Quick apologies for the rather abhorrent typo in the last chapter where I interchanged Winter with Willow. I feel like the reason I didn't catch it is because Willow is another Schnee, so my brain glossed over it as technically correct.

Which is usually the best kind of correct but not this time.

Chapter 17

Dawn broke and the soldiers from Menagerie had yet to move on. Jaune watched from the window as they milled around the village aimlessly. He had expected they would move on with the morning light, military discipline taking them to the front lines, but they ambled around the village a full two hours after they'd broken their fast. It didn't look like they were in any rush to get going.

"Probably cowards," Winter said from within the room. She hadn't left all night but to use the bathroom and he could tell she was antsy. She had taken to keeping her sabre close to her and was cleaning it meticulously.

"You think they're deserters?"

"Not this close to the front lines. They'd be caught by their own people. No, they're a reinforcing unit that's taking its sweet time relocating. We get those in Atlas as well, though it's less common since we have better military infrastructure. We can tell when one of our units is dawdling."

"And Menagerie can't?"

"They'll realise if the group takes too long to reach their destination. It's a fine line to balance, knowing how long you can delay with the excuse of a rough journey or someone twisting an ankle."

All to avoid having to go to the front lines. Jaune couldn't blame them. These people had signed up to fight but they had been fighting for a long time now and must have felt they deserved a break. After just winning the latest push and gaining ground, they were probably tired of the fighting. Being sent to a new post was the perfect excuse to slack off and take a day or two longer than was strictly needed to get there.

It was just bad luck it was grounding them as well.

"Will they cause trouble?" he asked. "Would your people cause trouble for the locals if they were doing the same?"

"It isn't likely. Stories of poor behaviour from soldiers tend to travel and they don't want this extended stay reaching the ears of their superiors."

"And no risk of them getting rid of the witnesses?"

"Not unless they want to raise even more questions as to why a village disappeared on their direct route. I imagine quite a few of Menagerie's forces are planning to use this as a stopping point on their own journeys. It wouldn't fly."

That was good to hear. The ways and means of armies was something Jaune had little experience in, making Winter's knowledge invaluable. From his window, it didn't look as though the faunus were mistreating the locals but it didn't hurt to ask. Better yet, if Winter – their enemy – thought they wouldn't cause trouble, that meant they wouldn't.

Other than the trouble of hanging around and making it so he and Winter couldn't leave.

"Looks like we might be stuck here another day. We have the food to pay for it, and I suppose it's not a bad thing for you to rest."

Winter sighed. "Not like we have a choice."

To Jaune, long hours spent in a single room weren't any problem. He could meditate, train, read scrolls and lose himself in theorising about the techniques he was learning. The room felt quite large put like that, and the breeze through the open window kept the air clear.

Winter was a patient woman thanks to her training but his placid calm seemed to get on her nerves after a while. Or maybe it was the silence.

"What are you doing?"

Sitting cross-legged with his hands cupped in his lap, Jaune circulated his aura through his meridians, making it dance from one arm to another, from leg to leg, from his stomach to his toes to his head.

"I'm refining my aura control."

He felt Winter's frown from the way her voice changed, becoming just a little dismissive. "That's not how it works, you realise. You can't just make your aura control better by turning it on and off."

"Hmmm?" Amusement tickled him, interrupting his focus for a moment. A bit of his aura slipped away, fanning out through his body and dissolving into his soul as it normally did. Jaune slowly reached back out for it. "Is that so?"

"Yes. It is. Aura is the soul and you cannot train yourself to be better with it. At best, you can train your reactions – normally by having someone shoot rubber pellets at you and challenging yourself to bring your aura up in time. Once you have the control to use it at will, however, there's nothing more you can do other than improve the time it takes to react and bring it up."

"And this has been tested?"

"Yes," she insisted. "Extensively. The four great academies have been teaching huntsmen for over a hundred years now. This has been researched. It's proven fact. You would be better served exercising your body. A healthy body makes for a healthy aura."

That, at least, Jaune could accept as factual, even if the rest was just so much assumption. It was as comical as it was disappointing to see that the academies had given up on learning to control their aura and accepted less. Worse yet, they'd made it the new standard, and were telling people they couldn't aspire to be greater. If no one tried, accepting it was impossible, then no one would ever prove those theories wrong.

"I find this helps me," he said. There was no point in trying to change her mind, not when it'd only have her wanting to drag him to Atlas to share such methods. "Moving my aura around my body, from limb to limb, helps me—"

"That isn't possible. Aura suffuses the whole body at all times. If you think you have it isolated to a single area, you're imagining it."

He wondered what she would think of even one of the technique scrolls. She'd probably dismiss them as nonsense and toss them back his way, or over her shoulder. That was better than her wanting to take them for Atlas. Either way, Jaune kept them away, simply telling her they were some last instructions and tips from his dead mentor, to help him continue his training.

Winter was respectful enough not to pry.

/-/

The soldiers still hadn't moved on as the afternoon rolled in, and Jaune could tell the locals were growing nervous about it. He'd caught the elderly couple talking about asking Jaune and Winter to leave, but they'd decided it was too dangerous. Jaune kept back and didn't bring it up. It wasn't unreasonable for them to be afraid of what would happen if the Menagerie soldiers found the couple were harbouring them.

But the concern in the village went further than that. The soldiers weren't causing trouble and were paying for their stay with good food but the constant military presence had the locals on edge.

"They're worried Atlas will launch an attack or air raid," Winter told him. "That we might think this a staging point or military base and bomb it to get at the enemy soldiers."

"But this is obviously not a military base."

"Menagerie doesn't have proper bases or facilities. They take over villages and towns and repurpose them."

Meaning that this could look like such a base from the air, especially from an aircraft flying so high above ground that all it could make out were dots down below. The village was close enough to the front lines to serve as one.

"How likely are Atlas to bomb it?"

"I couldn't say. I think most aircraft will be targeting supply convoys and the actual front line at the moment. We just lost more territory and this is a rare opportunity to inflict losses while they're advancing and before they can dig in. Bombing of logistical targets is something we do once the enemy is entrenched, because the best way to shift them is to cut off their ammunition and supplies."

"It won't happen, then?"

"It's unlikely." Winter stressed the word. "But that's all I can say. It depends on what information command has to work with. If all they know is a lot of soldiers are gathering here, they might think it a staging point worth attacking. I can't give a definite answer but the locals are right to worry. The longer the faunus stay here, the more likely it is someone will see them and come to the wrong conclusion. It also depends on who is in command."

Because not everyone was going to be comfortable with bombing an uncertain target when there could be innocents there, whereas others would happily drop the bombs and accuse the faunus of "hiding behind innocents" after the place was reduced to rubble. Naturally, the locals from Mistral just trying to live their lives had no idea who it might be making that decision, but they knew their lives weren't going to be counted as valuably as Atlesian ones.

"Perhaps we should try and slip out tonight," Jaune said.

"It might not be a bad idea. Faunus have good vision at night but most of them will still be asleep."

It was no surprise she wanted to get going. Winter was keen to return to her side of the war and let her family know she lived. "I'll talk to the couple looking after us and see what they think," he told her.

The couple were happy to see them leaving. Oh, they argued against it and told them they didn't have to, but it all felt overly polite and there wasn't much effort put into convincing them to stay. Jaune didn't fault them. He even left some more food for them to enjoy over the coming days, asking if they could suggest the best way to get out the village without rousing suspicion.

"You can just claim you're out to forage some food as supplies are low," said the elderly man, "but it would be better if you weren't seen leaving at all. You might want to go before night. The faunus have been drinking and eating together in the afternoon. If you leave then, before they set sentries, you might be able to just walk out. I can let you know when it's best."

"Thank you. We'd appreciate that. Will you two be in any danger?"

The old man smiled. "No, no. Everyone here knows one another and no one is going to tell them you were here. If you're seen leaving, everyone will just say you must have come from outside and passed through the village. People here look after one another."

They did so better than the people of Vale, so safe and mostly away from the danger and yet turning on another for the slightest inconvenience. Did empathy require suffering to manifest in a person? It almost felt like it. He went back to tell Winter the plan and found her sat at the window, peering out. Thankfully, she kept to the side where she could watch the faunus with little risk of being seen.

"They suggest we leave when the faunus go to eat their dinner," he said. Winter nodded back. "Should I worry about your silence?"

Finally, she turned to him, a small frown on her face. "I'm a soldier, Arc. These are my enemies but I'm not some mindless beast. I'm well aware they're just regular people on the other side of the conflict."

"I'm sorry."

"Hmph." Winter turned back. "There are probably enough of us who hate them. The media calls them monsters, the public despises them, but here on the front lines most of us fighting them understand what they truly are."

"And yet you fight and kill them."

"Such is war. Though most soldiers fight in self-defence."

"Can either side claim that when you're waging a war on Mistral's territory?"

Winter laughed bitterly. "I didn't mean it like that. I mean that the average soldier on the battlefield fights in defence of his or her life. Most of them don't want to be there, they just want to go home."

"I imagine it's the same on the other side."

"Probably. Just people killing one another because they don't want to die. Both see themselves as victims forced there against their will, and I expect the soldiers on both sides hate their commanding officers just as much as they do the enemy. Or at least those officers who never risk their lives and sit back making the big decisions. My squad respected me. We fought and bled together."

And now they were dead, killed after being trapped behind enemy lines. A dark mood overcame Winter, who gripped the window's edge until her knuckles turned white. Jaune knew better than to suggest she meditate and let the anger go. Not everyone had been trained as he had, and her wounds were raw.

/-/

Winter noted the faunus going inside to eat minutes before the elderly man came and told them it was time. They had already packed and readied themselves and walked slowly down the staircase, exchanging hugs and thanks with the older couple who had put them up for a night and a day.

"Good luck," the elderly woman said. "And stay out of this war, it'll tear young ones like you apart."

Neither of them corrected what seemed to be a misconception on their parts. It was one that might save their lives if the faunus found out about this and just assumed them star-crossed lovers fleeing a war. The faunus wouldn't care to pursue that.

It wasn't yet dark out and it felt wrong to be fleeing in the evening sun, but they wouldn't get a better chance. Jaune and Winter walked purposefully toward the edge of the village and then out onto the grassy plains, resisting the urge to break into a suspicious jog. As they approached the treeline, the tension mounted, only breaking when they vanished into the trees and accepted deep inside that they hadn't been seen.

Or that, if they had, the faunus who saw them decided it wasn't worth the pursuit. If they were already tired from battle and wanted to relax, they might just have decided to let the two of them escape. Or assumed they were travellers.

The faunus had enough problem with the Atlas army north of their position.

"The mountains to the east are an easy way into Mistral," Winter said, pointing them out. They were less than half a day's walk away but climbing them would take longer. "The mountains on the city's south side are much too defensive for anyone to want to assault them, making them something of a dead zone. Up there, a hundred good men could hold off ten times their number given enough ammunition."

"Are they abandoned, then?"

"No. You still need to station someone there to prevent the enemy crossing them to flank you, but it'll be a reserve unit, maybe a place to leave those with light wounds. Too injured to advance but not injured enough to be dismissed. We held it a week ago, but I think command will have relinquished it once our lines fell back. Now, the faunus will have it, but it's not a position of any real use to them."

"Oh?"

"Mistral is on the other side so they can't advance through the city thanks to the treaty. Really, the mountain's ridge is a tax on whoever holds it. You have to defend it so the enemy can't sneak troops through Mistral into that mountain, but you can't use it to launch attacks from because the city is in the way. Other than that, it holds no strategic value."

"It sounds like a chore," Jaune said. "But I'm guessing the fact there's no active battle there makes it our best route into Mistral."

"Precisely. We only need to sneak past the reservists up there, and they'll be facing the city instead of looking behind them. Once we cross the city border, the treaty will protect us and they won't give chase. They might even give up chasing us entirely if it risks firing shots toward Mistral."

Jaune shook his head. "This whole treaty with Mistral sound too much like a boardgame to my liking."

"It's ridiculous," she agreed, "but from Mistral's point of view it's better to have these uneasy rules than be dragged into the war. And from our and Menagerie's points of view, it's better to play by them than risk spurring Mistral to enter the war on the side of the enemy."

"Would they...?"

"Mistral and Atlas aren't as close as we'd like to pretend. Neither are Mistral and Menagerie, but Mistral is known to be run by powerful criminal families. They'll make whatever decision benefits them the most. Currently, that's to let Mistral suffer like this."

"How does that benefit them?"

"Hungry and desperate people drive the prices of everyday commodities up. Profits are surging for those who were wise enough – or who had advance warning – to stock them in bulk. And these people had the latter."

Human greed was a constant, it seemed. The few benefitting at the expense of the many. Regrettable, but also not something one man could fix. Jaune could not say the idea of entering the war, or trying to fight off Atlas and Menagerie, was any better for the people here.

Their life was difficult right now, but it could be said to be better than what those on Vale's southern coast faced. At least the armies of Menagerie and Atlas were controlling Grimm in the area, drawing them to active conflicts but also killing them. Unlike in Vale, where Grimm roamed free as the kingdom hoarded its huntsmen in the capital.

I wonder what Mistral is doing with its own. Are they wandering the kingdom dealing with Grimm?

He hadn't run into any, but he also hadn't run into many Grimm either, and there wasn't much point in huntsmen gathering where Grimm were not. The absence of one explained the absence of the other.

The foot of the mountain wasn't so sheer as to be untraversable but Jaune could see how vehicles would struggle. Rocks jutted up and out at odd angles, and the gentle slopes often consisted of loose pebbles that shifted underfoot and would cascade down under tyres or tracks. It was a steep incline on this side and Winter assured him it was just as bad on the other. He couldn't imagine a force having to scale it while also coming under fire.

"Do we have to reach the peak and go over...?"

"No." Winter grunted a little as she pulled herself up beside him, her boots sinking into the loose stones. "We can cross any of the passes but those will be about halfway up. That's where the faunus will be, though."

"They won't be at the peak?"

"There's no need for them to be. Their job is to hold a defensible position. Keep in mind they need to ship food and ammo up here. Being at the peak just makes their life harder, and that's not taking thinner air and temperatures into account." Winter looked up, shielding her eyes against the setting sun. "They'll probably hold that ridge above us, the one—"

Winter threw herself at him suddenly, knocking them both to the ground. They skidded in the stones, losing a few feet of height as their bodies scraped and slid down the slope until they hit a rock. Hissing a warning, she scrambled around it, and Jaune did the same. "What?" he whispered. "What is it?"

"I saw a flash of light above us."

"A flash...?"

"Reflected light. Might have been a belt buckle but it might have been a scope as well."

The scope of a rifle pointed their way, catching the sunlight and lighting up. Jaune held his breath but there was no gunshot or even a raised alarm. Then again, would there be? It might be better for a sniper to quietly alert their superiors but pretend they hadn't seen them otherwise, let them come out of cover for a clearer shot.

"I thought you said they wouldn't be looking this way."

"I assumed," Winter hissed. "And they'll obviously have someone keeping an eye out for enemies sneaking up behind them. I just meant they won't have the full force watching this side."

"Did they see us?"

"I don't know. We might have gotten to cover before they did but..." Winter bit her lip. "We've been climbing this side for a while now. It's hard to imagine a sniper wouldn't have noticed us if they were posted as a lookout. It's not as if we blend in."

They really weren't. "Do we go back down and try somewhere else?"

"We can't. If they've seen us, they'll have passed the message on. If we go back down, other squads will be dispatched to look for us, and any other area we'd try and cross is an active battlefield. Our only other choice would be to go all the way to either coast and sail up, and that'll take days."

Not to mention Adam controlled the coast to the west and the eastern coast would be even more under their control given its proximity to Menagerie. Jaune didn't fancy their chances with that. Meanwhile, trying to cross a battlefield would see Atlas shooting at them as well as Menagerie, both sides assuming them enemies.

"Then I guess our only option is to go up there."

"Yes." Winter reached for her weapon. "But this will be a fight, you realise. It will be a battle to the death. Do you really want to be involved in that?"

Or did he want to leave her to it. He'd done enough, she was saying, and wouldn't blame him for not wanting to be dragged into conflict on her behalf. To not have to kill on her behalf. What she didn't realise was that he wasn't going to kill. At least he hoped he wouldn't need to.

"I need to get into Mistral just as much as you do. If this is the only route, this is the route we'll take. But we can punch through rather than attack. You said they'll stop once we're on the Mistral side."

"I said they'll probably stop."

"Good enough. We'll create an opening and slip through."

"It won't be that easy!" she hissed. "I know I said reservists but there will be at least a hundred people up there, all armed and at least moderately trained to—"

Jaune wasn't listening. Vaulting the boulder, he pushed aura to the meridians in his knees and legs, both hardening and empowering the limbs, and kicked off the rock. The force of it, empowered by aura, was more than a normal person could ever achieve and he soared at least fifteen feet up the mountain, a flash of blue and yellow. Landing, he repeated the process, covering less distance, about seven feet, but bounding left and right in a sharp zig-zagging pattern.

If he reached the ridge first, he could disable the soldiers without harming them, and before Winter could kill them. As the momentum from his initial leap drained away, Jaune fell into a sprint, eyes up and ahead as Winter scrambled to give chase far behind and below. Her heeled boots made that incredibly difficult.

Up above, light flashed on glass, the very thing Winter had seen before. Jaune reacted instantly by twisting his body, and managed to react before the trigger was squeezed. That didn't mean he could react faster than the bullet could travel, however. Aimed at centre mass it hit him instead on his left shoulder, and since he was already pulling that back, it sent him into a wild spin that he only recovered from by digging his left foot down and scraping a halfmoon into the ground beneath him, falling to a low crouch.

A second shot pinged off the floor between his legs as he jumped forward, and the third missed entirely, whizzing over his left shoulder as the sniper panicked and took quicker, less placed shots. Above, an alarm was raised and dark shapes ran to position, reacting to the sudden assault from their rear. Had there been another army at the front, it would have been a perfect pincer, but there wasn't and the force had all the freedom in the world to turn and face him.

Jaune's hand touched the hilt of his jian but he didn't draw it. Instead, he slid the sword and its scabbard off his back and tied the golden string around the hilt to keep it sheathed. It would serve to bludgeon, and he could only hope, and assume, that Menagerie wouldn't keep any skilled practitioners of the martial arts among their reservist forces.

With cries of shock from the defenders, Jaune crested the ridge and leapt over the sandbags piled high on the edge. As he hung in the air, he gazed down for a moment on the masked but visibly frightened faces of the faunus below him. They hadn't been prepared for such a sudden and straightforward assault.

A second later he landed feet first on the sniper, driving the man to the ground and knocking the rifle from his hands. Jaune snapped a kick out into the chest of his spotter, caught a sword swinging for his head on his sheathed jian and pushed it to the side, and then stepped in to drive the pommel of his weapon into the woman's breastbone. She fell to her knees choking on the sudden loss of air.

"Surrender!" Jaune shouted, in the stunned silence that followed. "Surrender and let us pass into Mistral and no one else will be harmed!"

A female faunus at the back, with a bandage wrapped over a missing eye and one ear torn off, snarled and raised her gun. "Shoot him!" she roared. "Kill him!"

It was enough to rally the other faunus.

Next Chapter: 10th September

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