Chapter 2
The Jedi team goes to Menagerie to start an investigation on the white fang, and to endure their Jedi trials. The Sith and the white fang are on Menagerie. Ren and Nora got together.
The ship was in sight of the docks now. Blake, in an attempt to avoid Ren and Nora as they entered into their new relationship, was at the front of the ship. Everyone learned they were together. What they didn't know, what only Blake knew, was what they did. She couldn't look either of them in the eye, so she had begun to avoid them.
Nora rushed up next to her and ran an arm around her.
"That's Menagerie, right?" Nora asked. She didn't notice the blush covering Blake's face.
"It is… Nora, can we speak privately for a moment?" Blake asked.
"No one's around now." Nora said.
"Well, it's just that… You know my Faunus ears pick up sound pretty well, right?" Blake said.
"Yeah. I remember hearing something about that from Velvet." Nora said.
"Well… when you found Ren yesterday…" Her cheeks were on fire. "I heard some things…"
"Yesterday?" Nora said. She started to blush, but she smiled.
"How much?" Nora put her hand on her shoulder. Blake started to feel a bit of pressure.
"I left after you started kissing." Blake said hurriedly.
"Good. That's where it ended." Nora let go of Blake's shoulder.
"Yes. That's exactly where it ended." Blake said.
"Good, we understand each other." Nora said. Blake now knew for a fact that Ren and Nora were as close as she feared. She turned back to her home and had to find some way of erasing that image from her mind. But she knew now that there was nothing that could take that image. She could never look at Ren as the innocent quiet boy. He was no longer a boy.
Yang stepped up next to Blake and looked at Nora walking away with a massive smile.
"Blake… What was that about?" Yang asked.
"Just Nora and I discussing that we understand each other." Blake said.
"Right…" Yang said. She took a step to the side of Blake.
Jaune got his team, and Ruby got her team, ready to disembark. Beat and the clones left the ship first. They would have to most trouble. The others were known as Jedi with their lightsabers on their hips. Beat looked around, looking out for any white fang. He found none. Blake stepped off next, standing in front the clones as the red guard showed up. She showed them her emblem, and they recognized it.
"The Jedi have arrived."
Kali got excited to see her baking buddy again as she heard the announcement. She was glad she just finished making the bread. She placed the baked good down to cool and went to the front door. Ghira met up next to his wife and wrapped a hand around her.
"I'm so glad that they're here." Kali said.
"As am I." Ghira said.
It was about another two minutes before the group was at the door. Before Blake was able to knock on the door, Kali opened it. She wrapped Blake in a hug.
"It's so good to see you again." Kali said.
"Thanks mom." Blake said. Weiss, Yang, and Ruby entered. They were re-introduced. Ren and Nora were next. Blake introduced them to her parents.
"Are you two together?" Kali asked.
"We are." Nora said. Blake thought for a second, that she may just be able to handle those two being together.
Next was Pyrrha, floating in with the power chair. Thankfully, this power chair hovered above stairs. Jaune was behind her, ready to carry her if need be.
Kali said some words to Pyrrha, which she barely registered. She just shook her head.
"Is the oasis of healing real?" Pyrrha asked.
"The oasis…" Ghira said to himself. He thought back to it and shook his head.
"Yes, it is real. It's a hard place to get to through." Ghira said. Pyrrha shook her head.
Sun and the clones came in.
After they were introduced, Kali looked at the group with a questioning glance.
"Mom?" Blake asked.
"Where's Rosa?"
The clone commandos left the area, being led by a red guard member. They weren't here for this fight.
The Jedi looked around them, then Ruby stepped forward.
"She's part of the reason we're on this journey. The Sith took her." Ruby said.
"Oh…" Kali said. It was impossible to hide the disappointment from her voice. Rosa left an impression on her. And she was gone. Taken captive by the Sith.
"Then you must pass your trials here." Ghira said.
"You know about the trials?" Ruby asked.
"Yes. Kit Fisto stopped by the other day telling me about them." Ghira said.
Ilia saw two faces she didn't think she would ever see again. The traitor, Blake Belladonna, and the heiress, Weiss Schnee. The last time Ilia saw the heiress, she was a little girl when she got to be her friend. It was fake, but for a little bit, she did consider Weiss as a friend. But she didn't care about what the Faunus were going through at the hand of her Father.
She was the first one. The others followed her footstep. She was the only one to get away because they weren't ready for her. She stabbed Weiss. She thought Weiss was dead, but she survived. She took some abuse for that, but it was all worth it.
Right…? Weiss Schnee deserved it, right? Ilia brought out her scroll and sent Umbra the message. She kept watching.
Umbra finished her training session with Cinder. She was teaching her how to use different weapons. She had been given Sith daggers. She was being trained to use them along side her lightsaber. Finally, after so many years, she was learning the true deadliness of Niman. She was leagues better than she was when she was a Jedi. It was amazing how far her skills increased as soon as Maku died.
Vanus sat in a chair, sipping on wine as Velum was standing next to her. Mercury, the last to be named by Salem, was her opponent. His arm was replaced after Maku cut it off. She was getting faster than him. It was mostly due to his new arm, but he was starting to show weakness. She wasn't going to pull her punches. Especially after she learned he bugged her dorm at Beacon.
She thanked Velum for that information. She saw the videos and wanted to punish him. She wouldn't have minded as much if it was just her, but no. He spied on all of them. She couldn't believe it.
She learned how to use the Sith daggers quickly. Now, she was learning how to switch quickly between the two, her lightsaber and the dagger.
"Niman is strong because it gives you near-universal access to any weapon. You could attack your enemy with any number of weapons, in any number of ways. You can switch quickly from your lightsaber to a duel-sided lightsaber, or two lightsabers, or other weapons." Velum said. She was the voice of Vanus as she recovered. Umbra learned that she was hurt by Ruby.
When she heard that, she knew she would have to kill Vanus the first chance she got. If Ruby hurt her so badly once, she could surely do it again. If that happened, Umbra would kill her master, and take one step closer to Salem. She finished her attack against Mercury with a disarming attack, knocking him on the ground.
Umbra walked away from Mercury. He had lost a lot of prestige losing his arm to Maku. He needed to redeem himself. That was the trouble with the Sith Vanus recognized. The political reality of the Sith was just as dangerous as the combative ability of the Sith. The session was over. Mercury left the building. Vanus already knew he was going to 'blow off some steam.' He meant going to that whore house and fucking something. He needed to be careful. He was a few wrong steps away from ending up dead. And that didn't help Vanus's goals. No, she needed her apprentices, those that represented her, to be the best. Umbra and Velum were the best. She thought Mercury would be just as good. Perhaps this has to deal with his lost arm, but he needed to grow the fuck up. Plenty of Sith lost limbs.
"Umbra, Vanus says that you have improved. But she also says that you need to have smoother transitions. You also have a tell for when you transition to your other weapons." Velum said.
"Tells?" Umbra asked.
"You turn further when you got for the dagger. Try using the force when you turn. Make it seem like you're going for a swing one way, then you swing the dagger the other way. Remember, the poison just needs a little blood." Velum said.
"I see." Umbra said. She went over to her scroll and saw Ilia sent her a message. It was a picture of the Jedi. She did her best to hide her surprise, but Vanus saw her reaction. She rose her hand, and her scroll flung to her hand. Vanus smiled. She stood up and dropped down from her view to walk up to Umbra.
"You want to turn them, yes?" Vanus said, her voice weak.
"If I could see the truth, then so can they." Umbra said.
"Try." Vanus handed Umbra her scroll back.
Umbra bowed. She opened a portal back to her apartment. She quickly showered, using that time to think how she was going to do this. She couldn't let them know who she was. She could tell them her name was Umbra.
She would need to reward Ilia. She had to think of something for her as well. She didn't know what to do here. Her biggest concern was Ruby. If there was one person who would be a challenge, it would be her. She could go after Jaune. The Sith would kill Pyrrha. She was weak. She didn't know what to do.
She could appear to them as her old self. But that would create problems too. She wished it was anyone besides them.
Keiser was in her apartment, standing in her bathroom doorway.
"What's taking you so long?" He asked. He didn't care that she was naked in front of her.
"How did you get in here?" Umbra asked annoyed that she was so caught up in thought that she allowed Keiser to sneak up on her like this.
"Salem gave me access like she gave you access to my apartment." Keiser said.
"You keep staring." Umbra said.
"We have a mission. Khan. It's time." Keiser said. That would give her time to think about what she needed to do with her friends.
Umbra got changed. Keiser waited for her.
"Why are you still standing there?" Umbra asked.
"As soon as you're ready." Keiser said.
"At least you're not as bad as Mercury." Umbra said as she finished getting dressed, putting on a new pair of gloves.
"What do you mean?" Keiser asked.
"Have you met the man outside of a mission? He's a pervert." Umbra said.
"I see." Keiser said. Keiser opened the portal, and Umbra created the disguise. And they were on the other side of the world.
"Remember, no force." Keiser said.
Umbra looked ahead, looking at the White Fang HQ. Finally, she laid eyes on the building that the Jedi were searching for. Just for that reason, she swore to keep the location secret. It wasn't like she knew where this was anyway.
The night fell. Team RWBY and JNPR got to massive rooms. Blake blushed as Nora gave her a wink. She didn't want to know what Nora had planned for Ren. If it was what she thought it was, she hoped they used protection. Of course, if that was what they planned, she wondered how they were going to do that with everyone nearby.
Then she realized that didn't stop them before. Wait, was SHE the pervert making up sexual fantasies about her friend's sex lives? Was she that person?
The realization hit her like a train.
"Tomorrow, Jaune, Yang, and I are going to the first shrine. Since we're going to be gone, we need the five of you do recon. We need to find out about the white fang activates. Also, Team Epsilon will be helping you." Ruby said. Weiss and Blake looked at each other.
"So, that leaves us with the lovers and Pyrrha." Weiss said.
"Why that combination?" Blake asked.
"Well, we're going to the insight shrine first. Until we get a better way to travel, we have to use Yang's Motorcycle." Ruby said.
"For three people?" Weiss asked.
"Well, Jaune found a… I forget what they're called, but they use something similar to Yang's bike, after the upgrades given by some incredibly nice clone engineers." Ruby said.
"They added repulsers to the bike, and mad it so that I can use the Kyber crystal to power the bike. They also changed added a fuel cell battery and kept the original fuel system in case somehow the other two were unusable." Yang said.
"When was this?" Weiss asked.
"When the Venator was over Patch for two weeks while Ruby was recovering." Yang said.
"And… you let them?" Blake asked.
"At first, no, but then they showed me blueprints, and had me there the entire time. Did you know that those clones are cool? When I was on the ship, they were building a lot of new things. It was crazy. They got blueprints from like, two hundred to a hundred years ago, and used those as inspiration for the Lightsaber engine." Yang said excitedly. "They were speaking my language."
Team CFVY sighed as they were on the ship. Because of their performance in the fall of Vale, they graduated early. A few months early, but still early. They were fully-fledged hunters and huntresses. They sighed because they were sent to Menagerie. And they knew the hell it was going to be just to get in, except for Velvet, but that brought up another problem. Velvet was going to have to skydive out of her comfort zone to get them in faster. If they were Jedi, this would be easier, but since they were a mostly human team, they were going to run into problems. There was white fang activity in Menagerie, and Goodwitch wanted a team she trusted to go after it.
But Menagerie was just… a boring place to be stationed. Oh, there was a lot of fun there, but not for huntsmen on an official mission.
"I wonder how team RRWBY is doing?" Velvet said. She started eating her pre-packed dinner.
"I think it's just RWBY, with one R, now. Rosa is missing." Yatsuhashi said.
"…I know." Velvet said. Rosa was one of the first humans to help her, outside of her team. And she wanted to tell her she finally understood what she meant when she said Velvet sounded like some old friends. She met the clones, and it was… uncanny.
"Do you think…" Fox started.
"We don't know." Coco finished. They didn't know if Rosa was alive or dead. And Coco didn't want Velvet thinking about that.
"What about team JNPR?" Velvet said.
"We know they're all alive." Yatsuhashi said.
"That we do." Coco said. "But we also know about Pyrrha."
"I wonder if Jaune's okay. He was hurt too. And he was, maybe still is, dating Pyrrha." Velvet said.
"I'm sure he'll be happy you were concerned about him." Fox said.
They had no idea that Menagerie was becoming a powder keg.
Keiser and Umbra moved through the building. White fang troops were everywhere. Faunus of all kinds. Umbra noticed two of them had lightsabers. She said nothing as they moved closer to Khan. They could see her now. Khan was sitting there on her chair, two lightsabers at her side.
"I see you found someone to replace Blake Belladonna with." Khan said, looking at Umbra. "Hopefully, this one isn't lusting after you. We have a mission."
"She is not." Keiser said.
"Good, but first, a question." Khan stood up. "Why did you attack Vale with the Sith, take out the CCT tower in the heart of Vale, then attack Beacon, and after all that, vanish? The CCT tower was saved. Many of our men died to those clones. I thought you wanted to bring down Vale. But the damn Mandalorians did more damage. That ship exploding killed more people than the Sith, white fang, and Atlas combined. Speaking of the Sith, you know how much I fucking hate them. But yet you still work with them. And I keep losing men. So why the fuck is that partnership a thing?"
"The Sith have resources and powerful allies that allow us to bring justice quicker." Keiser said.
"Bullshit. Do they have leverage over you? Is she one of them?" Khan asked, looking at Umbra.
"The Sith have no leverage over me." Keiser said.
"Than who is she?" Khan asked. The tension in the room rose.
"She is loyal to me and the cause." Keiser said.
"Loyal to you." Khan said. "Prove it."
"Umbra, why did you join the white fang?" Keiser asked. They went over this a few times. It was time to see how her acting skills were.
"I'm from Hellio…" Umbra started. "That mayor… He… raped me. More than once. He saw I was a small Faunus girl… and he grabbed me from the streets. He made me do… unspeakable things." Tears came to her eyes. Umbra was feeling uncomfortable repeating this story. With her relationship with sex, she put some of that into her story. But that may not have been the best, because she was remembering when she was on that train, and what Myst did to her.
"I was beaten, molested, tortured…" Umbra said. Keiser looked back at her. This wasn't part of the script.
"He said he was going to get all his friends to rape me…" She started to breathe heavier. This wasn't good. She needed to not show weakness in front of Keiser. Khan rose her hand.
"I understand. There is no need to go further." Khan said. "She was hurt by the Humans. That I see now."
Umbra saw the meeting not going anywhere. Keiser realized that too. It ended, and after they left, Keiser grabbed Umbra's arm.
"What was that back there?" He asked with concern.
"You know Myst." Umbra said.
"…" Keiser didn't say anything.
Umbra opened the portal.
They were in her apartment.
"Leave." Umbra said.
"I will." Keiser said. After he did, she found a couch to collapse on. She didn't mean to show that to Keiser. Dammit! You never show your weakness to another Sith. Yet in one night, he had seen her naked, and seen her trauma. FUCK! Umbra tossed a glass through her window.
If Salem found out she was naked, and he did nothing, then she may be pissed. Keiser didn't show interest in her that way. It was something she appreciated in him.
As the morning sun rose, Jaune got up, stretching. Ren and Nora were still asleep, but Pyrrha was awake.
"We're you up for long?" Jaune asked, allowing her to grab around his neck.
"No." Pyrrha said. Jaune moved her over to her chair. She knew she was going to need help from now on. It made her so frustrated, and Jaune knew that. She had to wait till someone woke up so she could start moving. Her chair mocked her. She needed help with everything now. She couldn't even clean herself without someone's help.
Jaune helped her through every step. It crushed her. She was being such a burden on him. She looked away and started crying as Jaune helped her. Jaune came up next to her.
"What's wrong?" Jaune asked. She couldn't look at him.
"You're too kind to me." Pyrrha said. She covered her mouth as she tried to keep in her tears. But she couldn't She had become so… useless. Jaune wrapped his arms around her, running his fingers through her hair.
"Pyrrha, it's ok…" Jaune said.
"But it's not. And it never will be again." Pyrrha said. "I can't protect the people I love. I can't stand. I'm stuck to this chair. I was worried about a flight of stairs yesterday. I can't even take a shower by myself anymore!"
Jaune gripped her tighter.
"You're right. This isn't okay. But you can make it through this. That's the Pyrrha I know." Jaune said. "The Pyrrha I know is able to face down anything with a smile on her face."
"That Pyrrha died. I'm all that's left." Pyrrha said.
"Pyrrha… I still love you. And you need to know that I'm going to help you, just like you helped me." Jaune said. Pyrrha took a few deep calming breaths. Jaune knew how hard this was. How hard this was going to be. He went over to the tub/shower. He was thankful it was like this. It was easier for Pyrrha to take a shower in if she didn't need someone behind her, holding her up. This was new for him. It was new for her. She trusted him enough to help her shower. She needed help both putting on her clothes and taking them off. She needed help getting in the tub and out. Jaune had been the one to help her. Nora had done it when Jaune couldn't.
Ren twisted in his bed. He couldn't begin to understand how hard Pyrrha had it. How hard it was for her to go from the champion to this. Ren wished he could have helped her. He wished he could have done something besides sit on his ass.
Nora knew how hard this was. She had seen Pyrrha at her weakest, just like Jaune. She knew that Pyrrha wished she died. Dammit! This wasn't fair! She didn't deserve this! Gods dammit! Nora wanted to help Pyrrha. She wanted to make this all better, but that wasn't possible. Fuck! The Sith hurt her teammate. Her Friend. Her sister. She wanted to make them pay… but that was pulling her to the dark side.
Jaune got her in the tub, wrapping his arms around her naked body. He already filled the tub up with warm water. He placed her in the tub, feeling the warmth on his arms. He adjusted her legs to help get her comfortable. He pulled down the shower head and wet her hair.
"Thank you Jaune." Pyrrha said.
"Of course." Jaune planted a kiss on her cheek. She was able to do most of the work from here. But Jaune needed to stay by her side in case she started slipping. Jaune watched Pyrrha. He didn't look at her lustfully. He looked at her as someone who needed his help. Someone who was hurt by bad people, and someone who still hadn't come to terms with their own injury. This was the woman he loved. And he realized that this was truly the test of that love. If he didn't love her, he wouldn't be able to do this. But he did love her. She loved him. So, this was the new normal that they were creating.
Pyrrha washed her hair and looked over at Jaune. She wondered how he was taking this. She had put so much pressure on him. This wasn't fair on him. She looked down at the water. Even this had become something she needed help with. She had to be undressed by someone else because she couldn't move her legs. Jaune had seen everything more than once, and he didn't take advantage. Not that she thought he would. She didn't want him to worry about her. She wanted him to stay by her side. She wanted to be able to stand up and kiss him. She wanted to show how much she loved him. Gods she fell harder in love with this man. If anything happened to him, she didn't know if she could live.
She wanted him to have the best life possible, and she didn't know if that was with her. She knew he wanted to be a family man. She knew how much he loved family. When he showed her all his family pictures back in Beacon, she learned how important family was to him. And she didn't know if she could provide that. The lightsaber didn't destroy her womb, but… she didn't know if he would even want her to mother children. Of course, that was thinking WAY too far in the future if that ever came. But she kept thinking about what she lost.
"With one strike of a lightsaber, I lost so much." Pyrrha said.
"Do you need to talk about it?" Jaune asked.
"How can you still love me like this?" Pyrrha asked. Jaune moved over to her slowly. He got down on his knees outside of the tub and grabbed her wet hand.
"Remember back when Cardin was bullying me?" Jaune asked.
"Yes." Pyrrha said.
"I didn't think I deserved the love from my team. I knew it was love and trust you all gave me. I knew you just wanted the best for me. But I didn't think I deserved that love. You were the one to get me on the anti-depressants. You were the one who gave me enough strength to go get therapy. You were the one who gave me enough strength to go to Ozpin about my fake transcripts. You helped me. You give me strength. And for this… this is a trial. This is a test. This is unfair. This is life. And there is no one else I'd rather spend it with than you." Jaune held her hand. Pyrrha wanted this to never end. She wanted him to be next to her. She wanted him to hold her. She wanted him to… That was inappropriate. Of course, there he was, his head against her shoulder while she was bathing. Her chest was out in the open. But he had already seen them. Her blush came back to her face.
That dark cloud had vanished for the moment. Pyrrha felt the light next to Jaune. She felt the light at his touch. Her blush grew when she started imagining his eyes and hands starting to wander. No, Bad Pyrrha! Jaune wouldn't do that.
Team RWBY got up. Ruby and Yang were getting ready to go out into the desert. The shrine was by one of the oases in the desert. Blake looked around at her teammates. The thought hadn't come to her mind until she took a shower.
"How are we going to start looking for the white fang?" Blake asked.
"I guess we'll start with your father and look around." Weiss said.
"They might not show if you're with us. But you also can't go by yourself." Blake said to Weiss.
"Sometimes I wish I had semblance like Rosa's right now." Weiss said.
"There's nothing to be done. We're going to need you." Blake said.
Jaune and the rest of his team were ready for the rest of the day. They just ate breakfast, and now the two groups were getting ready for their trips. Jaune gave Pyrrha a goodbye kiss and went to the group they hired to get him to the shrine, but to his surprise, he saw Kit Fisto on a speeder bike.
"Those desert hopers aren't as trustworthy as me I hope." Kit said with a smile.
"Master, you're going to take me to the shrine?" Jaune asked.
"We're going at the same time with the girls. Yang's motorcycle is about as fast at this. Kit said.
"Wow. That gives me a few more minutes to get some more supplies." Jaune said.
"Padawan, how has Pyrrha been?" Kit asked.
"To be honest master, she wished she died that night. She needs a lot of help doing the basics. I need to help her a lot." Jaune said. "Not that I'm complaining. I'm glad I could be there for her. She needs people around her who care for her right now."
"I see." Kit Fisto said.
A little while later, Jaune had come back with more water and food. Ruby and Yang arrived at the spot and saw Jaune and Kit Fisto. They went together to the shrine. The speeder bike and Yang's bike banked along the sand dunes and continued into the desert.
Pyrrha watched as Jaune, and the others started on their Jedi trial. She wanted to be there with him. She wished she could stand side by side with him, but that dream would never come to pass. The hardest thing about this injury, unlike most spinal injuries, was that instead of the spinal bone is damaged beyond repair, that part of her spin no longer existed. Her lower intestine was also damaged, but that was able to be restored by the bacta and a few emergency surgeries given aboard the Venator with the best clone medics and doctors with the most advanced medical treatment outside of the core worlds. But how could you replace a large chunk of a spine?
She spun in the chair to face her other teammates.
"He loves you Pyrrha, deeply." Ren said. It was a shock to hear Ren talking about love.
"Even in the first semester he had feelings for you. Then those grew into love. And now, even when you feel at your weakest, he still sees you as the strong huntress who helped someone like him." Ren said. She was actually shocked he said that. He never spoke about emotions. Even Nora turned to him.
"Who are you and what did you do with Ren?" Nora asked.
"What? I am trying to comfort my teammate." Ren said.
"No, there's a difference in comforting, and doing what you did. Your comfort is making pancakes, or dealing with me, or…" Nora started.
"That's how I comfort you. Pyrrha doesn't need that type of comfort." Ren said. Pyrrha smiled.
"Thank you." Pyrrha said.
Weiss and Blake joined the group later.
"Dad told me that there was a recent recruitment meeting for the white fang that was shut down quickly. But they only got the guards. Some members of the crowd went there to sabotage the meeting." Blake said. She turned around, feeling like someone was watching them.
Umbra saw them. She watched them. It was them. She could barely control herself. She wanted nothing more than to run out and hug them all, greet them all as the long-lost friends they were. But she couldn't. They wouldn't know who she was. She had to suffice on just watching them. She saw Pyrrha. She had known what her master did to her, but to see it…
Umbra saw Blake turn to look in her direction. She could almost see her. Umbra waited. She wasn't going to report back to Cinder for some time. She had an idea of what she could do to be around them, if even for a moment.
Blake turned around.
"I felt something too." Weiss said. They looked around. They were surrounded by unknowns.
"You are all humans." Blake said.
"Do you think that's why someone would be looking at us?" Ren asked.
"Here, yes." Blake said. Multiple Faunus of every kind were around them. There was a rabbit Faunus that walked by that glanced at them.
"Let's start the investigation." Pyrrha said. Pyrrha went with Ren and Nora, while Weiss and Blake went with each other. The clone commandos were somewhere in all of this.
Yang was following the map on her scroll, a thing she never would have done regularly, especially with Ruby hanging onto her, but here, it was needed. Every sand dune looked like the one before it, and after. She made sure Ruby had a pair of sunglasses and sun goggles on her to keep her eyes from taking in too much light from the sand. Jaune had them, and Kit had something from his people to protect his eyes.
"How much further until we get there?" Ruby asked.
"The map says we're close. About ten minutes." Yang said. Ruby held onto Yang harder. She was nervous. Yang knew Ruby could do it. She knew Jaune could do it. They both had it in them.
Weiss was walking behind Blake. She was going to the old white fang hideouts. They needed to make sure none of those locations were still active. Weiss looked up and felt like she was being followed. She turned around. There was a rabbit faunus following them. Then she realized, this wasn't any rabbit faunus. It was helped by the fact that Yatsuhashi was right behind her. She recognized it was Velvet a second too late for her liking. She didn't look different, right?
Blake stopped and turned around.
"Weiss, is that team CFVY?" Blake asked. Fox was behind Coco.
"So you do recognize us." Fox sent.
"What the hell?" Weiss thought.
"Wow princess, such a dirty mouth." Coco sent back.
"How are you talking in my head?" Weiss asked. Velvet smiled as she stopped in front of the two huntresses-in-training.
"Fox's semblance." Velvet said. Weiss realized what was different, she was comfortable here. And she also dyed the tips of her hair. And her aura was different.
"What are you all doing here?" Blake asked.
"Official business. Just like you. So, where's that white fang base you were thinking about?" Coco sent.
"Your semblance puts a weird pressure on my head. Almost like when Jaune communicates through the force." Blake said.
"But can you still talk?" Velvet asked.
"Like this?" Blake sent.
"Perfect" Coco sent.
"Well, we were going to one of the old white fang outposts. We need to check if it had any activity." Blake sent.
"Nice ears." Velvet sent. Blake blushed and felt her ears.
"Thank you." Blake said.
They started walking toward the old white fang outpost.
"How's Pyrrha?" Coco asked.
"She wishes she died." Weiss said.
"That bad. I guess that should be expected." Fox sent.
They stopped in front of a building that had the white fang emblem carved on the roof.
"We're here." Blake said. She stepped up to the door and put her hand on it. She closed her eyes and felt for the other side. She didn't feel anything. She opened the door and took a step in. She had her lightsaber in her hand. She looked around and saw it was completely empty. She let out a sigh and put her lightsaber back. She turned around.
"Clear, and empty." Blake said disappointed.
"Don't sound too cut up about it." Coco said.
"The white fang were here, but not recently. This place has been abandoned for since before we started going to Beacon." Blake said. "I knew they wouldn't likely be here, but I hoped we could find something."
"How many outposts do they have?" Weiss asked.
"All in all, they should have almost fifty here." Blake said. Everyone groaned.
"Do we have to check all fifty of them?" Fox asked.
"Split up into two groups." Blake said.
"Alright, I'll take Fox and Blake. V, Yatsu, and Weiss take the other half." Coco said.
"Should we check with team JNPR?" Weiss said.
"Where are they?" Fox sent.
"They were going to check on some rumors we heard about the white fang. We really don't have anything to off of." Blake sent.
"That gives us equal footing though." Velvet said. Blake took out her scroll and sent team CFVY the locations of all the former outposts.
Beat and his team were building what was in effect a micro CCT tower in the heart of the Belladonna household. The small device was only a few pounds, and less than a square meter, except for a small antenna.
"I wish we didn't have to reconstruct this every time we go to a new planet." The device was built to be able to make quick communications between the galactic average of a continent. But they had to rebuild the device every time, which took about two hours. The black box had numerous buttons and nobs. Ghira watched the commandos make the comm relay, asking about it the entire time.
"Now for the new things the engineers added to this." Beat said. He took out a new attachment and added it to the top. It covered the scroll signal.
"This should give everyone on the island access to communications. It should cover a few hundred miles out in the ocean as well." Beat explained.
"Excuse me?" Ghira asked.
"This box is basically the equivalent of a CCT tower." Beat said.
"How could you fit everything into a box that small?" Ghira asked.
"This thing is meant to be able to be planted on a warzone front for easy ways to communicate between the fronts. We could cover the planet with about twelve of these and as long as they worked, the CCT would become outdated." Cy said.
"And you're setting one up here?" Ghira asked.
"This place uses scrolls too, right?" Cross asked. "And if it didn't, now it could."
"And how will this help with the white fang investigation?" Ghira asked.
"How won't it? The white fang have been able to work in the darkness because they had the advantage of communication. Now that everyone will have a massively boosted signal, that we can trace, the white fang won't have that advantage. Of course, you should make a big deal about this. Get everyone to join. But don't tell them we can intercept the signals." Beat explained.
"And how will you find the white fang signals?" Ghira asked.
"We can assume the white fang have been sending messages already. Scrolls will automatically connect to the strongest connection this far out, which is right here. We also have a few false boxes for you to use. We trace the signals there are now and track them until they start doing something suspicious. Then we narrow our investigation from there." Tip said.
Umbra was following Weiss as her scroll silently rumbled. She noticed Weiss, Velvet and Yatsuhashi's scrolls all rumble. She went into an alley to check the scroll. A new strong source was found for the connection.
"How?" Umbra asked.
She looked back up at Weiss. She looked around. She still didn't sense her. Umbra wanted to grab her and run. She wanted to show Weiss the evil of the Jedi masters. She wanted to have Weiss in her arms again.
She wanted her friends. She wanted to turn them. But she knew that would be a problem. Weiss was still blind to the chains the Jedi have put around her. She was still blind to her chains. Umbra could help her see the chains if only Weiss would look. She wanted Weiss to see through Jedi's weakness. She wanted everything to go back to the way it was.
Umbra decided that she needed to check on Ilia.
Oscar worked in the fields every day. He liked how he had a connection to the things he grew. Sometimes, he could swear he could hear the plants talking to him. He was pruning back some of the plants. They grew vegetables and fruits in the garden. They even had a few flowers growing in the front.
Oscar came upon a currant bush. It had grown out wildly.
"Aunt Em, I'm going to prune the currant bush!" Oscar shouted out.
"Okay! Sounds good." She shouted back. She was working with the fruit trees. Oscar got out his pruning shears and started pruning the currant bush. He started pruning and cutting back all the wild branches. He stepped back and looked at the pruned currant bush. He saw at the ends of the stumps what appeared to be tears coming from the bush.
"What are you crying for?" Oscar asked, not expecting anything back. Of course, no one in their right mind would hear a plant talk.
"How could you do this to me? I was making such wonderful growth. I was almost as big as the shade tree and the fruit tree that are inside the fence, and now you have cut me down. Every plant in the garden will look down on me because I didn't make what I should have made. How could you do this to me? I thought you were the gardener here." Oscar heard. He stopped. He turned back to the bush. He just heard it talk. And instead of walking away, he felt he needed to explain himself to the errant bush. He pointed a finger out at it.
"Look, little currant bush, I am the gardener here, and I know what I want you to be. I didn't intend you to be a fruit tree or a shade tree. I want you to be a currant bush, and someday, little currant bush, when you are laden with fruit, you are going to say, 'Thank you, Mr. Gardener, for loving me enough to cut me down. Thank you, Mr. Gardener.'" Oscar finished. He looked at the bush. His anger subsided and he went to the bush. He put a hand on it.
"I'm sorry about this. But this will help you. Even if it hurts now. You can't see the beautiful currant bush I see in you. There is no need to compare yourself to the fruit trees. You aren't one. You are a magnificent currant bush." Oscar said. He stood up and felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Oscar… I think we need to talk." Aunt Em said.
"Um… is this about me talking to the plants?" Oscar asked.
"There's something I haven't told you." She said.
"What is it?" Oscar asked.
"There's something called the force…"
Ruby and Yang saw the shrine in the desert. It was next to an oasis. All the shrines were. Yang stopped in front of the shrine, and a few seconds later, so did Kit and Jaune. Ruby got off and looked at the shrine. It was a stone shrine with the icon of an opened eye. Kit put his lightsaber at the top of the shrine and turned it on. The shrine glowed and out of the sand came a hatch. The sand shook more, and a covered hut came from the sand. There was no sand in the hut, as there was a shielded door. Kit opened the door, and invited Yang in.
"This is where we wait until Ruby and Jaune finish." Kit said.
"Just a door in the sand?" Jaune asked.
"Humility is important for a Jedi." Kit Fisto said.
"I understand." Jaune said.
"Don't take too long." Yang said.
"We won't" Ruby said. Jaune held the hatch open for her and followed after her. Jaune and Ruby turned on their comms.
They saw the walls were covered in Jedi murals. Jaune put his hand against the wall and looked at the mural.
"Thank you, Jaune." Ruby said. Jaune turned to look back at Ruby.
"For what?" Jaune asked.
"No one else could help Pyrrha as you do. It's hard on everyone to see her like she is." Ruby said.
"I know." Jaune said. "It's so hard on her. It's not like she could expect some sort of treatment. That part of her spine doesn't exist. And the oasis of healing is… not likely to help her at all. But it's her last hope she can walk again. I think she knows it, but she's suffering. She's willing to try anything."
"You are a good man, Jaune." Ruby said.
"I feel so useless." Jaune said. Ruby stopped and looked at him.
"Jaune…" Ruby started.
"I love her. I'm trying to help her in any way I can. But I can't help her the way I want to. I help her change, I help her bath, and I help her with her hair, but that's all surface-level. I… I want revenge but I know I shouldn't. I want to make Vanus suffer like Pyrrha's suffers, but I shouldn't."
"Don't blame yourself for Pyrrha's injuries." Ruby said. They continued to walk. They saw a door in front of them.
"I feel really guilty when I have to watch her bath. I feel like a pervert." Jaune said.
"I mean, under most circumstances, you would be, but this one is different. If her legs slipped, she could drown." Ruby said.
"I know. Thank you, Ruby. Do you think it's normal for other teams to have seen our teammates naked as often as we have?" Jaune asked.
"I hope not!" Ruby said.
Jaune let out a chuckle.
"So, we're the weird teams then. Let's get ready." Jaune said. Ruby turned back to the door and nodded. She opened the door, and they stepped in. The ground beneath them started to shake. Jaune couldn't see anything in the darkness.
"May the force be with you!" Ruby yelled.
"Good Luck!" Jaune yelled back.
The floor stopped moving. Jaune looked around.
"I think we're in." Jaune said into his comm.
"Are you together or were you separated?" Kit asked.
"Separated master." Ruby said.
"May the force be with you." Kit said.
Jaune looked around him. It was a hallway. He walked down it and saw pictures on the wall. He took a look at them and saw they weren't just pictures. They were moving. He looked at them. He watched the first one and saw him and… Blake? What? They were… what was this? Jaune saw him kiss her. He stepped back and looked at the next one. He was a Sith lord, with Vanus at his side. Another one it was him and Arslan as adults, getting married. He was so confused. What was all this? Every picture was him. For some of them, he died in a blaze of glory, for some he was rejected from Beacon. Some he was a Jedi, some he wasn't. For a lot of them he was going out with someone. He saw a picture where he and Ruby were dating. He was so confused.
"What the hell is this?" Jaune asked no one.
"What do you see?" Kit's voice rang out.
"I'm in this hallway and I see a bunch of moving pictures of me, but not me. Like, I see me, but they aren't me. Different timelines, I guess. What I don't understand is why there's a timeline of me dating everyone else. OH, MY GODS!" Jaune yelled.
"What is it?" Kit asked.
"There's one where I'm… sleeping… with Professor Goodwitch. Oh, Gods, I'm going to need to bleach my eyes." Jaune said. He heard Ruby laugh.
"Jaune, can you move forward?" Kit asked.
"I have been. This hallway just keeps showing me more of these. Am I a zombie there?" Jaune asked, looking at one picture with interest.
"You're going to have to continue forward." Kit said.
"WHAT IS WEISS DOING TO ME?" Jaune yelled.
Ruby kept hearing Jaune talk about what he was seeing. She was walking along, not seeing anything. Then she saw a door. She opened it and found herself back at the start.
"Ok." Ruby said, looking around. This time, there was a difference. The wall had a mural on it. The painting began to move. She watched it. She saw her eyes glowing at the top of Beacon, and it started going in reverse order. Showing her how she got there. But the further back she went, the more the painting chipped. The more it chipped, the more possibilities were shown of what she could have done. But then all at once, the mural disappeared. She looked around for it.
She found another door. She opened it and stepped in. She saw the hallway falling apart, shattering. She looked behind her, and the hallway behind her had vanished. It all stopped an inch from her. She raised her finger to touch the broken hallway, and it all started to change again.
She took a step forward, and the hallway was no more. She found herself in a large open area. She saw pedestals all around her. She saw a garden placed in front of her. She stepped forward and looked down. She was in traditional Jedi robes all of a sudden. She reached for her lightsabers, but she couldn't feel them. She turned back and saw on one of the pedestals, she saw her mother, eyes closed, head down.
"Mom…" Ruby said.
Yang closed her eyes and began to meditate. She tried to reach out for Ruby and Jaune, but something stopped her. She couldn't feel them. Ruby's scroll had cut off communications. Jaune's followed after a few minutes.
"Master?" Yang asked.
"This is their trial. The force doesn't want us to see what they're seeing." Kit said.
'I wish that made me feel any better about this."
Author's Notes: Chapter 2 done. Team CFVY has arrived. Menagerie can communicate. The white fang investigation has begun.
I'm back to work now, so I'll be going slower writing this.
Jaune and Ruby have started their Jedi trial of Insight. Let's see how far they get.
There were no reviews for last time, but I'd like to thank everyone who's following this story, and for all those who favorited this. Please leave a review.
May the Force be With You
-DragonZlayerx12