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A shadowy figure loomed over the city, watching over the population as they foolishly walked under the shattered moon, never knowing the grace of his goddess. But there was one foolish mortal that dared lay his filthy hands on her perfect body. One who didn't know what crime he had just committed. It was heresy that the man didn't prostrate himself to the goddess, beg for forgiveness and loyalty for his crimes of touching her. He would make sure that the sinner would suffer the consequences! But it was rather difficult to hunt the said sinner.
For he was walled in the most heretical area within this doomed city, and the leader was his goddess's nemesis. Trying to infiltrate the area would be hard-pressed, even for someone of his caliber. But he wasn't worried. He had all the time in the world, as Beacon and the city of Vale would be the next moving point in history. All that was needed was just patience.
"Just one stab, and that infidel that dare calls himself a masseur will be dead for his crimes!" cackled Tyrian as he jumped from the rooftops, disappearing into the Vale nightlife.
However, away from his spot while he was monologuing, he failed to notice Neo, who had been using her illusion to cloak herself from the man. Neo had happened to be there by accident, wandering around Vale, like she had done before. She had a bit more free time with Roman still in captivity for now. She had seen the man, and was ready to ignore him and write him off as a nobody when she heard the words masseur.
Tyrian had been wearing a cloak and hiding his tail carefully, so Neo hadn't been able to get a good look at the man before he disappeared. Still, she could sense the man was dangerous, even for her.
'Maybe I should just stuff Jaune into an airship and ship him to Mistral,' mused Neo, 'Cinder clearly has connections there if she could get us in as a team with nobody questioning it.'
Vacuo and Atlas were out of the question. At Vacuo, even with Jaune's impressive Aura reserves and skills, he would only be a second class citizen and be taken advantage of. She already saw team NDGO trying to claim Jaune as their omega, as well as a few other teams from Vacuo. And with Atlas's strict laws and patrols, she wouldn't be able to have her massages so easily.
The more Neo thought about it, the better the plan seemed. Not to mention, there was already a possible in with Pyrrha Nikos seemingly interested in Jaune. Should he move to Jaune, Neo had no doubt Pyrrha would endorse him. She saw how Pyrrha looked at him. Neo knew she could take advantage of this if she pushed it right.
'In fact, wasn't she going back home due to her team not participating in the Vytal Festival?' thought Neo to herself, 'Perhaps this is a chance to get Jaune away from the whole mess without actually having to kidnap him.'
Neo decided to busy herself in planning how to get Jaune away before the Vytal Festival, which was approaching faster than she liked.
Jaune yawned as he prepared his breakfast. A simple dish to get him through the day with a full schedule. With the Vytal festival coming closer, many students were starting to work harder at the gym or sparring, leading to more accidents. Only those who decided to not participate in the Vytal Festival tournament were taking missions outside the city, as the majority stayed within Vale to prepare themselves.
Though he did notice that during his stay at the library when he had time to study, he could feel some eyes staring at him. Nothing malevolent, but he could feel something. He also noticed that some of the teams, especially the female students from Vacuo, seemed eager to get closer to him as the festival drew closer. Especially team NDGO, who kept battering their eyes at him any chance they got, as well pulling their shirt down a little. Though they always seemed to vanish as soon as Pyrrha arrived. Speaking of which….
"Hey Jaune," smiled Pyrrha as she put her bag down, pulling out some textbooks, "Studying hard?"
"Yea," nodded Jaune as he glanced at Pyrrha, who was wearing her uniform today, "Asked Doctor Oobleck on some references, and he guided me to these books. Though having a little trouble with some of this part of history."
"Let me take a look," suggested Pyrrha, scooting her chair over to see, "Perhaps I can help explain it in easier terms."
Jaune felt bad to have Pyrrha tutor him, but she kept telling him that it was a good review for her own tests. She even went over dust usage with him, something he had been severely lacking, having never had to use it besides commercial use.
"Jaune, what are your plans for the Vytal Festival?" asked Pyrrha as they were wrapping up their impromptu study session.
Jaune shrugged for a second, "Not sure. If I still had my old shop, I'd probably be open until the day of the tournament. Now though? I have a week off before the tournament starts. I'm not allowed to give any massages, especially Aura massages, to any of the contestants. The staff are afraid it might give contestants an unfair advantage. My grandpa is planning to head back home, and wants to bring me along to at least spend some time with the family. It has been a while since I last saw them, much less speak to them."
"You mentioned that they live on Anima, right?" asked Pyrrha.
"Yep," nodded Jaune, "Though my sister Saphron lives in Argus with her wife and newborn. I might visit them first before we all go together to see the whole family."
"In that case, do you want to come with me!?" said Pyrrha, a little louder than she intended.
Clearing her throat, Pyrrha continued, "I'll be heading back to Argus to visit my mother as well as my agent, since I'm not participating in the Vytal Festival Tournament."
"You're not?" questioned Jaune, having never been told the details about participating in the tournament, "Aren't you kind of a big shot? I thought you wanted to."
Pyrrha frowned before gesturing with her hand, waiving in the air before replying, "Maybe. I was expected to, but participation in the tournament requires a full team that has worked with each other for more than a semester. Because of my ex-partner, my team doesn't meet the requirements."
Jaune nodded in understanding before asking, "And you and your team are ok with it? Ren doesn't seem like he minds, but Nora looks like someone who wanted to….. knock some kneecaps."
Pyrrha giggled slightly as she responded, "Nora is Nora. While she wanted to fight against other people, she's perfectly happy just to watch."
"And you?" asked Jaune.
Pyrrha was silent for a minute before replying, "It's honestly… different. I was expected to participate because of my reputation. And I don't mind fighting, but it feels weird not to be in it. Weird….. but liberating."
The two were silent for a little before Jaune stroked his chin, "Well since you're planning to head to Argus, I wouldn't mind the company. You could meet my sister before I head back to see the rest of my family."
"That would be lovely," smiled Pyrrha, "You can meet my mother as well. I'm sure she would love to meet you as well."
As Jaune finished packing his books, he felt his Scroll vibrate. Picking it up, he saw it was a message from Ozpin, requesting him to come to the tower once more.
"I'll catch up with you next time," said Jaune as he stood up, "I need to head to Vale to pick up a gift for my nephew if I'm going to visit Argus. Maybe we can go together? I could use some help."
"That would be lovely!" smiled Pyrrha, waiving goodbye as Jaune left.
Pyrrha walked back to her dorm, almost skipping as she did so. She noticed team NDGO glaring at her, especially Octavia, but a mere glance back at them made them look away, especially Octavia. The memory of Pyrrha completely beating her months back was still fresh in her mind.
Jaune found himself once more in the unknown room that housed the mysterious patient that he wasn't allowed to talk about.
"Why am I here again when I just did an Aura massage on this patient not that long ago?" asked Jaune in confusion.
"We found out that your Aura massage apparently has a rejuvenating effect on coma patients with Aura," clarified Ozpin, "We noticed that our young patient has seen significant improvements after your massage. We're hoping that another session will be enough to awaken her, or at least improve her current situation."
"Fair enough," shrugged Jaune as he stretched his fingers, "Should I do the same massage as before focusing on keeping the muscles limber, or should I do my usual?"
"How about a deep tissue massage that you've done for most of us?" suggested Glynda, "Try something a little different."
Jaune nodded as he finished warming his hands up, grabbing some massage oil that Glynda had been kind enough to grab before getting started. All while Ironwood had his eyes glued to the Scroll monitoring the coma patient's status.
"Jaune, would you be able to indulge in some questions while you're doing your massage?" asked Ozpin.
Jaune merely gave a grunt as he pushed into his patient's back with the palm of his hands.
"Is there any difference from the usual massage that you do with other clients?" asked Ozpin.
"Not really?" replied Jaune, "I do what I usually do?"
"Ah, allow me to clarify," coughed Ozpin, "What I meant is that do you feel like there is a difference between then and now for this patient? And is there any difference from what you sense when you massage other patients?"
Jaune hummed for a good minute as he tried to compose an answer while massaging his mysterious patient, now working on her lower back.
"It does feel different," said Jaune finally, "When I use my Aura to massage a patient, I can feel it… linger there? Not too sure how to describe it. However, when I first massaged this patient, I could feel the Aura that I use being suctioned up into somewhere else. I couldn't figure out why, so I kept probing until I found the…. source of it? It was like some sort of drain. Kinda like watching a faucet that keeps releasing water to fill a basin, only for a drain or hole to keep it from doing so. It wouldn't let my Aura linger. So I found it apparently over her stomach."
"And what did you do to stop it?" asked Ironwood, his eyebrows raised.
"Well, it got me thinking about shaping my Aura into some sort of construct," shrugged Jaune, "Someone mentioned it, and Headmaster Ozpin expanded on the explanation of such a thing before showing off creating a small green barrier floating in front of his hands."
Glynda and Ironwood turned towards Ozpin, who had the decency to let out a small blush before motioning for Jaune to continue.
"So I decided to try out a theory," shrugged Jaune, "If there's a leak, then I should plug it up right? So I think I managed to create a plug or a stopper out of Aura and stopped it, because after I did that, I noticed my Aura didn't go away anymore!"
"How does that work?" asked Ironwood in confusion, "Isn't your 'plug' made of Aura? Wouldn't it just disappear into the drain if it's been draining it?"
"Errr… I made it bigger than the hole?" blinked Jaune, "Now that you say that…. I don't know? I got lucky perhaps?"
While Glynda, Ironwood, and even Jaune tried to wrap around Jaune's own theory, Ozpin's eyes narrowed. Out of all of them, he had the most experience with Aura. He quickly remembered the moment that Jaune had hovered over Amber's stomach for a good moment before raising his hand up. It had been too fast for anyone to catch, but Ozpin swore he saw the construct that Jaune had made. Except it hadn't been a flat stopper, but something with a pointed edge. He hadn't been fast enough to even comment or do anything when Jaune pressed down once more. Seeing nothing bad had happened, he had ignored it, thinking it had been his imagination.
Now, though, he was wondering if what Jaune did was the reason why Amber's vitals had spiked up in numbers. Just what had Jaune stabbed, and what if it had been the source of why they hadn't been able to heal Amber? Too many questions, and sadly never enough time, especially when it came to Salem.
Jaune soon finished his massage, and was escorted out by Ironwood this time. Glynda was cleaning Amber's body when they heard another groan. They both froze as they saw Amber's eyes beginning to flicker before she opened them.
"Water…..," groaned Amber.
Glynda promptly used her Semblance to summon a pitcher of water, pouring it into a glass before feeding it to Amber. Amber quickly drank it up, quenching her thirst for a bit. Amber ended up just grabbing the pitcher and drinking it straight out of it, uncaring that water was spilling out of her mouth and onto her chest.
After Amber managed to quench her thirst, she groaned as her head suddenly spiked in pain. Glynda gently laid her back onto the bed, allowing Amber some time before she felt her headache recede.
"Amber, can you talk?" asked Ozpin cautiously as he approached the table.
Amber turned her head towards Ozpin, her eyes gaining some clarity as she recognized Beacon's headmaster.
"Are you alright? You're in safe hands now," continued Ozpin as he gently put his hand onto the table, "Can you remember what happened? And how are you feeling?"
Amber closed her eyes, trying to remember, only to recall nothing besides a splitting headache that grew when she tried harder.
Shaking her head, Amber replied, "No. I remember….. finishing my mission. Heading out. Then….. nothing. Only things I can remember was the shame and humiliation… before excruciating pain. I'm sorry."
"Don't," said Ozpin softly, "It wasn't your fault. Luckily Qrow was able to reach you before they went too far. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to get a good look at the attacks. All he knows is that there were three of them, and one of them seemed to be able to harness the power of the Maidens. Tell me….. do you still have the Fall Maiden power?"
Amber's eyes widened as she quickly searched within her own soul. A moment of silence passed as Ozpin and Glynda waited for the news.
"It's…. still here," said Amber slowly as she opened her eyes, "But it feels…. Weird."
"Weird?" asked Glynda.
"Did the Fall Maiden's power come back to you?" asked Ozpin, thinking the assailant might have somehow been killed. Though it didn't make sense, it was the only reasonable explanation.
"It feels…. incomplete and yet whole. I can feel half of it is gone, but yet I also feel like all of it is still with me. Like some sort of paradox," Amber confessed, "It doesn't make sense!"
"Maybe the Aura massages that Jaune has been giving did something?" theorized Glynda, "It's a stretch, but it's the only theory I can think of."
"We'll have to be careful," said Ozpin before turning to Amber, "I hope you don't mind staying here for a while. We need to run some tests to ensure you don't slip into a coma again. You'll also need time to recover."
Amber nodded as she tried to move her legs, only to suddenly realize she was unable to feel her legs.
"Why can't I move my legs!?" panicked Amber as she began to hyperventilate.
Glynda and Ozpin quickly moved to help her calm down, slowing down her breathing.
"Amber, it's normal not to be able to move from the waist below, especially after a coma," explained Ozpin, "Just take your time to take in everything. It should come back in time."
"A coma?" said Amber slowly, "Headmaster….. How long was I out?"
"More than a year," said Ozpin, shocking Amber, "You may have been in one longer if we hadn't stumbled upon an unlikely solution."
Amber raised her eyebrow as Glynda began to explain and extol Beacon's newest masseur.
"I think Adrian would enjoy this," said Jaune as he picked out a toy.
"Na man, you gotta get something more unique than a simple toy," argued Dove, "You can get that at any old store. You're at Vale, and from what you've said, he's Argus. Get something that's of a more local speciality, something they don't have there."
"How about this!?" smiled Sky as he held a video game console, newest in the line.
"Sky, he's barely 2 months old," said Jaune with a flat face, "He can't even use it, much less play it. He'd end up chewing on it or something.
"Oh….. well I'm buying it," said Sky as he held onto the package.
Dove sighed as the others giggled at Sky's response, who went to pay for it.
Jaune was at Vale, along with Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren. Sky and Dove decided to also accompany him, acting as secondary bodyguards. Both teams were ineligible to participate in the Vytal Festival Tournament, so they weren't training as hard as the teams that were trying to get in some last minute training or strategy meetings. The duo had been planning to head into Vale when they coincidentally met Jaune and the others at the Bullhead, and decided to tag along.
"You should get him this!" exclaimed Nora as she pulled out her suggestion.
"Nora, we are not giving a baby sugary treats," lectured Ren as he yanked sugar cookie filled maple syrup, "He can't even chew on these properly, much less handle the sugar rush that it's going to give him."
Nora pouted as she turned around to give Ren the puppy eyes, but he stood firm.
"What do you think?" asked Jaune as he turned to Pyrrha, "You've lived in Argus more than I have. Think there might be something more unique here that they don't have in Argus?"
"Ummm," hesitated Pyrrha, unsure what to choose, especially for a baby, "Maybe…. that?"
They all turned to what Pyrrha was pointing at. Hanging on a rack was a red onesie that was rather unique. On the limbs and waist down were microfiber extensions. Pyrrha had no idea what they were for, and though it might have been part of a fashion design. As to why she chose a onesie, she herself had felt rather comfortable after wearing Jaune's before, even ordering one for herself.
"Isn't that a baby mop?" asked Sky.
"Baby mop?" asked Nora and Pyrrha in confusion.
"Err… well it's a onesie that you have babies put on to…. mop the floors," explained Dove, scratching the side of his head, "You know, since they're already crawling, might as well have them clean the floors for you."
Silence reigned for a second before…..
"I'm so sorry!" apologized Pyrrha immediately, "I didn't mean it like that!"
Jaune merely chuckled before picking out the onesie, "You know, I hadn't thought about it, but I know my sister well enough. She could use the help, considering I did most of the cleaning back home."
After purchasing another toy as well as some coffee blends unique to Vale's climate, they walked out of the store, ready to wander around a little more.
On the rooftops, a figure sneered as he spotted his prey. Now he just needed the chance, which there were many. Tyrian didn't care if people spotted him. All that mattered was killing the infidel.
Dun Dun DUnnnn! Tyrian has spotted his prey!