Working on my birthday. Yaaay.

Also, tis snowing!

Chapter 22

It was obvious Weiss was fishing for information and just as obvious that she wasn't satisfied with what she got. That was doubly ironic given that Jaune gave her a mostly accurate summation of his time with Master Ren, leaving out only the specifics of his lessons on aura and the differences between huntsmen and martial artists. It was still an honest representation of his training, and yet she reacted as if he'd given her some nonsense story.

"So, let me get this straight." Weiss crossed her arms. "You were orphaned, found by a martial arts master, and he taught you for years – to the point you can now fight off one of Menagerie's top generals. Is that right?"

"That's correct."

"Hmph. If you didn't want to answer, you could have just said so!"

Such cruelty. Jaune chuckled as the irritable woman flounced off to check on her saddlebags. He'd be the first to admit his story came across unbelievable, like something out of a bad movie, but fiction was always based on something. Exaggerated for the big screen, perhaps, but not always so out of the ordinary. It wasn't just the main characters in stories who got the dubious honour of having their parents murdered and their village burned down. That was a fate all too many across Remnant were dealing with.

Tempting as it was to pull out a scroll to read, he didn't want to give Weiss further ammunition, so busied himself with stoking the fire instead. The forest was alive with the sounds of crickets and birds drawn to the light. Their song paused momentarily as a distant rumbling like thunder echoed from far to the south.

"It's started again," Weiss said.

"What has?"

"The war."

Those two words silenced him, allowing the sounds of what must have been an artillery barrage to become just that little clearer. It occurred to him he hadn't heard much of it since reaching Mistral, having arrived just as Menagerie drove Atlas back, and as the lines were redrawn and reassembled.

Did the people of Mistral have to live with this constantly? Did they wake up every morning, listen, and ask themselves where the battle was creeping closer? Though they had no love for either side, it made sense they would silently be hoping for the ones closest to them to win and push the lines further away. The southern half of Mistral practically lived under Menagerie occupation, while the northerners were under Atlas' control. All this because they had been caught between two warring kingdoms.

"The artillery barrages are meant to keep Menagerie's forces pinned down," Weiss said, coming back to sit before the fire. "I've never seen the front lines but Winter tells me about them. About how it sometimes feels like the artillery is the only thing keeping the faunus at bay."

"They're that strong?"

"I suppose they must be. Or we were that unprepared. We're a superpower; we have armour and aircraft and a trained military. I thought this would be over in a month, and I doubt I was the only one thinking it. We'd roll across Mistral pushing them back with our armoured columns, then besiege Menagerie and force their surrender. A trivial campaign. I hear that's how it went in the opening battle of the war, far down on Mistral's southern coast. High General Sol took his armoured battalion, saturated Menagerie's landing zone in artillery fire, then sent the tanks rolling in to scatter what defenders remained."

Given Menagerie were now halfway up Mistral, Jaune doubted it had worked. "What happened?"

"It was a decoy. The landing zone was an empty base made up to look real, and Menagerie's main force were holed up further inland. When General Sol started the barrage, they used the sound to cover their approach from behind and when the tanks rolled out, they struck, killing the command centre and taking over the artillery. They didn't even bother to fight the tanks; they just up and ran away, knowing the tank crews would run out of dust and have to abandon them. I suppose those vehicles are under Menagerie control now, not that they use them."

"They don't?"

Weiss sighed. "We weren't wrong to say we had the edge in equipment. Menagerie is almost entirely manpower. They'll use anti-tank weapons but they won't use tanks, even ones they steal from us. It makes them less capable of breaching our lines, but it's also made them unusually flexible."

"In what way?"

"They don't have to worry about supply lines of dust for one. They also aren't stuck in one location defending their artillery. If we push, they're happy to give ground and flow around us because they don't have any strategically valuable assets they have to defend. They give up trenches, abandon positions, and lure our people out of formation." Weiss hissed out, "And then they strike!"

Allowing an opponent to overextend before counterattacking. There was a connection between their battle strategy and martial arts, and it was obvious one had inspired the other. Tanks could be compared to wearing armour, and artillery to wielding a knife. With both, your style tended to shift, becoming slower and more focused. The potential for harm with a knife was greater than with a fist, but it also made someone more predictable. You always knew where the main attack was coming from and what to expect.

"We were supposed to have the advantage of both quantity and quality," she continued, frustration bleeding into every word. "We're one of the only kingdoms with a standing military. Our entire culture is based around patriotism and service. We have military academies, drills, national service." Her eyes clenched shut. "And yet Menagerie has pushed us back this far. The only reason it hasn't gotten worse is because they now have to deal with supply lines because they've pushed us so far, and they don't have the logistical network we do. But you know it's bad when their biggest problem is that they've been too successful too fast."

"…"

Weiss looked so bothered about it that Jaune felt he should say something, and yet all he could think of was that she was acting like Atlas were the victims. This was a war between two nations, fought on the land of another and dragging its people into the conflict. It was difficult to sympathise with either side.

He'd met people from both, too. Blake had been violent and cruel, but Adam had been chivalrous and friendly. Wukong, well, that was more of the former but Jaune would accept they'd met under bad circumstances. On the other side, he'd met Winter, Weiss and Ironwood, and neither of those had been bad people, but he was sure he would have thought the same of Blake and Sun had he met them outside of combat.

They were all just people living their lives.

"My father was drafted to fight for Vale," Jaune said. He felt Weiss look his way. "Ansel was a peaceful place where huntsmen came to retire, but they were happy to force those old men and women into service. They took everything, even the weapons we might use to defend ourselves, all because we were needed to hold the line alongside our allies. That left the village unprotected, and my whole family were slaughtered by Grimm because of it."

Weiss, realising the implication, winced. "I'm sorry, I am, but we didn't start this war."

"I expect Menagerie will say the same. It's hard for those of us from Vale to feel too sympathetic to either side, however. The same for Mistral. Whomever started it, you're both continuing it, and you're letting it spill out to other countries. People are suffering because neither side is willing to put a stop to this."

"We've tried!" she snapped. "Atlas has reached out with its best diplomats, but Menagerie's demands are too great!"

"What are those demands?"

The wind was torn from her sails. "I… I don't know…"

"You don't know…?"

"It's not like I'm in those meetings," she said, a little embarrassed. "All I know is what's reported on the news, and that our government says the demands are too great. It's what we've been told. And… And I have no reason to doubt that."

No reason, huh? She could see a few, he was sure, and the simple answer of propaganda was enough for many of them. Those meetings behind closed doors were something no one would be allowed into, and there was no telling what unreasonable demands were being thrown around by either side. Atlas had no reason to want to compromise given their status as a superpower, and Menagerie weren't going to compromise given they were winning the early stages of the war.

Both sides were content to let this continue in the hopes it would force the other to come crawling back to the table, and both sides were undoubtedly blaming the other for refusing to make a peace deal.

All the while, the world burned.

"Spar with me."

"Hmmm…?" Jaune glanced over. It was a strange way to change the subject, especially since he'd just criticised her for complaining about how unfair the war was in her eyes when it was her people responsible for it. "What?"

"Spar. I… I've been kept away from the frontlines. I'm not stupid; I know it's because my family are influential enough to make that happen. I'm spared what many others have to face. I'm fortunate." Weiss sneered the word out, and it made Jaune wonder how many people had accused her of it. "Wukong was the first time I've ever faced someone from Menagerie properly and I… I wasn't ready. I've heard about their strange styles but this was the first time I've ever seen it. I want to be better prepared."

"I'm not from Menagerie," Jaune pointed out.

"I know. But you fight in a similar style. Winter said it, and the way you and Wukong fought…" Weiss glared at him suspiciously. "It was almost the same."

"I doubt that. He had a staff."

"Still. I want to practice against someone close to them."

/-/

Jaune wasn't sure why he agreed.

Pity? Boredom? Curiosity? Whatever it was, they took it to the edge of the camp, where Weiss drew her rapier and swished it about to loosen her muscles. The thin blade barely bent at all, which was unusual for a rapier. The whole point was to have a flexible blade that would whip and bend because, otherwise, it would be too thin and would snap under pressure. He could only assume it was somehow made of sterner stuff.

Jaune kept his jian sheathed at his side, something Weiss noticed.

"Are you mocking me?"

"Not at all. My sword is but one weapon; I prefer to fight with my fists." He raised them to show her. "I'm more practiced in this than the blade."

"Hmph. I suppose you do have aura."

"How shall we do this? To first blood seems pointless given aura, and we don't want to wear ourselves out if we're travelling tomorrow."

"Three lethal blows or a yield. Lethal in the sense of if we did not have aura."

Jaune bowed. "Very well. Good luck."

"Hmph." Weiss appeared irritated by it. "You too. We begin in three. No countdown. Agreed?"

"Sure."

Jaune didn't bother to count. He wanted her to make the first move, both to get a feel for how she fought but also because he could tell she was upset. There was a burning frustration in her, something to do with being kept away from the frontlines by her sister and her family. Given that, and her desire to prove herself, it only made sense she'd try and overwhelm him.

Besides, she was a "huntress" and that title came with all the overconfidence Master Ren had spoken of.

Weiss' lunge came on the third second.

She was quick, he'd give her that, but the rapier gave the game away. Even not knowing much about fencing he could tell the weapon was meant for stabbing – and that the only way she could possibly bring it close was with a big lunge. Sure enough, Weiss' legs bent and she hopped forward, two steps quick but shallow and then the third propelling her in a sudden and sharp lunge, rapier extended.

Jaune side-stepped and slipped past the point, catching the edge of the blade against two fingers and gently steering the sharp tip aside. And then dating in on the inside of her arm. Like so many who over-focused on a single weapon, Weiss acted like she was completely unprotected when he got beyond it, forgetting she had another arm, legs and her body to work with.

Though, to be fair, she'd obviously not trained much in hand-to-hand, believing in that excuse from the other day about how no amount of training would make up for the shortage in height and weight.

Jaune's elbow slammed into her diaphragm and drove the air out of her. His aura clashed against hers, but it didn't stop her choking on air. Had he been using his jian, her aura would have protected her skin form being punctured – and that was very much the point – but aura was a shield, not an inertia canceller. Her unbroken skin still pushed inward as he drove into it, and that caused her diaphragm to flutter.

Without stopping his momentum, he drove his other hand into her stomach palm open and pushed her back, then ducked low and swept his leg into the backs of her shins. Weiss croaked, unable to scream and still sputtering for air, as her feet were whipped out from under her. She crashed to the ground and Jaune darted in, punching down toward her neck and stopping with his knuckles brushing her throat.

"That's one to me," he told the stunned girl. Had the blow connected then it might have crushed her windpipe. With aura, it wouldn't have, but a blow to the neck would still rob her of oxygen for a few seconds. Jaune stepped back, frowning. "Are you prepared to take me seriously now? Or are you going to keep fighting me like I'm some country bumpkin?"

Weiss responded with a glare and a hand to push her skirt down – despite that he could see she was wearing shorts beneath. The girl scrambled to her feet, bright red in the face, and stomped back to the starting point.

He wasn't sure how much she'd held back on him in all truth, but he had to assume it was a little. The way she'd reacted to him not drawing his sword was a clue, but there was also the fact that she'd come at him like she believed he'd be helpless unarmed against her weapon. That, and she hadn't brought out a huntsman's one true weapon – their semblance.

"On three?" he offered.

Grimly, Weiss nodded.

White light flickered in a circular shape around her feet, disturbing the soil as strange sigil-like lines fanned out underneath her. Better. Jaune would be lying if he said he wasn't curious. He'd seen Ruby Rose's speed but that was a Semblance unique to her body. This would be the first time he saw a Semblance used to change the world around him.

Was it like Master Ren's techniques? It was odd how huntsmen could have such techniques and unlock them without any training or learning. Instinct by the looks of it. But aura was aura, it all came from the same source. Did that mean someone could in theory learn to use any Semblance if they mastered aura to that degree? Could he theoretically mimic what Weiss was doing? It was a thought he'd have loved to explore, had Weiss not counted down.

This time, she reached him in one lunge.

And in the blink of an eye!

Jaune dodged back with wide eyes, the rapier brushing past his nose as Weiss flew at him. It wasn't speed, that much he was sure of, because he could see the air behind her kick dust from the ground like a shockwave. Weiss didn't have the strength to kick off the ground like that, so it had to be related to those white lines. That glyph of hers.

The rapier flicked back and stabbed again, feinting left and then coming in at his throat. Jaune caught it on the back of his knuckles and let it slide up between them over his head. He ducked low and prepared a strike for beneath her ribs again, looking to capitalise on the pain that should still be there, but he caught the light beneath her foot as she landed from her lunge. He threw, but Weiss shot back like a bullet, leaving him to punch air.

Not for long. Weiss didn't land from her retreat. Instead, she summoned a glyph above the ground like a platform, landing on that and crouching. The glyph flared bright white as it took all her momentum and reversed it, sending her shooting back at him like a meteorite.

Incredible. With this, she's easily five times faster and stronger!

Jaune was still able to parry and deflect her strikes because, speed or no, they were very one-dimensional. It was a style focused on overwhelming someone with speed and killing in a single hit, which made a lot of sense when one considered that Grimm were supposed to be her enemy. This would not only give her the speed to hit before they could catch her, but it'd also let her get in and out of reach before they could attack. A perfect mixture of attack and defence for a huntress against Grimm.

It's still one dimensional, though. She's going to suffer against someone from Menagerie who can survive the first few passes and figure out her limitations. Plus, she relies on her weapon too much. She's faster than me like this, but I only need to track the tip of the blade.

Like that, he always knew where she was coming from. Weiss couldn't stab with enough force without drawing her arm back, and the weapon wasn't designed for slashing so that wasn't much of a threat.

By comparison, Jaune could punch, kick, grab, slap, twist, knee, shoulder or headbutt – and he did all of them, mixing them up so that she never knew what would come next. Snarling, Weiss summoned another glyph under her and darted back, but this time allowed herself to land and stop. Jaune was halfway toward her when she pointed her free hand at him.

And suddenly his feet were locked to the floor.

"Ha!" Weiss crowed. "Got you!"

Jaune didn't listen.

He was too busy feeling what the glyph was doing to him. It was a purple colour, beneath his feet, and he could feel it interacting with his aura – it was sucking his aura out his feet and reaching up into his meridians to do so. It was like a black hole beneath him drawing on his aura and storing it, making his stolen aura circle around in the glyph, which in turn rooted him to the spot.

Because aura was the soul and his soul was connected to this patch of grass by Weiss' Semblance. He couldn't tear his feet free any more than he could tear his soul in half and throw it away.

Amazing, he thought, feeling how it circulated aura through his legs. I can feel what it's doing to me. Then I wonder, what happens if I reach into it and reverse the flow…?

It was not stealing her Semblance – in fact, he didn't think he could do that at all. This glyph of hers might as well have been a magical circle for all he understood it, but he didn't need to understand how it worked to understand what it was doing. What he did was reach into a glyph activated by Weiss' aura and flick a switch, reversing it.

The purple glyph flashed and shone white.

Weiss recoiled. "Wha—"

The aura stored within the glyph surged back into Jaune's feet, and it did so all at once. He took a step forward and almost front-flipped in shock when that step propelled him twenty feet in an explosive surge. He flailed to catch onto something, and that desperate grab just so happened to connect with Weiss' stunned face, knocking her off her feet. Jaune skidded past her, barely able to stay upright thanks to the sheer force the glyph had propelled him at.

Weiss looked stunned. "How…? How did you use my Semblance!?"

"I didn't…" He was unsure himself, but he knew he hadn't controlled it. Even now, he had no idea how to recreate it. "I just felt what your glyph was doing to negatively impact my aura, and I reversed it. I assume that's how your glyphs differ. The ones you use on yourself store and release energy, and the ones you use on your enemies don't have the release mechanism. They store and store, locking someone into place and slowing them down. Right?"

He looked to her for confirmation, expecting at best an acknowledgement he had it right and at worse an attempt to deflect and hide her Semblance's secrets. What he didn't expect was the utterly confused and flabbergasted expression.

"Or I could be wrong…"

"Wait, wait, wait! Store and release energy? W—What are you talking about? And you changed it? Changed what? A Semblance is a Semblance. You can't just reach into someone else's and change how it works!"

"Ah. Well." Jaune laughed awkwardly. "Maybe I'm wrong then. My bad."

"No!" Weiss scrambled to her feet. "Is this something you can learn to do? Is this something Menagerie is learning to do?"

"I've no idea – and I just got lucky. Forget about—"

"No!" Weiss charged him, grabbed him by his robes and dragged him in so they were nose to nose. "Teach me!"

"E—Eh…?"

"Teach. Me!"

"Teach…? But I don't… I've never taught. And you can't learn this—"

It was the wrong thing to say. Weiss' eyes narrowed. "Why not?"

"You're too old."

"I'm not even eighteen!"

"I know but… You've been taught a certain way. You're a huntress. You have all these preconceptions and ideas that you've come to accept as fact. The way I fight – and probably Menagerie as well – is fundamentally different. You wouldn't just be learning something new but unlearning everything you've ever been taught."

And it was so much harder to let go of things you were certain of than it was to learn something new. No matter how hard he tried, and she, there'd be a voice in the back of her head telling her his teachings were wrong and comparing them to what she learned in Atlas and from her private tutors.

"I don't care," she said. "I'm willing to learn. I'll unlearn and learn again if I have to."

Jaune sighed. "It's not that simple. Besides, I have to find the ones who killed my teacher."

"And I can help you."

"Don't you have a war to fight…?"

"Apparently, I do not, because my family is doing their best to keep me away from it. I'm too weak – and the fact you were able to dismantle my Semblance so quickly proves it. Menagerie can do the same. But if I could fight like you…"

"Then what?" asked Jaune. "You'll use what I teach you to kill other people?"

"No! I'll protect myself and my family. You saw what happened back there, didn't you? Wukong laid that ambush for me. Without you…" Weiss clenched her teeth. "Without you, I'd have died there. And then Winter would have found out when someone located my body – assuming Wukong didn't take my head back to show to his superiors, and that my body wasn't desecrated as some sick punishment against my father. I don't want that…"

He didn't want it either, but to take on a student when he was one himself…? He didn't know the first thing about teaching, and he didn't know how to undo years' worth of tuition put onto her by other people.

Cinder hadn't been able to learn the technique Master Ren gave her.

But, in the end, that was what did it. Master Ren had given Cinder a technique scroll. He'd let her take it. If that was acceptable then, then it should also be now. "I'll give you a test," he said, and Weiss' eyes widened hopefully. "I'll give you a scroll. You're to learn how to do what is written on it."

"A scroll…? What is this, some martial arts kata?"

"Something like that." Jaune dug a Foundation scroll out his bag and tossed it to her. Weiss caught it awkwardly. "Read that in your own time. If you can show me even the slightest progress on what is within it, I'll assume there's merit in teaching you more. If not, or if you consider it nonsense not worth learning, then let that serve as proof you can't learn anything from me."

Her eyes narrowed. "Are you saying I'll fail?"

"Stronger people than you have tried and failed. The problem isn't you; it's the fact that what you'll read in there will go against everything you've been taught, and if you go in assuming it's nonsense, then you'll never succeed."

Weiss pouted. "Don't underestimate me."

"Prove me wrong, then." Jaune nodded to the scroll. "Don't tell me to stop underestimating you. Show me why I should."

Next Chapter: 3rd December

Like my work? Please consider supporting me, even if it's only a little a month or even for a whole year, so I can keep writing so many stories as often as I do. Even a little means a lot and helps me dedicate more time and resources to my work.

P a treon . com (slash) Coeur