Doo do dooooooo!
Another week down, another chapter of Remnant Light!
Hope you all had a good week, and that you enjoyed this chapter!
The fourth day of their journey flew by.
They walked and walked and walked under the bright sun and the lovely shade, talking about nothing and distracting themselves from boredom as much as they could now that there were no more issues to work through, or injuries slowing them down.
Ren's arm was still hurt, but with it put up in a sling it didn't hamper his movement at all. About halfway through the day, Ruby's Aura finished healing her ankle, allowing her to hop down from Jaune's back and walk alongside him and Yang.
Blake was also a much more active member of the conversations. That wasn't a high bar due to her near-silence the 3 days before their big talk, but it was true nonetheless. She and Weiss found they had more in common than either had thought, growing up under influential people and having… Less than comfortable memories of home.
The fourth day of their journey ended without incident. As for the fifth… It wasn't a lot more entertaining.
They spotted a herd of deer that had cool plants growing in and around their antlers, and even once spotted a giant species of butterfly that had seemingly evolved a pattern of black, white, and red to mimic the aesthetic of the Grimm to scare away predators.
That had been quite a shock to Jaune, who had tried to shoot it with his new rifle and had to be tackled by Yang and Blake to stop him. He only later learned that it was Ruby's favourite type of butterfly and he apologised profusely to the girl for almost killing it.
By the time they had reached the morning of their sixth day of travel, a feeling of boredom and annoyance had settled into the group.
And yet, even as all of them started to get irritable after five days straight of walking, they were much closer than they assumed they were to being done with the ordeal.
Jaune yawned as they approached the top of a hill they had been climbing for the last 20 minutes or so.
He was walking alongside Weiss, with Blake a few meters ahead of them, and Ren, Ruby, and Yang up the front. They'd all agreed that they could do without Ruby's scouting from here on out, wanting to avoid another incident.
Ruby hadn't been… Enthused about the implication that she would hurt herself again, but didn't argue too badly, having spent the last two and a bit days stuck to either his or Yang's back whenever they were on the move.
They were now on the sixth day of their assignment, and if Jaune was right, they were getting close enough to Vale again that they could probably get there before the seventh day if they just didn't stop once it got dark.
Unfortunately, that was a terrible idea. Travelling in the dark was bad, but travelling in the wilderness with lots of divots, raised sections, roots, and trees? That was just asking for more injuries.
Another yawn escaped him as he looked up at the sky, the clear blue colour spotted with minimal clouds. In most other situations, that would mean that it would be really hot with their packs full of fabrics and walking for kilometres at a time… But the trees that surrounded them gave them plenty of shade to stay cool, leaving the air around them at a comfortable 'lukewarm.'
Glancing to his side, he smiled as he noticed how focused Weiss seemed on their surroundings and all of the little noises the wilderness made. He would find it funny if he didn't respect how much effort she put into learning their Survival Classes' information.
Humming, he reached up with both of his hands and put them on the back of his head, his elbows sticking out as he walked. "So… What kind of score do you think the Professors are going to give us for this assignment?"
Weiss looked at him with a look of confusion as he asked her the question, one of her eyebrows raising. "I would assume incredibly high marks. We have performed wonderfully, and that's with a drawback from the lack of supplies."
Jaune didn't feel quite so confident, but it seemed Weiss wasn't done. "Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if they gave us full marks as an apology for failing to provide our supplies. But even if they don't… We have definitely earned a rather good score. In all honesty, I am… Impressed by how you stepped into a leadership role, Arc."
Jaune froze in place and his eyes blew wide open as he looked at her, but she seemed to be very intentionally not looking at him as she continued to walk forward. Did she really just… Compliment his leadership?
Jaune couldn't believe that Weiss, the girl who had been most critical of his being named Leader of their fireteam, had just said that! He tried to hide his giddiness and play it cool by waving a hand in the air and putting a small frown on his face.
"I don't know… Ruby and Ren did get injured, y'know? Surely that will take some points off."
It didn't seem like Weiss was in the mood for false modesty, however, as she glared in his direction, even as the good-natured smile on her face slightly defused the icy look in her eyes as she shook her head at him. "Brothers above, Jaune, just take the compliment. You did well."
She sped up slightly after that, moving forward and matching pace with Blake, saying something to the other girl that had her looking back and giving Jaune a small smile. Jaune returned the smile, but was a bit distracted by the fact that Weiss had said his name!
He would never admit how happy that made him to anyone, even if the way his cheeks lit up red would probably give that away anyway.
He walked in silence, but good spirits, for the next little while, until eventually he heard Ruby shouting from ahead of him. He looked up and was glad to see that it wasn't a shout of pain this time, as she was waving wildly at Weiss, Blake, and himself while hopping up and down.
"GUYS! You gotta get up here, now! We have a surprise for you!"
He chuckled and sped up, pumping his legs up the hill fast enough to catch up to Weiss and Blake, and all three of them crested the ridge of the hill at the same time. What he saw caused Jaune's eyes to widen and his mouth to drop.
It was a good reminder that as good as he was at this stuff, he was still capable of making a mistake. As Yang and Ruby stood on either side of it, spreading their arms out towards it and shouting 'Tada!'...
Beacon Tower pierced through the top of the tree line. They were even closer than Jaune had thought! He jogged beside Ruby and Yang and pulled out the map he had brought, doing some mental calculations on where they were right now if they could see Beacon already.
"Beacon is that tall, which means that to see as much of it as we can through the trees… Oh my god, we're only like an hour or two from the gates of Vale!"
His declaration got cheers from all of them, morale skyrocketing as they realised that their tedious day-long walking sessions were almost over. Jaune let out a small oof as Ruby's cheering caused her to jump onto his back and wrap her arms around his neck in a piggyback style again.
He instinctively reached down and supported her legs to stop her from falling back and choke-slamming him to the ground, and Ruby laughed. "Thank you for helping Yang carry me, Jaune. She can be silly and stubborn about stuff like that, and while she is really strong… I'm still glad you took me off her hands for a bit."
Jaune was about to tell her that there was really no reason to thank him for that when his entire train of thought was derailed as he felt her lips peck him on the cheek. Before he could do anything else his entire vision turned red as Rose Petals exploded around him.
When his vision cleared, he saw her very poorly hiding behind a bemused Weiss while the others - Yang especially- laughed at her antics. Jaune chuckled along as well, willing to not tease her any further if it was embarrassing for Ruby, but he didn't even get the chance to tell the others to start moving again before he was grabbed in a headlock.
"Silly and stubborn, huh? Gosh darn, my sister can be so mean, can't she Chief?"
Jaune just laughed at that, Ruby being one of the last people on Remnant that Jaune would call 'mean', and Yang grinned at him. He then yelped as she dragged him towards her and slammed a kiss on his cheek as well.
The main difference between the two girls was that because of how strong Yang was she practically headbutted him while doing so, meaning that the blurry vision and rapidly beating heart were more likely from concussion than embarrassment.
"Glad for your help, Chief, but also hella mad that I needed it. That'll be something we're gonna start to work on when we get back to Beacon for sure! I have plans for all of us in that regard."
Jaune didn't know whether to feel excited or scared at the grin Yang gave them all as she told them that, letting go of his head and starting to jog in the direction of Beacon tower, evil-sounding laughter echoing from the trees around them.
But from the absolutely terrified look on Ruby's face, as she peeked out from behind Weiss, he was fairly sure that scared was the right answer. Still, not even that fear of Yang's… Yangness could kill the feelings of excitement and pride that swum in his chest right now.
Drawing Crocea Flos with a flourish, he pointed it towards Beacon, one foot up on a nearby rock as he grinned down at the others. He felt a little silly pulling a pose like this, but every good comic book hero had a bit of silliness to them, and it seemed to work here as the others laughed and started to get moving.
"Our goal is in sight, my friends! Onwards!"
"On behalf of the faculty of Beacon Academy, I offer you my sincerest apologies."
Jaune fidgeted awkwardly as Admiral Ozpin turned to him and his team. It was hard for him not to, seeing as how there were only two Fireteams in the auditorium, Fireteam JSBYRR, and the smaller Fireteam CMSN.
He wasn't entirely sure why they only had four team members, but he had heard they were transfer students from Haven, so that might be the reason. Maybe a couple of their team just couldn't make the move to Vale… That was better than the alternative reasons…
Admiral Ozpin's cane tapped along the stage as he paced back and forth, his face still etched into the frustrated scowl it had been showing since Jaune and his team had reported the lack of supplies to the teachers.
Jaune had never felt scared of Admiral Ozpin before, but the sheer pressure the man exerted when he was upset… Jaune would rank it similarly in unsettlingness to staring up at a raging Grimm without an Ark would feel like.
What followed was a mad scramble by the Beacon staff to check on their supply logs, and then summon all of team JSBYRR to the auditorium, where they discovered that they weren't the only team to get back a day early.
Team CMSN was odd, and they didn't look particularly friendly. Jaune was fairly certain the grey-haired guy had been rude to him once already, but he couldn't remember exactly when.
"This has been a terrible failure on our part. We have already started to draft up ways to prevent this from happening again, and I assure you that it won't anytime soon."
He let out a deep sigh at that, briefly glancing at Professors Goodwitch and Peach, who were standing next to him. Professor Peach was staring at the floor, a guilty look on her face, while Professor Goodwitch was tapping away at her tablet, the reversed view from behind it showing that she was going over some kind of footage.
Turning back to the ten students in front of him, Admiral Ozpin continued. "But, even with such unfortunate circumstances… You prevailed. Not only that, you exceeded the expectations we had for when you were sent out, with all the advantages we planned to provide."
The rhythmic tapping noise of his cane ceased as he stopped in place, one final 'thunk' echoing through the room as he pressed it into the floor. "It is for that reason that I am deciding to give every team that participated in the assignment full marks, as a way of apology."
Jaune saw Weiss' hand raise into the air next to him, and he was fairly sure what she was about to ask, but before she could ask her question Ozpin cut her off, having seemingly guessed it as well. "Fireteams JSBYRR and CMSN, however, will also be receiving extra credit for your success in returning to Beacon, even while hampered by the lack of supplies."
Weiss's hand dropped, a content smile on her face. That was until Yang nudged her slightly and shot her a teasing smirk for being so predictable at her and Weiss' expression turned downwards. Jaune was almost worried they were about to start fighting again, but a cough from Ozpin got their attention back to him.
"We have been unable to discover the cause of your lack of appropriate supplies thus far, but in the meantime, I ask for your patience. We shall do everything we can to investigate how this could have happened, and avail you of the results."
He wrung his cane in his hands for a moment and glanced back at the other two Professors, whispering something that had both women shaking their heads. A sharp nod later, and Admiral Ozpin had turned back to them.
"Remember, your classes start again on Wednesday. You have arrived earlier than most and thus will have an extra day of rest, so as I have nothing further to speak to you about, I will allow you to leave and recover from your trip. Dismissed."
Admiral Ozpin turned on a dime and strode out of the big door at the back of the stage, Professors Goodwitch and Peach following him out. As soon as the doors closed behind them and they were left alone in the auditorium, Yang's cheering echoed throughout it.
"Hell yeah! Full marks, extra credit and a day off! Great job, team!"
Jaune joined in on the initial cheer but spotted Fireteam CMSN making their way out of the auditorium without a word. Motioning for the others to continue without him, he jogged over to them. "Hey! Fireteam Crimson, wait up a second!"
All four members paused and their leader turned back. Jaune almost froze on the spot as her eyes landed on him, a sharp glint to them that made it feel like she was contemplating all the different ways to cut him into tiny ribbons.
But he had experience with scary girls. Lots of it. More specifically, he had dealt with them every morning for the last decade or so whenever he took too long in the shower and caused his sisters to very nearly kill him upon his exit.
"Hi there. My name's Jaune Arc, leader of Fireteam Jasper. You guys must know your stuff if you got back a day early as well, right? Especially with how crazy it was having no supplies and the like. I've camped rough but never without anything to use, haha!"
The girl's glare didn't abate as he tried to weave humour into his introduction, and he internally winced as the other 3 members of her team gave him varying looks of derision from the green-haired girl, apathy from the rude grey-boy, and something that he would generously call bloodlust if it came from anyone but a fellow student from the short girl in the gothic maid outfit.
"Anyway, uh… I was wondering if you guys would be interested in comparing notes. Might help us in the future if we can share tips and tricks, you know? Maybe we'll get back two days earlier next time!"
A bead of sweat ran down Jaune's forehead as no one on Fireteam CMSN said anything in response. There was just silence for a moment before all four of them turned away and the Fireteam leader clicked her tongue at him, stalking out of the auditorium.
"No. And don't talk to me again."
Jaune… Couldn't say it felt good to be shut down like that. He was just trying to make friends with a fellow Fireteam that had at least one person who excelled at survival craft. So why on earth did it seem like Fireteam CMSN was angry at him for some reason?
Especially their leader, she was pretty scary.
Shrugging his shoulders, he turned to join his teammates in planning whatever kind of celebration they were gonna hold for doing well in the assignment, putting Fireteam CMSN and their rudeness out of his thoughts.
Vale was a large place, but it looked oh so small from the windows of his office, at the highest point of Beacon Tower.
The Long Memory leaned up against his desk as he stood facing the window, hands linked behind his back. His eyes are tracking a pair of Arks -from a Third-Year team if he remembered the design and weaponry correctly- heading out on a mission.
As he stood and waited, his watch let out a soft 'ping!', letting him know that he had received a message. A quick check showed that it was the weekly report he got from Qrow about Grimm activity levels in the wilderness surrounding Valean territory.
He didn't have time to go through it now, however, as the elevator on the other side of his office chimed and the doors slid open to reveal Thumbelina and Glynda entering. He noticed that Thumbelina was taking this whole situation especially hard, as it was her class and her assignment.
"Welcome. Your findings, Glynda?"
His second-in-command nodded and opened her tablet up, tapping into a communications app. She read through the messages one more time before raising her head and meeting his eyes.
"It seems that we have been able to locate all of the Fireteams sent out on the assignment, sir. The ones that we got to first have reported that not only did they not receive any supplies, but their emergency flare was also inoperable, or at the very least set to the wrong frequency for Beacon to receive."
The news that they had found all of their students was heartening, but the rest of it… Far less so. His lips pursing, he turned to face the two women and sat down at his desk, his fingers linking in front of him.
"Thank you, Glynda. Your hard work is appreciated in this dire situation. Now, Thumbelina. You are a trusted friend, so I want to give you the benefit of the doubt, but… I must have some explanation for the students as to why this happened."
He feels terrible as the look of guilt on Thumbelina's face morphs into one of anguish as she tries to meet his eyes. "I… I am not sure, sir. I really have no explanation for how this could have come to be. I apologise for my incompetence, sir. If you require me to step down from my position, I wouldn't blame you."
Ozpin raised a hand, stopping her before she could spiral further. "I assure you, Thumbelina, that I have no intention in this very moment of firing you, or asking you to step down, as you put it. You haven't made a single mistake like this for your entire employment at Beacon, so I just wish to know what happened this time."
Thumbelina's hands wring around each other in worry, but he can see from the look in her eyes that she believes him about her not losing her job. Giving her a small smile, he motioned for her to continue.
"Well, sir, it's just that. Ever since I started this assignment, I have gone to great lengths to make sure nothing like this did happen. I thought I had gone to double-check the supplies just the night before the students left, but I guess I didn't… Please forgive my forgetfulness and complacency."
Ozpin is silent for a moment, searching Thumbelina's eyes and Aura for any irregularities that might imply she was lying to him, or underplaying her mistake… But saw nothing. Confident that she had spoken no falsehoods, Ozpin rose from his chair slowly.
"I believe you, Thumbelina. Perhaps the stress of the new year just caught up with you. I would suggest taking a week off and allowing yourself to destress. Just a week, however. I'm sure the students will be itching to have you back after Glynda takes your slot for extra combat classes all week."
He laughs softly at that, and he can see the calming effect it has on the poor woman as his shoulders loosen a little at his lighthearted tone. "Right… Yes, sir. I think I'll take you up on that, and take some time for myself. I will… I will see you next week, sir, Glynda."
He dismissed her with a small wave of his hand and Thumbelina entered the elevator and disappeared towards the lower floors a moment later, already looking far calmer about the whole situation, albeit still very clearly guilty about it.
Once she is out of sight, Glynda coughs into her hand, having stayed silent for most of their talk. "Is there any… Certain classified topics that you have any instructions for me regarding? Or am I free to return to my normal duties?"
Ozpin smiled and shook his head at her question, motioning towards the elevator. "Nothing but the fact that I have received Qrow's report for the week, Glynda. You may go."
Glynda gave him a sharp nod and moved towards the elevator as well, her heeled footsteps disappearing as the elevator took her back to Beacon's halls proper, where she would likely find some unfortunate student breaking the rules to punish.
Alone in his office above the clouds, Ozpin hummed, tapping the end of The Long Memory against the floor in time to the clockwork gears that sat above his head.
Something felt… wrong, about how this whole assignment had turned out, but it was far too early to start fearing the worst. Hopefully, this unfortunate event resulted from a childish prank gone wrong and not an omen of what was to come…
But a part of him -one that had gone a very, very long time without truly worrying about the words of warning imparted onto him so, so long ago- couldn't shake the feeling as if something was wrong.
Thank you for reading!
I really enjoyed writing this arc. I know that it was completely Mech-less, but let me tell you now, the next story arc more than makes up for it!
I've already gotten up to chapter 32 written, so look forward to that! We're getting closer and closer to the chapters that have the thing that inspired this whole story to be made!