Hello!
Welcome back to another Remnant Light!
Let's get this party started straight away, enjoy the chapter!
Weiss sighed as she glanced around the passenger area of the Bullhead.
They were only 20 minutes or so out from Beacon, and it seemed like she was the only one of her fireteam still awake. Rolling her eyes, she still couldn't help but smile softly. These dolts, not going to bed early the night before when they had to wake up early.
What was she going to do with them…
A small noise caught her attention and brought her eyes over to Blake, her most troublesome of teammates, a title she had been expecting Ruby to claim with no contest. Which made it odd that Blake would hold said title in her head, now, but Weiss was nothing if not observant.
She could tell that Yang, and then Arc as well, were in some sort of conflict with the girl, but from what she could tell it was likely the girl's own fault. Ever since Yang took Blake down to Vale a few days back, Blake had been snippy with the two of them.
As she listened in closer, she saw Blake tapping away at her Scroll. How in the Brother's names was this girl still awake? She'd seen her over the last few days with bags the size of her suitcases underneath her eyes, it was clear she wasn't sleeping well, so how?
A sigh escaped her, as she realised that she was worried about the girl. So, even though she knew this might draw Blake's ire, like it likely had for Yang and Arc, Weiss composed herself and spoke softly, to not wake up her other teammates.
"Blake, are you still awake?"
There was a rustling from the girl as Weiss spoke her name, a clear sign that she was still awake, and a condemnation to the girl, making her unable to play it off as if she was sleeping. Not that Weiss needed that, seeing as she could see the screen of the girl's Scroll showing the website of some political news tabloid, but still.
After a moment of further rustling, which was most likely Blake attempting to think of some way to convincingly ignore her for sure, Blake's voice carried softly through the passenger cabin of the Bullhead.
"Myeah, I am. What do you need?"
Weiss was marginally surprised by the almost polite response from the girl and hummed to herself in a small amount of amusement at how quickly that little politeness was likely about to vanish at Weiss' next words.
"Has everything been alright, these last few days? You seem… Stressed, to say the least."
Weiss saw Blake stiffen up, and could almost feel the air around them become filled with enough tension that she could cut it with Myrtenaster. "I. Am. Fine. Brothers above, why can't you all just leave me alone?"
Weiss felt her nose scrunch up in annoyance. Not just at Blake, but herself as well. What had she expected? Sure, she had a good relationship with Blake before this incident, but clearly, a good relationship wasn't enough for Blake to be polite or accept any help whatsoever with what was troubling her if even Arc and Yang were on the receiving end.
"Fine, be rude about it. It isn't like your friends aren't just worried for you, y'know?"
There was silence from Blake's spot on the chair, and the girl had even turned her Scroll off. Weiss couldn't see her eyes, but she was sure they were shut. "Fine. Be that way then. If you continue to oh-so-rudely spur any attempt to help you, then you are more than welcome to suffer as you have been."
She felt bad about being so snippy herself, but if Blake wanted to play that game then fine. Weiss was a Schnee. If she had learned anything from her mother, from her sister and -Brothers forbid it- from Whitley, it was that Schnees were masters of 'snippy'.
She leaned back in her chair and raised a hand to her forehead as she frowned in Blake's direction. Sighing, she forced her attention away from the girl and towards her Scroll, opening up an article she had been reading about plants, attempting to relax.
It didn't quite work, but at least she got some extra study in.
"-o, yo Chief, wake up, man."
Jaune blinked groggily as he felt his shoulder being shaken back and forth, groaning in annoyance. His shoulders felt stiff and his neck hurt a little, but he realised why a moment later as he remembered that he had fallen asleep sitting up.
Cracking open an eye, he was met by the sight of twin orbs of purple on a backdrop of bright yellow as Yang shook him awake. A hand came up to rub at his eyes as he sat upright, showing Yang that he was awake, and he yawned.
"Good morning, Yang."
Yang grinned at him as she plopped down into the seat next to him and softly elbowed his arm. "Morning, Chief. Guess you took the easy way out and slept through the whole trip too, huh? Didn't wanna deal with your stomach committing mutiny again?"
Jaune let out a soft laugh at that, bumping his shoulder into hers before standing up and stretching out his arms and shoulders. "Thought it best for my continued health that I avoid vomiting on your shoes."
Yang cackled at that, getting a few looks from the others, who were milling about the passenger section of the Bullhead and collecting their gear so that they could depart. Yang punched him in the shoulder, slightly harder this time, and winked at him. "Got a good head on your shoulders, Chief! You know me so well already."
"Yo, kids! Is your leader awake yet?"
Yang blinked at the voice, and Jaune realised that it was the Pilot of the Bullhead talking. Snapping her fingers, Yang laughed at herself. "Oh, yeah, that's why I was waking you up. Pilot-dude needs to talk to you about stuff."
Jaune nodded, finishing his stretches by shaking out his arms. "Oh, alright. Thanks, Yang."
She just gave him a small wave as he moved to the front of the Bullhead, the door automatically opening as he reached it and revealing the small cockpit of the vehicle. The pilot clearly heard the door, as he pressed a couple of buttons on the Bullhead's control panel and the steering… Thingy seemed to lock in place.
Turning around to face him, the pilot smiled at him and motioned towards the co-pilot's chair, which was empty. "Hey there, kiddo. Just got a couple of things I'm supposed to go over with the fireteam leader before I start to land. Sound good?"
Jaune took his seat and smiled at the man, nodding. "Yeah, that sounds good. What do I need to know?"
The Pilot reached down next to his chair and pulled out a small clipboard, clearing his throat. "Hello Beacon Student, ah shit no that's supposed to be your name-"
"-Jaune Arc-"
"-Thanks. Hello Jaune Arc, fireteam leader. Welcome to your first assignment of the school year. You are tasked with using your training in regards to survival scenarios to make your way back to Beacon as quickly as possible, which will take roughly 1 week."
The Pilot glanced up at him at that, and seeing that Jaune was following along, nodded to himself and continued. "You will be supplied a small amount of food, enough to last you the time it takes for the emergency flare to contact Beacon and for Beacon to pick you up. You will also be supplied with some extra clothes and a small tent/sleeping bag set for each member of your team."
Jaune hummed, leaning back in the co-pilot's chair. "That's what the crates are for, right? They've got the stuff in them?"
The Pilot nodded to him, smiling. "Yea! They've got all your stuff squared away in those. Now, where was I… ah, right! Besides that, we've got that Emergency Flare I mentioned before."
The Pilot reached back down near his chair again and pulled out a small black box with a latch and a handle on the top of it, a carabiner attached to the handle. "This baby right here is one of Beacon's Emergency Pick-up Flares. You shoot it straight into the air above you and it uses some high-tech stuff to send a ping of its location to the nearest CCT tower, notifying Beacon of where you are."
The man suddenly looked a little guilty as he coughed into his hand. "You, uh, you do fail the assignment if you use it for anything other than a Grimm in your path, though, so keep that in mind."
Jaune nodded in thanks for the warning as he cracked the lid of the Flare's box and saw the Gun itself, as well as 2 flares packed into the container. Pulling out the gun, he broke open the barrel like he would when reloading the double-barreled shotgun his mum taught him the basics on how to use when he started being old enough to put cows down.
He didn't load the Flare gun. Instead, he closed the barrel and placed it back into the container, snapped it shut, and used the carabiner to connect said box to a loop on his belt, making the Flare gun's box hang on his hip, on the opposite side to Crocea Flos.
"Will do. Thank you, sir."
The Pilot waved him off and glanced at the clipboard one last time, before putting it back and turning to the console again. "Don't sweat it, mate. I'm just doing what they pay me for."
Jaune still thanked the man again, getting up out of the co-pilot's chair and moving to leave the cockpit, when the Pilot spoke up again. "Oh yeah, we're basically at our landing area, is there anywhere in particular you want me to land? Maybe near water?"
Landing near water was tempting, as it would make it a simple matter to collect it, but he didn't know if there was something about Bullheads sinking it in mud or anything like that, and he didn't want to get the Pilot stuck there.
"Nah, I don't really know much about Bullheads so just put us down wherever you deem best."
The Pilot sent him a joking salute and Jaune left the cockpit, meeting the expectant faces of (most of) his teammates as they stared at him. Chuckling, he shook his head, trying not to laugh at them.
"Just some last-minute checks to make sure we know what we're doing. And he gave me this. If we get in trouble this is our emergency flare."
He got nods of acknowledgement back, and he smiled at them as he continued. "I'll hold onto it for now, but if I get hurt, and can't set it off, I'm letting Weiss choose if we do or not."
As the others turned to face her, Weiss looked slightly surprised at his words. "What? Why? I'm the least experienced when it comes to this class."
Jaune laughed softly at that. For how much she studied, she was probably second in the team knowledge-wise now. Still, if anyone knew about lacking confidence in their studies until it really sunk in, it was him.
"That's why I chose you, actually. If something makes it so I can't make the call, as the one with the most experience with this, no offence to you guys but this is the only class I beat y'all in, then it should be up to the 'least experienced' if we continue, as they know what they're comfortable doing."
Weiss looked like she was considering his words when Ren spoke up, nodding to Jaune. "I understand your logic. You'll have no arguments from me about this course of action."
Yang grinned at the white-haired girl with a smug look on her face. "Yeah, me neither! See, while I'm sure we'll be fine, I'm totally happy to let Weiss take the blame for chickening out if we're not, haha!"
"Xiao-Long!"
Jaune ignored the two girls as they started to verbally, and then physically, scrap with each other, tumbling around behind where Ruby, Ren and Blake were standing. He was about to continue speaking when he was interrupted by the Pilot's voice.
"Alright kiddos, I've spotted where I'm going to land, so we're gonna be on solid ground in just a moment. Get your shit ready and get ready to be off my boat!"
Jaune might have assumed that he was genuinely upset by his words without the teasing tone of voice the man used. Jaune motioned for the others to get their stuff fully ready to start, he heard no complaints from the Pilot.
They touched down a little while later, the sudden jolt of the floor beneath him making his stomach churn, even through the last of the effects of his medication. He both stayed upright and kept from vomiting, however, so he counted it as a win.
Jaune exited the Bullhead and had to raise a hand to his forehead to block out the harsh morning sunlight as his eyes adjusted. He'd gotten a few meters away from the Bullhead when he heard scraping sounds and saw that Ruby and Blake pulling their Supply Crates out of the Bullhead, with Blake staring off into space and nodding every now and then while Ruby talked at her.
He couldn't help but feel a spike of anger seeing the sullen girl treat Ruby like that, but as he looked closer he realised that Ruby knew that Blake was only half-listening. Why was she talking to her, then? No, that was a stupid question. Of course, Ruby had noticed something was wrong with Blake.
Shaking his head, he focused back on the task at hand and took a look around their landing site. They were in a large clearing in the middle of a forest, and other than the Supply Crates and the Bullhead itself, there was... Basically nothing here.
'I guess that does make it a good landing spot, though.'
He heard Ruby let out a grunt as she moved the final Supply Crate off the Bullhead. With everything off, the Pilot cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled. "Alright then, kids! Have fun out here! And remember, we are almost directly South of Beacon! Just head North and you'll spot Vale in no time!"
They all sent him various forms of acknowledgement to let him know that they had heard him, and he nodded to the group before heading back into the cockpit. A few moments later Jaune's heart was pounding, their Bullhead in the air and moving further and further away.
He took a couple of deep breaths through his nose to calm himself down, letting the breaths out through his mouth. 'C'mon, Jaune, time to kick this leader thing into gear. What would mum do as soon as we arrived at the campsite?'
Emulating his mother when they had gone on their family camping trips might not give him an exact guide on how to act. But it was a close enough thing that he could use how she did things as a base and build upon it in the context of Huntsmen and Huntresses.
That meant what they should do first is... "Everyone! Listen up!"
Ruby immediately stopped talking at Blake and turned to look at him, and the others gave him their attention as well. Jaune felt a little heat on the back of his neck as they stared at him, and he coughed, clearing his throat. This was the first actual time he was "taking charge" of the team, and he wanted it to go well.
"Before we settle in too much, we're going to scout out the area around us and see if we can get our bearings like that. Keep track of any landmarks, especially rivers and lakes, and if you can, keep an eye out for any animal tracks, they'll give us a good idea of what's around us as we travel."
"Are you sure it's a good idea to split up?"
He wasn't surprised that someone asked that question, but he was slightly surprised that it was Ruby of all people being cautious about his plan. 'No offence. Sorry, Rubes.'
"Yeah, it should be fine. We shouldn't be a big enough group to generate the negativity needed to draw a Grimm near us, not even a smaller one, and the only other threat is the wild animals, which I think we should be more than fine against."
He pushed his Aura into his arm as he said that, and saw it start to ever so slightly glow before he reined in his control over it, allowing it to dim back to its normal, yellowish-white colour. He frowned slightly at his lack of fine control like the others had but shook his head at himself. They had years of having Aura, he had weeks. He could never hope to match up, so he needed to stop beating himself up over that fact, and just work to close the gap as much as possible.
Ruby nodded at his words, and he could see her aura glow slightly as well as her face scrunched up. He laughed at that, as did most of the others before Weiss spoke up. "Alright then, we shouldn't waste too much more time. Shall we be off?"
Checking his Scroll, Jaune noted the time and nodded. "Yeah, let's go. Everyone, be back here in an hour, and we'll consolidate our information and figure out what we're doing to begin with."
He opened the Compass app on his Scroll and let it load for a moment, and the wheel on the screen snapped into the correct orientation. Seeing this, the others opened the app as well, and Jaune smiled at them. "Alright. Ruby, you go North. Ren will take the West, Yang will take the East, and I'll take the South. Blake and Weiss... Pick one of the middle ground between those four. Does that sound good?"
He saw Ruby, Ren and Yang spinning on the spot as they checked which way they were supposed to be going and chuckled to himself watching them try to line themselves up as the compass on their screens spun around. Weiss and Blake were only thinking for a moment before Blake spoke up.
"I'll go Northwest."
Jaune smiled at her and nodded, acknowledging her. "Thanks, Blake."
The black-haired girl gave no response as she turned to face the right direction and headed off. Jaune pursed his lips at the fact that the direction she had gone was in between Ruby and Ren, two of the only people on the Fireteam to not try and 'bug her' about whatever was going on, but sighed as he realised there wasn't much he could do about that.
Weiss seemed to realise the same thing as well, staring at the back of the girl before turning to him. She didn't say anything, but he saw it in her eyes that she was frustrated with the girl as well. He nodded to her and saw a small bit of surprise on her face before she schooled it.
"I guess I should take the Southeast?"
Jaune chuckled, shaking his head. "I get why you think that, but you don't have to go the opposite way. With just 6 of us, we're gonna miss two of the cardinal directions anyway, so you can pick whatever."
Weiss frowned as he laughed at her, her cheeks slightly red, but put on one of the snootiest expressions he'd seen as she turned around on the spot, waving a hand behind her. "Oh well, I've already chosen now. Would do me no good to waste time debating about it when Southeast is a fine way to go."
Jaune full-on snorted at that and saw her shoulders tense. There was a moment he thought she would turn around and berate him for making fun of her, but she just sighed and headed off. Jaune turned to face directly towards South as she left and started off on his own walk, laughing to himself.
This was a fairly good start, he had a great feeling about this assignment already!
The air around her was crisp and cool as she walked through the wilderness. Her surroundings… Quiet, but chaotic, in a way that only existed away from the Kingdoms, away from any villages.
Blake barely noticed it.
Her head was down as she put one foot in front of the other, walking through the forest they had been dropped in for their assignment, heading Northwest like she had told Jaune. A spike of annoyance shot through her as she thought of the boy, but she immediately smashed it to pieces.
She felt horrible.
She felt like a bitch, no, she was being a bitch. After… After what had happened at Tukson's, she knew that Yang was just trying to help her, she knew that, but Brothers she was so scared at that moment that she had just lashed out.
And then never stopped lashing out, apparently.
First, it was getting angry at Jaune in the Simulator room, and then it was snipping at Weiss in the Bullhead, and then it was Ruby when she ignored her as they were unpacking the Supply Crates…
She hated herself for striking out against her teammates, and her friends, but…
Brothers above, she was so scared.
She had been loving Beacon, studying her ass off and trying to work past the disadvantage that hiding her Faunus features gave her when it came to syncing with her Ark, that she had almost forgotten why she was here.
Had almost forgotten about him.
She felt herself shiver, and swore out loud, clutching the side of her head. Why? She was training to be a Huntress, and Ark Pilot, someone strong and able to protect themselves and others. So why could even the mere thought of him still terrify her so? Enough to push away her friends?
Aura pooled around her hand as frustration pooled in her mind, she punched a nearby tree, leaving a crater in the now-splintered wood. She might not have the physical strength that Yang did, but anyone with Aura had some level of super strength.
And yet she was still scared. But how couldn't she be?
A nondescript van with Menagerie plates and tinted windows just… Sitting outside of a bookstore? Somewhere that anyone familiar with her would know she might visit eventually? Somewhere that he would know she would want to visit eventually?
She ran a hand down her face as another spike of fear shot through her, as if he was right behind her, breathing down her neck, which her logical mind knew was stupid. She was out in the… Wait.
She… She was out in the middle of nowhere. On a trip planned by Beacon, somewhere not even he had his hands in. When she had sought out his help, Admiral Ozpin had promised it to her, so she knew that he wouldn't give away their location…
She was out in the middle of nowhere, and he had no way of knowing where she would be for almost a week. This… This gave her time! She could prepare, somehow! If he knew where she was, then she could get a jump on things here before he had a chance to sink his claws into everything!
Her breathing sped up as she, for the first time since seeing that van, felt something akin to hope. Her head raised for the first time since she had started walking, and she really took it in. For the time being, in this very moment, she was freer from his clutches than she had ever been.
With that realisation comes a moment of calm. She felt her energy levels dip as the stress that had been keeping her going despite her terrible sleep started to dissipate. She yawned, falling backwards and staring at the sky as she sat on a nearby rock.
The sky was incredibly blue in the early morning, especially so far away from the Kingdoms. It was so… Peaceful. And that peaceful feeling helped her think.
Even if he knew she was in Vale, he doesn't know why. He doesn't know she's trying to become a Huntress, doesn't know that she would be out here this whole week. Hell, even she hadn't known until only a day or two ago!
A feeling of liberation filled her chest, followed swiftly by a guilt that crushed her growing mood. Brothers, she had been such a bitch these last few days… She had to figure out how to make it up to them somehow.
She had to… She had to try and explain, try and get them to see why she was so scared. If she could get her teammates to know the truth about him before she was 'for sure' discovered to be at Beacon, then she could keep them from ending up like all the others from Kuo Kuana.
She got up from her rock and did a quick look around her before glancing down at her Scroll. Honestly, she was a little surprised that she had been wandering for a full half an hour while her head had been in the clouds.
Shaking out her shoulders, she smacked her cheeks with both hands, letting out a long exhale. She had to take a good look around and get back to their meeting location so that she could figure out how she was going to start to make amends for how she'd been treating her teammates, her friends.
Now all she had to do was find the right time to explain things, and she would be fine. They deserved answers, and… She was getting closer to being comfortable giving them some.
Howdy howdy!
How are we feeling about the Arc so far? How are we feeling about Blake so far?
Let me know, I'm dying to hear what you guys think!
See you all in another week or so, have a great day!