AN: How is everyone? What did you get up to in the two months I've disappeared? As well, the Author's Note at the end is copied and pasted from Chapter 8 of "The Witch's Apprentice." Fun fact, I get a notification whenever something follows, favorites, or reviews my stories from the app. Kinda cool if you ask me.
Chapter 3: The Thing with the Water
Glynda stared at the clothes on her bed. They were simple, and the pants even had pockets, which was surprising considering her position. She put them on and then looked at herself in the mirror. The sage green shirt just hung there on her body. At the same time, simple brown pants hugged her legs loosely and fit right on top of the shoes they gave her.
A blessing, in her opinion, it didn't do anything else. She stepped through her door and was met with Jaune sitting at the table, fiddling with something and a stick. He looked up and gave her a bright smile. "Oh, thank the gods that this fits. I was worried that it wouldn't."
"Yes, well, your tailors did an adequate job." She picked at the clothing and then looked around the house. What happened last night was eye-opening. The black magical machine heated the cold home. In her opinion, she didn't need the blanket provided. She wondered where or if there were any more magic items.
The witch looked around the room but found nothing out of the ordinary. She supposed they wouldn't stand out if Ozpin wanted these things to be accepted by the public. A strange device that did something magical would freak out an average person. A device that could warm an entire house wouldn't be as accepted in conservative households compared to liberal ones.
"Alright," he stood with gusto and turned to her. She could see another black cylinder in his hand, but it had two etchings on the top and bottom. "Let's go test this thingy Rubes and Old Man Oz cooked up." Glynda cocked an eyebrow at him. "It's a well… I don't know exactly what, but if we can get this working, our day-by-day lives will be better."
He moved passed her to the door to the washroom and opened it. The wood floor gave way to stone, and their grey tub sat at the back of the room. The sink was closest to her, and simple wall mounts for candles hung on the opposite wall. What truly got her attention was the object sitting in between the sink and tub.
"What is that?" She asked with her usual skepticism and curiosity.
"Have you never seen a toilet?" He asked in disbelief.
"I know what a toilet is! It was a rhetorical question, you buffoon. What I want to know is why it is in here. Where we bathe," she said as she motioned to the wooden and porcelain seat.
"It's a flush toilet," he said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Glynda only raised an eyebrow in response. "Right, sorry, it uses water to flush down any pee or poop we put down there. Apparently," he spread out his arms, "a huge system beneath the house is connected to the main manor. What it does is beyond me, but hey, it works. Mostly."
"Mostly?" Glynda questioned, and Jaune sighed dejectedly.
"Yes," Jaune brought the black cylinder up, "the flushing part isn't working, so it might after I did some fiddling." Jaune walked to the toilet and pulled the top off the container above the seat. Glynda heard the object being slotted into something, and Jaune stepped back. He pulled the cord connected to the wall-mounted box. "This should get the plumbing working again."
"You know the water around this place is a little finicky. Sometimes the water won't come out the sinks," Jaune mentioned as they watched the toilet. Moments passed, and nothing happened within the latrine. "Um," he nervously said.
Soft groaning could be heard from the tank, and the Overseer panicked. Glynda moved forward and reached into the tank. She pulled out the black cylinder Jaune put in and held it between them. "So, what is the purpose of this device?"
"It's supposed to control the water that comes from the dust crystal." Glynda studied the object and looked at both ends. The Paladin scanned the object in her hands. His panicked eyes looked it up and down, but after a moment, he sighed dejectedly.
"Where's the stick you used to manipulate with this object?" Jaune disappeared into the main room and returned with the brown stick. It was a wand-like object that had a white tip at the end.
"Here you go." He handed her the stick, and she manipulated the etched circles at the ends. Jaune watched in awe as she skillfully changed the spell circles. Moments passed until Glynda was finished, and she handed the thing to Jaune.
"You tried to fix it yourself, didn't you?" She asked with a knowing tone. "Without asking Ozpin or this Rubes for help?" Jaune nodded his head shyly. "Your spell etching needs work. You could've blown up the whole room with that."
Her captor scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "Yeah, I've never been good with academics. Or fighting." Glynda rolled her eyes at him and handed the device back to him. "All right, let's see what's going to happen." He slotted it back in and pulled the cord again. Nothing happened, and Jaune looked at her with worry.
The Goodwitch stared at the box with confidence. "Give it a moment; genius takes time." Groaning could be heard from the walls again, and they were louder. Her confidence started to waver, and Jaune was back to panicking. The knight reached for the object, and the witch made to stop him.
The wall exploded with water and showered them in a mini monsoon. They stood there frozen in the position they were in before the explosion. Jaune's mouth opened for his next thought, but Glynda's hand was already in front of it. "Not. A. Word." He nodded his head wordlessly in response. A knock at the door brought them looking at each other, and Jaune shrugging at the idea of who it could be.
"One second!" Jaune shouted to the door. Glynda left with a towel and made for her room to change. She could hear more knocking from the door; this time, it was thunderous. "Coming," Jaune said from someplace in the house. She changed into another pair of the same clothing after drying herself.
A loud crash came from the front door. Glynda sighed and left her room with parts of her still wet. When she entered the main room, a woman with arms bigger than her neck was squeezing the life out of her Overseer in a monstrous bear hug. At the same time, a green garb man stood in the background with a slight smile on his face.
"Nora," Jaune gasped out, "let go. Can't." He gasped again. The green man in the background stepped forward and touched Nora's shoulder. She lets go, and Jaune took deep gulps of air. His relief was visible, and he looked up at the green man. "Thanks, Ren." Ren nodded his head, and then he turned to Glynda.
"So you're the Badwitch?" He looked her up and down with a critical eye. The witch took a step back and looked at him with the same eyes. His baggy clothes and the slippers he wore spoke of the witch's natural enemy.
"Yes, I am, assassin," she said as she took a step forward. They stared each other down before the muscular orange hair woman stepped between them.
"Hi, I'm Nora. How's it going?" Nora put her hand forward, and Glynda took it with caution. Nora shook her hand with both of hers and crushed the poor appendage. When the prisoner got her hand back, she inspected it hoping nothing broke. Nora didn't break her hand, but the soreness was real. "We're Jaune-Jaune's team and here to help."
AN: I have to say thank you for everyone's understanding. I hope this chapter is something you all enjoy. It might not be two months' worth of content, considering I couldn't write the previous month. Which brought this whole gap. I had a lot of reviews about not having burnout and taking care of myself. Which is something I'm still learning.
I've become a more determined person in the two months I haven't seen you guys. I've always felt like the lazy idiot that would never join the race. Even though he was at the starting line and had everything, he needed. I will not be that person, and I'll stop putting myself down. Sing like no one is listening. Dance like no one is watching, and reach for your dreams as if nothing else matters.
I thought of that about a year ago to hide from my laziness. But I'm to take that saying and push for it. I've been embarrassed to say what I wanted to do with life but no longer. I think this whole thing of writing fanfiction has set me in this direction. So thank you, everyone. Stay safe, and I hope y'all enjoyed it. Leave a review of what you think to aid in improvement.
If you like what I make and want to see more, find me on Youtube, Twitch, TikTok, Twitter, and Facebook at Dragoo_Fire. The links are on the profile page.
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Next Chapter: January 17th