and the last from Remnant maybe, but not the first. And I have stumbled upon other hunters who have contracted it. Yet, they all seem to share the same fate. Either madness or a blood drunk bloodthirst. Even if a mixture of both is the most common."

"And you still apprenticed her?" Oscar asked, ever so careful to keep the accusation from his voice. Yet he coulndt keep it out of his eyes. Not that Jaune blamed him.

"It was the kinder option." Jaune replied evenly. The younger boy's eyes almost bulging out of his head at those words. "Yharnam makes the grimm look cute." He finished, even if part of him knew he might never properly be able to hammer that point home.

"Maybe it is the grimm that shouldn't look so petable." Violet grumbled into his side. Not that he could blame her. Beowolf's looked cute compared to what Alfred had become. Even when he still had a string of rationality left, his eyes carried a bloodthirstiness most grimm would kill to have.

"What is Yharnam even?" Oscar asked with a frown. Only for someone else to answer before him.

"Yharnam is a city." Elizabeth said simply, floating through the air regally as she looked down at Oscar with a scowl. "Like the City of Vale, it is a city steeped in history and tragedy both. It is the home of blood ministration. Yet, the very same blood that promised wonder and healing is also the cause of a plague, turning its citizens into beasts. Sometime metaphorically, sometime literally. It is a city built upon the gods' tomb. It is a city named after a Queen, of which was the victim of the first sin. Her womb blessed by the Divine to carry a divine offspring in mortal flesh to gift Them the child they so longed for. Only for the unborn child to be ripped out of its womb, cannibalised and feasted upon by madmen and priests seeing it as a divine blessing and gift for them to become closer to the Divine they so worship. To this day, the only thing that remains of the child is it's voice and soul. Story goes that on the night of the hunt, under stillborn skies, the child's cries can still be heard."

Jaune took what she said with a grain of salt. He trusted her, but he also trusted her stories to be stories from Cainhurst as well. Painted in their light. There was never one true history. History was complex, just like the people living it. 'Legends and myths tend to be exaggerated or understated. Usually both. And knowing Yharnam, I'm leaning on worse. It is Yharnam. It is always worse.'

Keeping the sigh from escaping him was a burden in of itself.

Oscar looked at him, confusion written on his face clear as day. Together with an all too familiar curiosity.

"Don't get too hung up over it." Jaune said with the slightest hint of a smile. Turning to the tent when he heard some mumbled groans. Knowing that the girls were waking up and they were going to head out soon. "It's a city. A different city, but a city nevertheless. People are still people. They talk, they fuck, they shit."

"Do you have to be so crass?" Elizabeth replied icily, giving him a raised elegant eyebrow.

"It's not like I'm wrong." Jaune rolled his eyes. "The only real difference between Yharnam and Vale, is that Yharnam don't have dust and is technologically behind in some ways, but medically is medically leading."

Shooting Oscar a look, hoping he had properly curbed his curiosity with the city somewhat. While he could understand the curiosity, Remnant wouldn't be able to survive if a beast plagued broke out. He could already see it in the Infinitive Man's eyes, it wasn't exactly greed, but it was a cautious curiosity. Problem was, whatever good the blood could do, the moment a single drop, or vial was ministrated, Remnant would have the attention and curiosity of the Divine.

'And I don't think the Divine care about paltry concepts such as distance.' Jaune thought in his mind as silence fell over them again. Jaune carving and getting ready to head off after the girls wake up.

"Eh, Jaune?" Oscar asked, another question already on his lips. Green eyes looking over at Violet in curiosity. "You said you were contracted right?" At his nod, Oscar looked at him, a question already at his lips. "Then, what happens when you fulfil the contract? What will happen to Violet? To you?"

"How about we get started on breakfast." Jaune said in a tone that broken no argument.

{-ooo-}

"Are we there yet?" Nora groaned loudly. Her words drowning out the crunching of gravel and the squelching of mud. The trees on the side the road carrying beautiful shades of reds and oranges. With a few pine trees standing proud and green. Creating a beautiful contrast to the river that ran slightly further down on the other side.

"We shouldn't be that far away… I think…" Oscar said, voice trailing off as he spoke.

"Does it really matter?" Jaune butted in, taking in a deep breath. Filling his lungs with clean air. Violet doing the same, staring down at the river with big eyes. The wonder never having left her eyes, ever since getting a proper night's rest she had been on cloud nine. Out here, away from the cobbled stones of Yharnam and Vale, her eyes had never stopped twinkling in curiosity and wonder.

"I wouldn't say we have all the time in the world, but there is nothing wrong with taking it slow ever now and then." Jaune continued with a little hum, turning to give Oscar a little glance. "Say, Oscar, I've been wondering about something. Do you want to learn another fighting style? Maybe another weapon as well?"

"Heh?" Oscar asked with a surprised expression.

"I mean, if you want to learn to use that cane, I'm not going to stop you. It's just, do you want to learn something else? To… I don't know, differentiate yourself from your invisible passenger." Jaune continued. Idly sharing his thoughts. It wasn't as much something he had thought on as it was just something that just popped into his head.

"I don't know? Should I?" Oscar replied with a little frown.

"Don't stress it." Nora butted in instantly, properly needing the conversation more than him. "Fearless leader is just rambling ideas." She continued with a little roll of her eyes. "He does that time to time. Gets lost in his head, then blurt out something, then act's as if nothing is happening."

"Well excuse me." Jaune snarked with a roll of his eyes, turning to Pyrrha, only to find his partner lost in thought. Scratching her chin as emerald eyes scrutinised Oscar. The familiar topic helping her to keep the constant itch in the back of her mind away.

Bag's hung under her eyes, her ponytail was fraying and full of knots. The core of the maidens power draped around her soul, bussing and itching, flakes of power reaching out towards the distance. After having been so close to its missing half, the power had somehow grown even more twitchy and determined to mend itself. Something that Pyrrha bore the full brunt off.

"If you are going to stick with us, some exercise would be good." Pyrrha mumbled softly, hiding a yawn behind her hands. A fire burning in her emerald eyes. Making the poor farmboy shiver.

"Whose regime." Nora whispered like a curse, throwing her eyes towards him.

"My regime isn't that bad." Jaune felt the need to defend. Hearing a twitch, a branch snap, and a muffled curse from the treeline. Some muffled steps growing fainter by the second. Through the foliage, he could barely make out a glowing string that split into a dozen others further up the road. With the road itself twisting and splitting further up. A bridge going to the left while the road continued around a bend to the right.

"That's because you are an endurance monster." Nora shot back instantly. Not breaking step in the slightest, yet also having caught onto something. Shooting him a little look, standing straighter with her smile dipping just the slightest when he gave her the smallest of nods. His idle finger's coming down to gently rap over Crocea's hilt.

"What about the little lady, don't tell me you are going to transform her into an endurance monster as well." Nora continued without breaking her stride. Ren and Pyrrha catching on, standing straighter but not openly reaching for their weapons. Having decided to defer to his judgment and idea to draw the bandits out. Oscar catching on as well, gripping his cane with a death grip.

"Depends. Even if she wants to follow in my footsteps, she isn't me." Jaune said with a little shrug. Not missing the huff and pout from his apprentice.

"Instead, she is more like Pyrrha. More acrobatic, and athletic in a way I'm not." He continued, choosing to not mention blood echo infusion. Not trusting Oscar's Invisible Passenger with that knowledge. Already regretting not having interrupted Elizabeth earlier when she mentioned the blood. The simple mention of a so-called miracle cure was something that had led to wars in the past.

'But was it carelessly… or what did she want to get out of it?' Jaune thought, not knowing what she was playing at. From someone expected to take over as the next Queen of Cainhurst, there was no way Elizabeth wouldn't know the value of the Churches' blood ministration to any government. The only reason she would share it, was because she saw something she could gain from Oscar or The Infinitive Man by sharing it. 'The question is what.'

Rolling his shoulders, Jaune wasn't surprised in the slightest when he found a group of people hanging out by the bend in the road. Some strands reaching down to under and behind the bridge, while some went into the forest and towards the trees behind them.

"Ren, our stipends were frozen after Beacon fell, right?" Jaune asked idly as he saw the groups apparent leader take a step forward. Broad chested and gruff, a bit of stubble running around his chin with a mop of hair that looked both greasy and untameable. A sword strapped to his waist and a holster on the other side.

"That's close enough!" He bellowed, an ugly smile on his face. "Drop your weapons and throw your valuables on the ground, and we'll let you go without a scratch. If not. Well…"

As if on an invisible command, the other bandits behind them started fanning out. With the ones under the bridge and in the forest revealing themselves.

Everything from human's and faunus, dressed in some makeshift armour if they even wore armour at all. They weren't gaunt, but they didn't look exactly well of either.

'Neither did they look dangerous.' Jaune thought idly, giving a look to Nora as she ever so subtly moved herself before Oscar.

"Yes, I do believe so." Ren replied, crossing his arms before him, reaching into his sleeves, hands on his weapons.

"And since Mistral has a bit of a bandit problem, it stands to reason that most bandit groups have bounties, right?" Jaune continued, finger's dancing over the sharp pommel of Crocea Mors.

"Boy, mind your tongue." The bandit leader barked with a frown, lightly drawing his sword. In an instant a dozen different blades were pointed their directions. With a handful of firearms pointed in their direction. Safeties off and finger's on the triggers. "You don't want the kid to grow up alone, do you? Such a shame it would be. And all it'll take is a sweaty finger."

The distinct and unmissable sound of a gunshot echoed out, the flattened lead and brass buried under his boot as Jaune took a step forward. The bandits losing all colour as they all took a step back. A restlessness falling over them. The faintest shimmer of gold disappearing from his forehead.

"Hunter's!" One of the bandits shouted. Turning to run, only to be met with crimson red light falling from the sky and blocking them in. A sea of ghastly ethereal spider lilies appeared out of nothing together with gentle white moon lilies, swinging to an invisible wind. A gentle moonlit mist crept up from the riverbank. In a moment the sun was hidden behind thick black clouds. Blanketing them in a gentle darkness.

"Shame." Jaune drawled uncaringly, drawing his sword. Violet inching closer to him, eyes flashing a pale blue, silver shinning in her hands as her longsword appeared out of nothing. A hard electric grin split Nora's lips as she held her hammer, while an apathic calm hung over Ren as he pulled out his weapons.

"I surrender!" Another voice shouted, throwing his weapon into the ground as he held up his hands. Eyes needle prinks of fear. The biting smell of urine hiding behind smell of flowers and taint of blood.

"A little bit too late for that, no?" Jaune asked with a tilted head. "If not me, who else? And really now, bandits are not really different from beasts, are they."

{-ooo-}

"I still don't understand that we get to stay here for free." Oscar mumbled to himself. Eyes wandering over the little inn the guard had taken them to after Jaune handed him a necklace he had nicked of the bandit leader.

He had thought he lived in bum-fuck nowhere, but it appeared he was wrong.

Willow's rest was a little village off the beaten path. Standing on a little hill with a large river of water protecting it like a natural moat. Smoke rose from chimneys as everything prepared for the coming winter. What little farmland that surrounded the hamlet filled with farmers reaping this year's harvest. With a muddy path leading off into the distance and a large rock overlocking the farmland.

A shiver raced down his back as he remembered the eyes, how the farmers outside followed their every move. Looking ready to dart if they even took a single step out of line.

'You are lucky Oscar. Mistral have long since had a bandit problem. That you never experienced a bandit raid or something similar growing up is a miracle not to take for granted.' The Infinitive Man whispered in the back of his mind. Oscar's fingers instantly racing to the bone amulet around his neck. Not knowing what he should feel. Everything had just been so much.

It hadn't even been two days since he left the farm. And he had already seen ghosts, gotten a magical amulet that protected him from his invisible passenger, the revelations, then the slaughter he had born witness to. It was all just a bit too much.

'And no one will fault you for your feelings Oscar.' The Infinitive Man said gently, it's voice coming of almost grandfatherly. 'I myself struggle to believe much of what we have learned. Yet, in hindsight, knowing about the 'contract' young Mr Arc is under. Well it certainly helps paint a clearer picture about his change. If you had met Mr Arc before Beacon, you would hardly recognise him.'

"It's because they want to feel like they are doing something." Jaune said, breaking Oscar out of his thoughts. Pulling out a chair and collapsing onto it. Hair still wet from the shower. Dressed in a lazy white shirt and his hunters pants. His sword leaning against the table while the burnt handle of his revolver was holstered to his chest. A still freshly carved rune sat on back of his right hand, with a white diamond in the middle of it. Briefly noticing two other bloody marks, something akin to a circle in the middle of his palm, and it looked like he had cut himself along the wrist, yet the dozen dots around the rune told him otherwise. "It's not like they have much. Especially with having had bandit's running rampant around here. At least they were lucky, the group we ran into were 'smart' bandits if that even is a thing. Squeezing the village dry instead of simply burning it to ash."

"Still… they didn't deserve to die like that." Oscar mumbled under his breath. Moving his eyes from the boy's inner bicep where something red peeked through the white material of his shirt. Staring into the cup of warm chocolate, he coulndt help but frown. The slaughter was burned into his mind. At the same time what felt like a dozen questions clung to his tongue. "Some even surrendered. They didn't deserve to die. Not like that."

"They didn't." Jaune answered simply. A little something in his voice, as if he didn't sound like the biggest hypocrite Oscar had ever known. "Preferably, they should have been tried and judged. Unfortunately, out in the field, we hunters are judge, jury and executioner."

"And you decided they should die." Oscar said flatly. Jaune choosing not to answer him, only giving him a flat little look.

"Good riddance I say." A gruff voice cut in from the side. A platter of potatoes, greens and steak together with a splash of gravy sat down before him. "Ol' Frank ate a bullet to the face when they tried taking his daughter some weeks ago. Smart lass bit off her tongue and joined him not long later. A good bandit is a dead bandit."

"But-" Oscar tired, the innkeeper only gave him a flat look.

"But what? Had you tried leading them back to Mistral proper they only would have gotten a slap on the wrists, that is if they didn't sneak out in the night." The innkeeper shock his head. "The city doesn't care about us. Sure, they say they do, but there are no huntsmen out here. They don't care when a village suddenly disappeared of the map. Calling it a tragedy and patting themselves on the back before going back to pretending we don't exist."

"But it shouldn't be like that." Oscar whispered out, taking his fork and poking around his potatoes.

"It shouldn't. But it is how it is." The innkeeper huffed before disappearing back into the kitchen.

"You know, there is nothing wrong with being kind." Jaune started softly. Pulling out an old-timely pipe out of nowhere. Snapping his fingers and lighting the pipe weed as he took a drag. Oscar blinked, staring at the smoke that rose from the pipe. Hardly believing his eyes. Snaping out of his thoughts as Jaune continued. "Trust me, I'm intimately familiar with the save everyone mentality." Something soft, something hurt, flashed through the older boys eyes as he took a puff of his pipe. "But, if you try saving everyone, those you can save will slip through your fingers."

"Are… are you talking to me, or to yourself?" Oscar asked with a little frown.

"From experience." Jaune replied simply, fishing out a pen and a journal from his breast pocket that had just been empty. "If you ask that little voice in the back of your head, I'm sure he will say something similar. Still, if you really want your worldview shattered, come back here in a month or two, and you'll find out that nothing has really changed. Someone else is just going to take their place."

Oscar didn't pout, instead sticking his fork roughly into the steak and taking a bite. Doing his best to glare at Jaune as the older boy took another puff and cracked open his journal.

'Mr Arc is right, Oscar. Much as it pains me to say it.' The Infinitive Man whispered gently into the back of his mind. 'There are some ways to handle bandits permanently, however with Mistral's huntsmen population what it is, it's going to be hard to execute any lasting change.'

"So what… we are just supposed to do nothing?" Oscar coulndt help but bite out.

"No." Jaune said simply, looking up over the edge of his journal. "We do what we can. Don't forget that I wouldn't be talking to you right now if I hadn't been trained to use aura. It's easy to sympathise, but don't forget that they were bandits. They made a living by stealing, raiding, and more. And that's not hyperbole. Not to mention we are probably going to run into more as we move."

Jaune looked at him, puffing lightly on his pipe as he mulled over what to say. Sighing and rubbing his forehead. "Look, Oscar. Sometimes… sometimes you help more by removing a problem entirely. I'm not saying murder solves every problem, but, if not us, who else do you think the bandits would have stumbled onto next?"

"Still, you didn't need to taunt them like that." Oscar grumbled back pettily. He knew it was petty. Jaune knew it was petty. Even his invisible passenger in the back of his head knew it was petty. Making the tightening in his chest feel worse since they didn't mind him being petty. What familiarity he saw in the older boys eyes only making it worse. As if he knew what it felt like intimately. That it had been him that once sat where he did.

"Maybe." Jaune shrugged. "And maybe we shouldn't have looted them after. But we need money, we need dust, and they wanted us dead. They made a choice; they made a conscious decision to live off violence and other's hard work. And they had to live with the consequences of their choice."

Oscar frowned, looking down on his plate and pushing his meat and potatoes around idly. His stomach growled, even if he didn't feel hungry. A dozen different ideas running through his head. Running through what had happened over and over again.

'Oscar, would you be so kind as to let me speak with Jaune?' The voice in the back of his mind asked softly. Oscar giving a mental nod, feeling himself ever so gently pulled in until. Retreating into his mind, head still whirling with ideas, feeling burnt out and confused like never before. 'I understand you might not feel like it, Oscar. But we need to eat. Especially if we want to be ready for what's to come.' He whispered back the moment he had control, beginning to cut into the meal with immaculate manners.

"So, fearless leader, where are we heading next." Nora asked, pulling out another chair and falling into it with a self-satisfied thud before the infinitive man could ask anything. Not hesitating to take up some bullets and vials. Expertly prying the projectile from the casing, before ever so carefully pouring the red dust into a vial. Doing the same for every bullet they had looted. It wasn't much, but it didn't take long for her to sit with multiple half-filled vials. Shining like the colours of the rainbow.

"Should you really be doing that without any safety gear or precautions, Miss Valkyrie?" The Infinitive Man asked, cutting his steak, dipping it in some gravy as he moved some greens onto the back of it before he took a bite.

"Eh it's fine. It's not the first time I've done this." Nora replied with a nonchalant wave. "And honestly, we need the dust more than the bullets. Pyrrha and Ren use different calibres anyway. So it's not like we lose anything." Throwing a little look towards Jaune when she was done.

"No, my bullets are my bullets." Jaune sighed, rolling his eyes as Nora scoffed. "It's not that I don't want to share, but more that I can't spend nights scrapping for bullets. Sure I have a little nest egg for when I need it, but I don't have that many bullets lying around."

"Tsk." Nora grumbled, even if there wasn't any heat in it.

"But I was thinking either heading towards Argus or the Capital. We should find everything we need to stock up there. Maybe heading out somewhere tomorrow. I don't want us to overstay our welcome." Jaune said simply. "I'm a bit uncertain about Argus, given what happened in Vale. But that's a choice I think we should decide together."

"Not Argus." Pyrrha broke in. Pulling out a chair and sitting down on it. Sitting as far back on the chair as possible as she tucked her knees into her chest. Even after a proper shower, the dark bags under her eyes still there. Her long hair was damp, running down her shoulders, full of knots and splits. "I…" She breathed. "I don't want my mom to see me like this."

"The capital it is then." Nora replied easily. Not bothered in the slightest. Instead scooting her chair closer to Pyrrha as she finished up her work.

"What route?" Asked the Infinitive Man with a raised eyebrow. "I'm not sure where we are exactly, but since we aren't seeing snow and since the early winter is calm, I think we are down south. Depending on how far south, we can cut down time by taking a boat directly to the Mistrali docks. It should be easy to catch a bull head directly to the capital from there."

"Knew it wouldn't be that easy." Jaune sighed, pocketing his scroll, the map function not working since they were out of CCT's coverage. "Still. I'm sure we can find out where we are if we visit some other towns. Maybe if we are lucky, we can stumble onto a paved road or something akin to a trade route. And if that don't work, there are other methods to find out where we are."

{-ooo-}

Note: Things are starting slow, I'm not really sure how I want to pace this arc. I'm taking it a bit slow now in the start, but it's going to pick up the pace soon.

Note: Oscar comes face to face with the less than glamours parts of the world. Poor kid.

Note: Should I continue to add pre-note warning's when the chapters are going to include mentions of cannibalism and other stuff? I have appropriately rated the fic, but still.