King: Back again.
Knox: I blame work.
King: True... true. Any who, you all know I hope you enjoy and we'll be back to the reactions next chapter~! Get ready!
As an aside/Note: I just want to say Jeanne d'Arc is a legend! As you all know, I became a Fate fan fairly recently. Though 'recently' here is subjective. Anyway, I've been playing Fate Grand Order, because of course I have. And Jeanne is the reason I was able to get passed Surtr in Lostbelt 2. Both times! I just thought it was funny that Jeanne was so integral to my advancement in the story and I write a fanfic called 'Arc's of the Multiverse.' My point here is that, I'm feeling generous in a way. My ID in game is 781,697,107. Friend list is first come, first served; but if you just want help getting passed the first part you can use the follow. Go nuts.
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Thursday
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Thursday proved uneventful for all involved.
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Friday
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Midnight of Friday found one Cinder Fall as she had finally returned to the castle resting in the Grimmlands. She pushed open the doors to the meeting hall, hoping she could avoid a confruntation until the morning.
"Cinder."
Of course not.
Salem, the immortal witch, stood before her. This was no alternate being of human origin. This was the Salem Cinder knew. Who commanded the false Maiden. "Why have you returned?"
Cinder knew there was no good way of this, so she relented. She fell to one knee and lowered her head. "My position was compromised. I could not remain and continue my search for the Fall Maiden's body."
Salem walked from her position to her chair at the end of the large table. She sat herself down and steepled her hands. "Tyrian has informed me of this… theater. He was confused that I was unaware of it. I imagine this happened there."
"Yes my lady. I was betrayed by an underling. I had no way to act to stop her thanks to those… things."
"Things?"
"They're… like gods. In that theater, they control everything."
"Gods? Describe them."
Cinder was surprised by this response, but answered. "There were two of them. A purple one and a gold one."
Salem visibly stiffened in her seat.
But Cinder continued, unaware, "They go by the names King and Knox."
This caused Sale to relax again.
"I can't say for certain anything else about them. I only know they are powerful and the superficial. Other than that, they remain a mystery."
"As many 'gods' will try to do. Raise your head Cinder. I hold no blame for you in this endeavor. It is clear another force is at play now. We will need to be careful moving forward. For now, go rest."
"Thank you ma'am."
As Cinder left, Salem moved in her chair and started to tap her fingers on the table. "So, there's another pair of 'gods' out there. I'll have to look into this."
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Friday found Arcadia as a beautiful, warm day. It was the kind of day that made you want to go outside, even if it was just to sit in the sun. Many of the vacationing group felt this was exactly how to spend the day. What confused some was that they were joined by the one Arc they imagined wouldn't have joined them. Anastasia was walking down the street with the Beacon group as they made their way to an Arcadian beach. Yang had been insistent that they get to visit an Arcadian beach now that they had the chance. They had packed up all of their new swimsuits and made for the sunny sands.
Upon arrival, they found a beautiful beach that actually put the theater's beach to shame. The theater's beach seemed almost too perfect. But this felt true. Especially with the groups running about and resting on the beach. It was real.
Nora cheered and ran over the sands toward the water, "Beach day!"
Anastasia smirked to herself and walked up with the group. She had dressed in a blue one piece swimsuit with black sandals. She looked over and found the three she overheard last night. The younger Arc knew if she tried to play this up too much, it would scare off the others.
You see Anastasia wanted to make absolutely certain that she wouldn't risk being High Princess in the future. In order for Jaune to become High Prince, he needed a few things. First, to be in good standing with the people. That was easy. Second, he needed to keep the name Arc for his entire life. Again, simple. Third, he had to be directly related to the previous Prince. Can't get more direct than his son. Finally, he needed an immediate, biological heir.
Until recently, Anastasia had believed this was the hardest one. Then, one day, her brother comes home with three girlfriends. Three! There was no way in hell he wasn't having at least one child among them. But Anastasia wasn't one for taking chances. The problem, however, was that she wasn't… social. The girl in the hood was awkward, but Anastasia rarely gets that far. But it was more out of laziness than social ineptitude. And like that, she was sitting on the beach, the others went to their own devices and Anastasia couldn't be bothered. I'll handle it later…
She never got around to it.
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Off in Mistral, it was raining. A heavy downpour that happened around these months. In any other context, Ilia actually liked the rain. But here? Not so much. She didn't like Mistral, mainly because of the council's unwillingness to crack down on anti-faunas discrimination. Sure, they kept near the lower levels of the Kingdom, but it's impossible to not know about them. Before that theater, she would have chalked it up to being humans looking out for their own. Now, she started to look into things. Turns out, Mistral's council is 60% faunas and the headmaster of Haven Academy is a faunas. Turns out, it's not as simple as she thought.
As for why she was here, she was looking to leave the continent. She had been in the area before she meant to return to Menagerie. Then Sienna's speech had her staying a bit longer as murmurs rang out over the White Fang hideout. Once Fargus was caught trying to assassinate Sienna for 'weakness,' that was the final floodgate. The Fang's tearing itself apart and she wanted no part in it now. Now, she was trying to find transport to one of the other Kingdoms. She would honestly prefer Vale.
That's where Beacon is… Maybe I should try to use my skills there. It worked for Blake. Why not me?
But then her mind reminded her that Jaune was also attending Beacon. Ever since that theater, he's been on her mind. She couldn't help it. There was something about him and his personality that drew her attention. And her inner romantic side was pushing her toward him. In a way, it reminded her of her old crush on Blake, before the cat faunas ran off without a single word. Nowadays, Ilia knew it was the best option she had at the time. The Fang was becoming more and more violent. Fargus and Adam were examples of that alone.
Maybe it was because Ilia had to put up with all these factors for so long in her life that when someone like Jaune came around that she ended up looking his way. It was like a light in a tunnel…
Ilia shook her head, Bad metaphor… She didn't want to think about being in a tunnel after what happened to her parents. For now, she had to keep moving. There should be a shuttle leaving soon. And Ilia wanted to get to Beacon sooner rather than later.
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Saturday
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Today in Arcadia, the visiting students from the huntsmen academies were interested in meeting the rest of Jaune's hometown friends. He informed them he had two others they hadn't met, and that Astolfo apparently had a Jousting training event going on for the day. Jaune said he might be a bit of an airhead, but that Astolfo took his training seriously.
This led them all to the central plaza area, referred to as the Marble Garden thanks to the higher number of statues. Jaune explained that each was a monument to a hero or a group in honor of their achievements. This, of course, got a few them asking who did what. There was Loptr Roan, who defended Godan Village from a bandit attack. There was the 4-2-Third (Fourth Legion, Second Company, Third Battalion) who's supply network skills were able to ferry three villages worth of people away from a Grimm hoard stomping through. So on and so forth, over and over again as more heroic stories were told.
"Damn." Yang looked up to Marshal Flanders atop his steed, Poppy, to represent his work to supply and train the villages nearby, creating the Outer-Arcadian Military Academy. "It's weird we've never heard of any of these guys."
"It makes sense." Blake reasoned. "Most of their work and stories seem pretty local."
Ruby bounced over with her friends before seeing something that caught her eye. She tugged on Jaune's sleeve and pointed to another statue. "What's that one?"
Jaune looked over to see a large pedestal of white marble, seemingly overgrown by granite thorns with brilliant golden roses. "That's the pedestal of the Knight of Roses."
"Knight of Roses?"
"Yeah. No one knew her name. All they knew was that she appeared one day, helped protect Arcadia from a Grimm hoard in Arcadia's early years, and disappeared as soon as she arrived. They say she wore a gold hood, but that's all we have to remember."
Ruby couldn't help but wonder who this could have been. And, other than the colors and the age, it sounded a lot like her mother. Maybe they were related?
"Hey Jaune!" Everyone's attention dragged to the new voice. A duo of people started to make their way to the group. The one who shouted, and it was obvious given she was waving, was running over. She was dressed in a white, blue, and gold coat that hung at knee length but were moved aside at her waist more like a cape from the waist down. She also had a pair of kneehigh boots and gloves to match her coat. The design of her outfit seemed to suggest she wore a leotard under her coat. Her blonde hair was tied up in a pair of pigtails that hung down to her knees.
The other one was dressed in a white, cloth-armor-esc top with a white skirt, gloves that reached her elbows, and boots that reached up to her knees. A white tiara sat on her head of long pink hair. She walked up with her friend and stood, leaning her weight to one side with a hand on her hip. "You should have told us you were back in town earlier. We could have celebrated."
Jaune chuckled a little, a bit nervous. He turned to his friends from Beacon and introduced his old friends. "This is Bradamante and Medb."
Bradamante smiled and waved to the group, "You can call me Brada. It's easier to say and shorter for conversations."
Medb rolled her eyes but kept her grin, "Might as well ask them to call you Brad."
"Nah! Too boring." Brada didn't even let that phase her. Ooh! How about we all head out to get some lunch~? We could make a day out of it!"
Medb shook her head, "You just want to get a free lunch."
"What's your point?"
Now it was Jaune's turn to shake his head. "You two never change."
Yang snickered a little, something coming to mind. "Jaune, how did you have so much trouble with girls exactly? Pretty much all your friends around here are super feminine."
Medb started to laugh a bit, her body shaking as she laughed.
"What?"
Jaune sighed and shook his head. "I met them all the way back. At the time, I thought Bradamante was a boy."
Medb's laughing started to wane. "It was so funny come puberty~ You should have seen his face. Hell, both their faces."
Brada seemed equally embarrassed, "Thanks for bringing that up…"
Medb sighed as her laughter faded out. "You two will never change."
They were cut off by a loud alarm tone, soon followed by a second tone.
"What's going on?" Ruby asked, looking around as people started to run further down the street.
"Trouble."
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In the command center of the West Wall, General Richard deLeon stormed into the room once the alarms blared. "Report!"
One of the soldiers at the consoles looked over the screen before him. "There's a large Grimm hoard approaching from the southwest!"
"How big?"
"Category D. Approximately five kilometers wide. Seven large scale Grimm confirmed."
"How long until they're in range of the artillery?"
"About one hour."
"We'll need to hold back any small fry from the walls. Put out a bulletin to all Huntsmen in Arcadia." Richard looked out over the horizon, his eyes squinting. "This is an emergency situation."
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Of course, an emergency situation can't be ignored by the usual suspects. The Beacon crew and friends made their way to the wall to help if possible. They were able to get through since it was classified as an emergency. Plus, they were only fighting off the faster Grimm and keeping them off the wall. They weren't actually going to face the entire hoard. Smaller Grimm like beowolves, nevermores, creeps made their way toward the defensive line.
As the fighting began, those with ranged attacks moved quickly to thin the incoming herd as best they could. They weren't too strong, mostly made up of younger Grimm that don't have the level of self preservation required to realize they were stronger as a hoard. As the Grimm ran up toward the wall, the huntsmen of Arcadia were waiting over the area to fight them back. Anything that got through was torn apart by the defenses. Each of the Grimm found death waiting for them as the huntsmen and those in training cut apart the threats. That said, there were some areas along the line that were livelier than others.
Bradamante walked forward as she drew a pair of small devices from her coat. With a click, both sparked to life. Using a Dust combination of Gravity, Wind, and Water, they created a shield and a short sword. A Beowolf leapt toward her, only for her to slash upward with her sword. The combination ripped through the Grimm with ease, its body falling down onto her shield and getting torn up in turn.
To the side, Ruby was drooling a bit. "That was so cool! How do they work?! Would you let me examine them? Do they have a name?" The Beacon crew were allowed to help thanks to the 'emergency situation' call.
Brada was caught off guard by the younger girl's enthusiasm.
"Please try to focus." Medb was standing nearby and turned toward a row of huntsmen off in the distance. With a whistle, she got their attention. She then winked toward the group, ,a small pink heart seeming to fly away from her eye. The men let out a loud roar and seemed to fight all the harder.
As Yang punched out a Creep, she looked toward the scene, confused "What?"
Brada swung her shield into an incoming attack. "That's her Semblance. It's called Queen's Charm." She slashed through a low Nevermore. "It's a support skill that let's her boost her teammates. It works on everyone, but seems to have a double effect on guys."
Jaune deadpanned, "Gee, I wonder why…"
Brada sighed, "Yeah, I know."
"What?" This just confused Yang more.
"Think about it." Brada tapped the 'tip' of her sword against her shield.
After a moment of pause, Yang came to the realization. The innuendo at hand. "Oh. Oh…"
"Yeah."
The loud sounds of a motorcycle grabbed their attention. Off in the distance, they could see Astolfo skid off of a Grimm's face (yes, its face) and jumped off and onto the ground. He drew a sword and started to slash through the Grimm like a cavalry expert. All the while, he sounded like he was having the time of his life.
As the battle raged, the command room was tense. They were waiting for the main hoard to get close. Just a bit closer and they can cut off the worst of the attack. After that, it'll just be cleanup. Closer. A little closer.
"Hoard is within range!"
"FIRE!"
Up on the walls, massive cannon emplacements erupted with loud bangs. A series of shells flew off into the sky, intent on the eradication of the incoming threat. The group on the ground could see the hoard on the horizon. So many Grimm it put even the Breach in Vale to shame. Suddenly, with a loud whistle and a heavy thud, explosions ripped apart the ground and Grimm. Shells rained down in a line as everything among the Grimm was torn apart more and more. One after the other, after the other. After a full two seconds of explosions and destruction, it just as suddenly ended.
As they watched on, Yang eased up a little. "Did we win?"
A roar to her side was cut off, causing her to turn to find a large slab of metal in her face. After a moment, she confirmed that Montange had appeared and crushed a Creep with his massive tower shield. "Don't relax until you're certain your job is done."
"O-kay."
He was like a completely different person in the field. He seemed more like Jaune in personality, but now he seemed more like a mountain. Serene and in his element.
Then he let out a hardy laugh. "This is so much better than all that political stuff!" An incoming Beowulf found a tower shield in its face. As it clawed at the steel, a loud bang accompanied it losing its head, literally.
"You know that the 'political stuff' is part of your responsibilities as Prince, right?" Simone walked up with her rifle held over her chest. She wasn't in her white combat gear, but her dress was clearly designed in case something like this happened.
"That doesn't mean I enjoy it."
Ruby was now in full gushing mode. "Ooh! An Atlas-Issue Tremor Rifle! And it looks modified to use a semi auto fire instead of a bolt. But wait, where's the scope?"
Simone was taken aback at first, but her instincts pulled her attention back over to the scattered Grimm. "Monty, barrier."
Montagne turned his shield and planted one down like a barricade. Simone placed her weapon onto the barrier and moved her hand from the bolt to the top. After a moment, what looked like a crosshair formed in her right eye. The world seemed to slow before five shots rang out in short succession. With them, five Grimm were torn apart by gunfire. A loud ring went out over the air. Any Grimm left over were put down fairly quickly by the fortress wall's defenses. It was a complete victory for Arcadia.
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Sunday
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At the insistence of Simone Arc, the Beacon crew were told it was best to return with a day to rest before classes the next morning. She wasn't wrong, but it feels like the week flew by. Now on the airship back to Beacon before the sun rose into the sky, they were headed back to their home away from home.
In the sky, Ruby looked out the window over the clouds. The internals of the ship were very comfortable, allowing for a lot of room. It was a lot like the ship that took them all to Beacon the day before initiation. And a glance to the side showed Jaune deliberately avoiding the windows to not set off his motion sickness like he had that day. Then Ruby saw the girls nearby, helping distract him. She imagined herself among them, and considered if this was an option for her. She could only imagine what her dad would say. Her mind wondered, but her heart pulled. It pushed her toward moving. It pulled her heartstrings to make her go over there and say something. Finally, something snapped in her head. She stood up and made her way over to the group.
As she approached, Jaune looked up to her as the talking faded out, "Hey Ruby. What's up?"
Ruby fidgeted in place a bit, trying to find her words. "Well… it's just…" Ruby took a deep breath and tried to get her nerves, but found it hard to do so. She sighed and turned her head slightly. "It's… it's nothing."
But someone cut her off before she could say anything else. "Doesn't sound like it." Nora looked to Ruby before walking next to her. "Come on. You can tell us."
Ruby turned back to Jaune and glanced toward the three girls. All of the girls had the same issue she's having right now… And if they could speak up… Ruby took another deep inhale before speaking. "I like you, Jaune. Like the others…" Ruby glanced toward the girls around them.
This caught the group off guard, save for Nora. "Took you long enough."
And that just confused everyone. "What?"
"Well, I mean, think about it. We all know what Jaune is like. We knew it was a matter of time before someone else saw it too and wanted to be part of what we have. It's just common sense."
The others all looked at one another to try to confirm what they heard with each other. It was impossible to avoid it. As Nora would put it, this was happening. They all looked back to Ruby, and they all just had to smile for her. Ruby grinned from ear to ear and jumped into the group, her arms wrapping around Jaune in excitement. One more has joined their little group.
All the while, in the background, Yang felt an odd pang in her chest. She was happy for Ruby and knew that Jaune was a good guy that would treat her well. Even if everything around him is pretty crazy. But what was that pang in her chest? She'll need to figure that out eventually.
And now, they had to look forward to their return to the Theatre.
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Rumors spread fast around Beacon. A few in particular. First was that Jaune Arc, of all people, was dating multiple girls. And that they were all in on it! It was crazy to think about. Some students, however, just kind of said, 'they weren't before?' Apparently, people looked at Jaune and the others and assumed it was a massive dating pool. Go figure. Another rumor was that Cinder chick and how she flew off the handle and out the wall of Beacon.
Then there was the one that got Yang ready to strangle a bitch. "What the fuc is she doing here?!"
Neo stuck out her tongue, pulling a badge from her pocket. It was a provisional ID that marked her as a transfer student to Beacon.
That didn't sit well with Yang at all, "That fuck?!"
"Easy Ms. Xiao Long." Ozpin walked up to the scene, with Roman Torchwick and Glynda in tow. "Ms. Politan and Roman Torchwick have chosen to take part in a special program allowing them to turn their lives around as Huntsmen."
Glynda gave a side glare toward Roman, "But remember, you are under greater scrutiny. Any punishment that needs to be doled out will be far harsher."
Roman waved her off, "Yeah, yeah. I get it."
Ozpin turned back to the group. "Now, we need to discuss something important. Ms. Politan and Ms. Sustrai no longer have an official team. As such, we will have to assign them a substitute accordingly. So, we'll be using a lesser known program. Ms. Politan and Ms. Sustrai will be placed as extra members of established teams. Ms Sustrai will be joining team JNPR and Ms. Politan will be working alongside team RWBY."
"You cannot be serious!" Yang shouted, only to be forced back down by a Glynda glare.
"I expect you to at least be civil." With that, the adults walked off, the grouping hearing something about paperwork for Roman's license.
Eyes turned back to Neo, who used her semblance to create a sign reading, [So, where do I sleep?]