The next one.
REAPER IN RED
Chapter 27
The cave was dark, save for the lights from out flashlights, pointing every which way. As our lights passed over the rocky walls, the telltale glimmer of unmined dust kept drawing my attention. The glittering rocks sparkled red, orange, and green. Faint, small patches between the dark grey and blackened rock. I wanted to try scratching some off the cave -it was always good to have some extra dust and all-, but something was telling me that then was not the best time to do it.
Maybe on the way back.
The atmosphere was tense. Silent footsteps were accompanied by heavy breathing. Some gentle shoulder taps to keep me in line and not distracted, but little else. Okay, that wasn't completely true. Every few minutes, there was the unmistakable rattling of bones, somewhere off in the distance. It was always an echo. Always sounding just out of reach, but also too far to be around the next corner. The cackling of Loud witches.
I could almost feel my teammates tensing up, pausing their motions as the crackling sound washed over us all. Headmaster Ozpin was pausing as well, listening in to the sounds with his eyes closed, but was definitely not as tense as the rest of his students. Should I be tensing up too? Would it be weird if I didn't?
I decided to just act normally and if asked, play it off as having had confronted Higher Order Salemites before. They all know my team went up against a Skin Crawler and Reaper -well, me- before. Witches would be chump change compared to them. Why Yang thought chumps -whatever those were- were a form of currency, was beyond me.
The eery jingle echoed through the caverns once again, this time picked up by another, different set of rattles.
"A second one," Velvet warned. "They're communicating. It's a little too far for me to tell what they're saying though. Headmaster, any luck?"
"No," I could see the headmaster shake his head in my periphery. "But it is best to assume that these witches have noticed our presence and are at alert."
"You heard the headmaster. Stay on guard. And remember to communicate with each other."
We all responded our confirmations.
"Does anybody else hate how dark it is right now?" Russel made a quick joke as we all moved into the next major cavern of the cave system.
There were a few chuckles, but not much.
"I can barely see my hand right in front of me when I turn off my light," Jaune replied. "It's…" He paused, not exactly sure where he wanted that sentence to go.
"Overwhelming," Velvet replied. "The lack of knowing. Where you are, where you were. You realize that you can't really tell where your limbs are that well, without your sight. You're completely lost in the haze. Disorienting."
There were nods from my two other human classmates.
"It's how I'd describe it at least." Velvet continued, "the echoes do effect me a lot more than they effect any of you guys, however. Perks of being a rabbit faunus, I guess."
She sighed.
"It is a more than beneficial trait to possess, Miss Scarlatina," the headmaster added.
"Thank you, sir."
It was so strange to me to hear what they all felt about, well, caves in general. I looked around, shutting off my flashlight for just a moment so I wouldn't be noticed. The all encompassing darkness was just that. All encompassing. But above all, it was warm and comforting. All my problems seemed to melt away in the black expanse. There was life in here. Even without the humans and witches, there was life. Bugs, spiders and an assortment of all other creepy crawlies. They lived and died in these caves. In that complete silent, damp. darkness. It was comforting to know that whether or not I was around, these bugs would still go on their merry, buggy way. The darkness didn't scare me. It gave me a sense of purpose. A sense of well-being. Of safety.
And at that exact moment, I felt something on the back of my neck. No, I did not scream as loud as I possibly could and jump out of my skin. It sure did feel that way, though.
"Ruby!" Jaune whisper-shouted. "Are you alright?"
"Y-yeah," I stuttered, lifting the hood of my cloak up and over my head, covering my neck. "You just scared me, is all."
Instead of responding to me, he gestured with two fingers, pointing towards a smaller side cave entrance, jutting out just lower than eye level. It was small, too small for someone like Jaune or even Russel to fit inside.
"Keep an eye that way. Velvet said she heard something from there."
I nodded, pointing my sniper rifle towards it. "Want me to go in and check it out? It might loop back into the bigger cave over there. Could be good to seal off an exit. Maybe disrupt some witch spells."
Jaune thought for a minute and nodded. I repeated my idea to Velvet who scrunched her nose. "I don't like the idea of you going in alone…"
"I believe Miss Rose's speed makes her the perfect candidate to attempt a solo mission. As long as she agrees to not engage the enemy if she spots them?" Headmaster Ozpin raised a single eyebrow to me.
I nodded furiously, saluting Velvet in the process. "I promise!"
"Then go. You have three minutes."
With that, I slipped down into the mini entrance way.
Ah, beautiful, all encompassing darkness, my old friend. I immediately felt more at ease. So much so it was shocking. I knew we Reapers were solitary creatures, but after having spent so many weeks surrounded by humans, I hadn't realized how great this feeling was. Taking a brief moment to bask in the solitude, I shook the pre-fighting excitement jitters out of my system and got to work. There were witches somewhere in this cave and boy did I want to have first crack at them.
Feeling my way through the narrow cave, I ducked under a jutted out rock, careful to step over ankle high stalagmites. The cackling bounded through the tapered outcroppings, disorienting me. I couldn't pinpoint where exactly those darn witches were!
"Hey Ruby?" I heard Velvet loudly whisper from where I had come from. "Everything going alright?"
"Ya!" I responded, trying to match her volume with my own. "Going to go in a little farther now. I'll shout if I spot anything."
Maybe. Maybe I will shout. Unless they look like more fun fighting alone.
No, no. Bad Ruby. No fighting three witches at once for you. You're supposed to be acting human and no changing into your Reaper form because you are antsy. Do this properly.
After giving my noggin a good smack or three, I caught a glimpse of something. It was just in the corner of my eye, but there was no mistaking it. It was… it was…
A floating cookie!
My mouth watered. Licking my dry lips, I took a step towards the mystery cookie, only for it to vanish from my line of sight around the next corner.
Get back here magical flying cookie! I sped off towards my treat. It looked so warm. So fresh. Just so good. Like Beacon made in their cafeterias every day. I wanted it. No, I needed it. With every fiber of my being.
No longer caring where I stepped, I could feel stalagmites breaking on my knees and ankles, but I paid no mind to it. Not when the cookie had fled my vision again!
And that's when I smacked into it.
So, witches, at least in hand-drawn or painted human books always look like ugly, well, humans. Long, curved noses, chins which jutted out awkwardly, usually with a few yellow or brown crooked teeth hanging out of their lower jaw. Boils, puss, weird hair. And of course, pointed hats with wide brims which humans have delightfully referred to as: witches hats. Truly these creatures were the epitome of naming things.
While yes, I could sort of understand where the humans got that idea from, real pictures of witches looked a little different. Generally, they were all black. As dark as Grimm. Though, underneath that dark pitch, there was a bony structure that looked more like a freshly made zombie. Or Necromancer, more like.
However, humans could only see their physical appearances. It took a special type of Salemite to see what lay beneath.
Reapers.
It took a Reaper.
And, standing -well, sitting- closer to a witch than I've ever had in my entire life, I could finally understand my mother. Their lives. It was… horrid. They had a lifespan, a long one, about as long as a vampire, but it was consumed by something. Something couldn't quite gleam, but it left me sick to my stomach. Something I really didn't want to touch with my Reaper Scythe. No wonder Reapers and witches generally stayed away from each other.
The witch's lower jaw rattled, it's crooked teeth clinking into one another to form that so frequent cackling sound. It honestly looked quite funny up close, but then was not the time to start giggling at literal tooth waggling.
"I guess I'll go now. Do you still have that cookie?"
The witch swiped at me with a sharpened claw of a hand, dragging trails of electric dust behind her. As soon as it touched the rocks of the cave face, they fizzled with unnatural energy.
"I'll take that as a no. Welp, better run!" Darting from my place on the ground, I raced under a raised arm, rose petals appearing from shadow, flying madly in the windy confusion I left in my wake.
"Found 'em!" I shouted at the top of my lungs, trying to hold back my excitement.
"Ruby!" Jaune yell was further down, but I followed it back to the big entrance they were all waiting in. I immediately rushed into his awaiting arms. Hugging was nice.
He placed a shaking hand on the crown of my head, "Ruby, are you alright? Did they hurt you?"
I shook my head into his shoulder, smiling openly now that it blocked me from view. "No, I'm all good. They nearly tricked me with a cookie!"
Jaune snorted. "Of course they did."
"Ruby focus." Velvet interrupted, "how many did you see and are they headed this way?"
"I saw just one and-"
Cackling interrupted me, much louder than before. It was closer. Much closer.
"I guess that answers that question," Russel mused, clinking the edge's of his daggers together.
"Stay close, listen carefully. I-" Velvet paused, her rabbit ears twitching. A lower rumble of a rattle filtered through the cavern.
"There's a second one being called in. Couldn't hear everything but be careful when you access ice dust. The whole place is wired with electricity."
Oh right. I should have told them about that.
"Pay attention to what Miss Rose mentioned as well," the headmaster said. I jumped, completely forgetting he was there. "She was distracted by a… cookie, was it? It means they are old enough to access mind magic. If what you are seeing does not match what you are hearing, be warned that such images may be false."
Huh, "what about the other way?"
"Pardon?"
"What about hearing stuff? Or feeling stuff?" I asked.
"Witch spells can only effect sight."
Only sight? Here I was thinking that their mind magic would be similar to mine.
"Watch it!" Velvet shouted, barreling into me. We tumbled over each other and my head knocked very hard against a jagged stone protrusion.
There was an explosion where I was standing, fire erupting in swirls of orange and purple. Dust and dirt littered the room.
"You alright?"
I nodded, "y-yeah."
"Pay attention then," she scolded, using my shoulder to pick herself up and turn towards the witch I had bumped into.
At once the room was filled with sound. Steel hit sharpened bone, sparking with each contact. Cackling and the sounds of rattling bone became the underlying background noise. Dust of all kinds fizzled and roared, much to the surprise of those using it. I tried my best to keep up with the madness.
It was hard to fight with such a long weapon in such a tight corridor. There was no way for me to properly spin my scythe to get in any good hits. I jumped back, balancing on a groove seven feet off the ground to use as a sniper's ledge. My weapon shifted in my arms and I gazed down my sight, waiting for Russel to finish his last attack and move out of harm's way.
With one final strike, ending in flying sparks and purple flame lighting the cavern floor, I took my shot.
The echo pounded into my skull. The entire cave seemed to shake. Either that, or my mind was rattled by the volume.
"Ow!" Shouted velvet, clutching onto her ears, kneeling behind Jaune and his open shield. She gave me a deathly glare. "Don't do that again!"
"Sorry," I squeaked out, nearly tumbling face first into the ground below. Yup, Velvet was right. No more sniper shots in a cave. Bad idea.
Cackling continued but followed up by a higher pitched cackle.
"A second one!" Russel shouted, escaping just before he got sliced in two.
I saw Ozpin deflect a glass container with his cane, it's contents cracking open onto the stone, melting it into a pile of goo and steam. He looked rather pleased with how things were going.
"Russel, jump!" Velvet shouted. Doing so, the ground directly under him began to shake, collapsing int on itself before returning once more to solid rock as he landed.
"Ruby! No fire dust!" Jaune warned, ducking behind his shield as something smashed against it.
Attacks came faster now, with two witches to deal with. Jaune and Velvet seemed to trade off directing Russel and me to do things. From putting away our weapons, to using different dust.
I slashed at a witch, cleaving off its hand with one strike. The witch screamed in pain, clutching its joint, as strange mucus bubbled up and out of it.
"Ruby jump!"
"Ruby duck!"
Velvet and Jaune's commands rang out, leaving me standing still.
At once I felt the two-pronged attack. My hair erupted into flame just as my feet sank into the ud that wasn't there a moment ago.
I was a Reaper. A Grim Reaper. The most powerful Salemite species in existence. Nothing would be able to defeat me when I reached maturity. Nothing. I was damned well sure of that fact. I was nigh invincible to most attacks when I wanted to be and there was nothing which did not fear my presence. I was what scared my teammates at the docks.
Not the White Fang humans. Not the Skin Crawler. Me. I did not scream in fear.
But I screamed when I felt my hair on fire. I screamed when I couldn't move my legs. I was waist deep into the ground, trying desperately to lift myself up with my hands, but struggling to do so. My hair was on fire. Burning. I could see it burning. The bright light. That flickering fire.
It was there. My hair was going to burn. I was going to burn.
I was going to die.
Tear ran down my cheeks as I tried to pull myself out, shaking my head desperately at the flames licked my scalp. I could see it getting closer. Closer to my face. To my eyes.
My neck.
"Help! My hair's on fire!" I gasped out, squeezing my eyes shut, trying to get the image of my head alight out of my head. But it was still there. Of course it was! I was burning to death!
"Ruby!" Jaune shouted. I felt his hand on my shoulder. A hand stroking my hair.
I opened my eyes, shocked into confusion. My mind was playing tricks on me. I saw him looking down at my teary face. Hand stroking through my hair.
"W-what?" I looked around. Velvet and Russel were doing their best to hold off the witches' attacks as Jaune comforted me.
"It's mind magic Ruby. Mind magic. Just magic." His words were low, even with the chorus of sounds which filled the area.
"B-but…" But I was a Reaper. But I would know what mind magic felt like. So many buts flickered through my mind, but Jaune's hand was patting my head and he was in no pain. I took a deep, shuddering breath, clearing my mind as best as I could. "Just magic," I repeated, letting the thought comfort me.
I opened my eyes again and almost laughed in delight. The flames were gone, leaving just Jaune in front of me. I wiped my eyes. "I'm better now."
"Good, let's get you out of there."
"Don't worry, I got it now." He gave me a look but nodded and returned to join the fray as best as he could. Placing both hands on either side of me, I pushed hard.
Gritting at the effort, I felt my hands dig into the ground, cracking the stone as I pulled myself free.
That was not an enjoyable experience. Not even a little bit. I glared at the two witches, feeling anger bubble up inside me.
Rage.
"Russel, put away your fire dust!" Ozpin ordered, ducking quickly underneath a potion which let out an ear-piercing inhuman shriek upon contact with the wall.
Velvet was saying something to me, but I could hear. My ears were buzzing with energy. I tilted my scythe behind me, leaning down into a runner's stance. The witch that attacked me with mind magic turned towards me, cackling. Each of its hands held glass vials; one red, the other black.
I shot off, my first step echoing behind me. I kept my Crescent Rose behind me, until the very last second. With the sound of bone scratching bone, it threw the red vial, its contents spewing forth from the shattered glass container. I jumped to the side, continuing on my course for the Salemite. It bubbled up, then exploded behind me.
I threw myself into a tight arc, swinging my blade over me, slicing clean through stalactites and into the ground near the witch. I frowned. A miss. It had moved faster than I had expected. No, I was moving slower. Damn witch magic, that must have been what Velvet was warning me about.
Something hit me in the face.
I was thrown. More than that, I was thrown up and out, flat onto my back.
"Ugh," I shook myself off from the witch's magical effects.
"Miss Rose, are you alright?" Headmaster Ozpin asked, as he looked down on me from the cave ceiling.
"Are you on the… Oh." No, the headmaster was standing regularly. I was the one on the ceiling.
Okay, not too bad. I didn't feel like I was upside down. I jumped and felt myself landing on the ground -ceiling- as if I was right-side up. Strange, but not terrible. I could work with this.
"Expect fire dust to work twice as well!"
"Put away all gravity dust!"
"Don't touch the vines, they'll attack you!"
"Watch out for sand traps!"
"Watch out for electricity in the stalagmites!"
The commands and orders came quickly, nearly every other second. Velvet and Jaune were fantastic. Velvet was worlds above Jaune and Russel in strength. Truly a prodigal huntress. She barked out orders and translations based on cackles I had barely even registered.
Jaune too. He was scared, hiding behind his shield. But just as often, he used it to protect his teammates. Standing next to Russel, giving him time to breath, Jaune deflected another vial, letting is spark harmlessly in the air. He was talking to Russel, devising some sort of strategy by the look of it. Russel nodded and charged back in.
"Ruby! We need you to distract the other witch, so Russel has a clean shot!"
"Right!" Who cares that I was on the ceiling? This was great! I charged in, jumping up -down- so Crescent's blade could reach the witch above -underneath- me.
My surprise blow from above forced the two witches apart for the first time in the battle.
"Now!" Jaune shouted.
Flame erupted from both of Russel's daggers, blinding me with the sudden flash. There was a shriek which accompanied the cackling.
We all retreated back, catching our breaths, and waiting for the dust to settle. Jaune and Russel bumped fists. Even Velvet gave him a nod of respect.
"Good going Arc," Russel said between pants.
"Think we got it?"
"Hopefully. Gave us a bit of a break either way. Think we could try that again?"
Russel shook his head. "That used up the last of my fire dust. Wouldn't have been that big if the witch didn't spell fire dust to the Nth degree."
As the smoke cleared, we all heard the cackling of a single witch. It was joined in by a second of higher pitch. My teammates froze as a lower pitched cackle joined the mix.
"The third one," Velvet squeaked out.
"We didn't kill it," Jaune's good mood immediately fell.
"Be wary students. I believe I will be joining you in the next bout. Three is much harder that two. I still have faith. Do you?"
The headmaster looked to each of us, waiting for our nods. "Alright. Trust in your talents and each other. Go."
We jumped at the three of them as one. Once more, the cavern; already double the size from all the previous chaos, filled with light and sound.
Commands now came at twice the speed from Velvet and Jaune, but also the headmaster himself. He looked at ease as he deflected vials of potion with his cane, each one ricocheting into empty holes or back at the witches themselves.
I did my best to join in, follow along with the instructions. To act tired when Velvet told me about the spell woven on me. To act confused, when Jaune recognized the disorientation spell. To act clumsy -more clumsy- when Headmaster Ozpin told me about the random tiny stalactites which blocked my movements. Popping up and disappearing every few seconds.
None of that effected me. Or maybe it did, but not enough. Mind magic was playing havoc with me, but exhaustion was far from coming. I barrelled through rock, breaking it with my legs without notice. Dust was going haywire around me, but I used little of it on my scythe. Too many commands.
Too many orders.
Three Higher Order Salemites.
Three.
All cackling.
That cackling was really starting to annoy me.
To piss me off.
To-to frazzle my nerves.
What did Jaune say? Something about the end of the gravity dust effects?
I fell from the ceiling to the floor, quickly righting myself and reorienting myself in the ongoing battle. I ducked under a bony claw and deflected another with the side of my scythe.
The headmaster told me to duck. Velvet told me to roll. Jaune told me to jump. I was hit. Again and again and again. I checked my scroll, only for it to fizzle out and blink off with a flicker of smoke out the top.
"I told you no electronics!" Velvet shouted as she flipped out of harm's way from another dust-laced strike.
"Sorry!" I tried, flinching as a potion exploded right next to me, throwing green smoke around.
"Get out! That's poisonous!"
"Oh, right." I darted to -supposed- safety.
The fighting continued. I looked at Velvet as she panted, sweat dripping from her face, hair clinging to her skin. I looked to Jaune, his voice was hoarse, yet he still barked out directions whenever he heard that cackling.
"Don't touch the-" the rest of Headmaster Ozpin's order was blocked out by another boom.
The smell of dust clung to my clothes. It felt suffocating. The air itself so deep in the cave was already stale, but the dust and debris was making it so much worse. I coughed to clear some.
A witch shrieked and I blocked a blow with my wrist. "Oops," I muttered, pushing back and desperately hoping nobody had seen.
More shouting, more yelling. More noise. It was too much. Jaune shouted something Getting too crazy. Velvet pointed at me and at something else in the distance. Ozpin said something, with a small wink. I couldn't understand their orders, much less follow them.
It was chaos. I couldn't do it. I had… I had to stop. Take a break. Take a…
I fell onto the cave's sloping wall. At once the entire side turned an electric green, shaking the entire cavern.
"No!" The headmaster screamed, running towards us.
The cave. It was collapsing. Collapsing in around us. Separating us from the witches. A final play to escape and I had set it off with my clumsiness.
I saw Jaune struck across the face, his aura cracking as he landed unceremoniously on the groun. Unconscious.
Small rocks were falling, making way for larger cracks, larger boulders to begin their descent.
They were going to hit him. Hit all of them.
The witches were cackling as they began their retreat, flinging one final potion backwards, straight at my unconscious friend.
"NO!" I screamed, throwing out my hand.
Then too many things happened at once.
The boulders collapsed, sealing me off from the rest of my team and the headmaster. Jaune was thrown from his place on the ground by some unnatural force. Velvet and the headmaster, who both had been rushing to Jaune's aid were frozen in place for a second. And Russel. Russel was going to live for another seventy three years.
It was dark when I woke up again. The smell of used dust filled my noise and the lingering effects of so much magic filled the room to bursting. I looked around, waiting for my eyes to adjust.
A few stray pebbles fell from the roof of the cave to fill up the last few spots between the larger boulders and rocks from the collapse. The witches weren't in sight, but that was the least of my worries.
Would they think I had died?
And what had happened just now?
Did… did what I think happened just happened?
I coughed, clutching at my chest. Damn, my arm was scratched up. My leg was pinned under a massive boulder, but I easily shoved it aside, rolling out of the way as rocks fell to fill up the gap my body had left.
No big injuries. There was some blood leaking from my arm, but nothing too severe. I wiped it on my cloak, watching as the skin patched itself up right in front of me.
There was some faint cackling.
I sighed. Of course they had survived. They had knocked out Jaune and caused Russel and Velvet who knows how much damage. They would not survive the night. Nobody attacks my humans. My friends.
I was a little shocked how quickly Russel and Velvet, two people I barley knew became friends. Jaune was my best friend, but somehow they had become friends too.
Was that a human thing?
I shrugged off that thought as I let the darkness around me become that much darker. I placed my Crescent Rose on my waist as my Reaper Scythe swirled around in front of me, soaking in the shadow until solid. The deadly blade curved down into an impossibly sharp tip. I could feel the change in my eyes as they flickered from silver to ruby red.
My head spun as I heard the next cackle. It would be that witch's last. Phasing through the cave wall, I reached a new passageway. The witch didn't even have time to laugh another boney laugh before its head was cleaved from its Grimm-like neck.
One, I said in my mind.
I floated down to it, gripping at an ear and ripping it from its head. Proof of the kill. For the school's sake. The humans would require proof to reduce their fear of the cave system.
Humans required such compassionate measures.
The next witch went just as quick. This time its arms went first. Then its legs. I remembered this one. It was the one who had tricked my mind with fire. No Salemite may live after pulling such a stunt on one such as myself. It had to die.
It held no higher purpose. Nothing but to die by my blade. A Reaper refuses to kill humans, to even strike pain into them. But witches were not human. They had not been human for hundreds, if not thousands of years. Long before my time. Before Salem's time. Their only duty was to die.
I faltered, flickering out from my Reaper form, back to human. That was… that was intense. Too intense.
I didn't like how I felt just then.
There was… emotion in my Reaper guise.
"There shouldn't be any emotion," I whispered to myself, eyes wide and shiver running up my spine.
It took me longer to find that last witch. Not because it had hidden itself better, but because it was fleeing further into the caves. It had seen me as a Reaper. So it was leaving.
Witches and Reapers did not live together after all.
And witches always surrendered to Reapers.
Always.
So too did that last one. Even in my human form, my strength was enough. It had tried to throw its vials, to shout its words and spells, but I did not understand, much less care.
It died in fire from its own dust.
I took a charred hand.
I let myself a moment's of rest. To shake out the final bits of nerves I had carried from that big battle.
I phased through the boulders which blocked my path, quickly switching to my human form as I heard the voices of my teammates.
Looking around, I smeared myself with dust and debris. With a nail I scratched at myself, ripping up small cuts all across my arms and head. They were small and would heal very easily, but hopefully it would be enough to fool them. At least for a little while.
"Ruby!" Velvet screamed as she barreled into me with a tight hug. I felt my shirt grow damp from tears. "I-I thought you had died. Th-that they had killed you. That the co-collapse…"
She couldn't finish her sentence as she descended into tears once more. I wrapped my arms around her, completing the hug. It felt good to hold onto her so tightly.
"I'm okay," I whispered out, nuzzling my chin into her shoulder. "I'm okay."
But I was more than that.
I had done magic.
I had done magic in my human form.
I hope you all enjoyed the climax and end to this mini-arc! It was a joy to write this chapter. The next one will probably be an interlude, but after that we will return to our usual Grimm Reaper plot. I'd like to give a quick thank you to everyone at the RWBY Nook discord for helping me figure out what humans feel when inside a cave. Cuz honestly? Ruby and I share similar feelings about caves. Good to know that I'm as weird as I've always realized.
Alucard45 - Ya, I wanted it to be pretty obvious that something happened to Jaune, but also 'hidden' enough that a chapter about his Tragic Backstory (TM) would feel like a bit of a reveal. Hopefully I managed that!
ccl1995 - Witch Fight! Witch Fight! Witch Fight! Unfortunately, Ruby cannot Reap a witch, as witches aren't human.
Dragonqueen1993 - Phew! As long as it was good. Glad to see so many people picked up on Jaune's stuff, even though i did make it more obvious this chapter. I can't believe I started this reveal back in like chapter 2 or 3!
IanAlphaAxel - Thank you so much!
Sm0keyPanda - Don't you just wanna give him a big ol' hug?
FN75 - Thank you for that. It feels so weird/good to have been writing this story for so long. And even as I'm stumbling along writing the next little bit, it's great to know that there is still so much more planned.
Darwn Gwein - Aww! I was so hoping somebody would complain about there being a counting error early on! Especially cuz it took like 30 chapters for the big reveal of "Look at 0ne actually foreshadowing things for once!" I'm so glad you're enjoying it.
Dragon Lord Draco - That's what I was going for! Jaune knows he shouldn't blame himself for being a kid, but in the end, it was still his actions that caused her death. At least now he is getting some much needed training to make up for that. And possibly, with this battle, some much needed closure. Who knows? Still have to write that (future) scene out.