29Best possible version of yourself, chapter 14
AN: Welcome back everyone, here's another chapter, I hope you all enjoy.
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Vale, Beacon, that same evening a few minutes after the end of last chapter
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As JNR is sitting in their room, all three quietly reading, even Nora, who has a book on all the ways you can prepare pancakes and waffles in her hands, they hear Phyrra angrily talking into her phone from the bathroom before she hangs up and stomps back into the room, immediately gaining the attention of her teammates. As she sees them she slowly calms herself until she once more is the picture of calm and reserved, at which point she starts up ''My apologies Jaune, but unlike planned I can't come with to the team outing into Vale on Saturday, I need to show up at a photo-shoot with Sandor's Outerwear instead. My agent has told me that if I don't go, the chain might cancel their contract for buying the shoes my parents produce, which they really can't afford.''
Jaune gives the distraught woman a smile ''It isn't an issue Phyrra, family is important, I understand that. We'll just go out on Sunday instead.'' He thinks for a moment before realizing something ''That also gives me the time to contact my own family and bring Ren and Nora to meet an old friend of ours, both things that will probably take quite some time.''
After a moment of thinking Nora realizes who he is talking about, causing her to appear next to Jaune, staring at him ''We are visiting cute boy Oz?'' As Jaune nods she grabs him and starts shaking ''Yes, yes, we're visiting Cute Boy Oz!'' she then grabs Ren and starts shaking him, repeating the same sentence as somebody knocks on the door, causing Phyrra to open it, showing Weiss in front of it, looking somewhat annoyed.
''Could you please keep the noise down, Blake and Yang are already sleeping while Ruby and I are still trying to study.'' She then sees that Nora is shaking Ren up and down, him often ending up at least a foot above the ground, and is visibly surprised ''…Could you please stop Valkyrie from using steroids and drinking? I feel she might injure mister Ren if this continues.''
By this point Spirit has taken control of Jaune, seeing an opportunity to wheedle the white haired girl ''Well I would if she had taken any of either of those, however she is completely sober and without drugs. Though Weiss, I feel that you are a bit too familiar with those, do I need to call Miss Goodwitch to inspect your room to find your stash of both items?'' At Weiss's perplexed look and Jaune's terror in the back of his head, Spirit continues ''I might decide not to do so if you can lend me some brandy for my breakfast tomorrow morning, but I'll try to keep Nora calmer nonetheless.''
By this point Weiss has gone red in the face before she lets out an annoyed huff and stomps away, surprising Spirit who had expected a burst of anger, allowing Jaune to retake control and desperately try to apologize, said attempt falling on deaf ears as Weiss ignores him as best as she can before going back into her own room. Jaune sighs, still annoyed with Spirit, before going to Nora and helping Ren in calming her down ''Nora if you return to your book, you can find out options for what we could have for our lunch meetup with Oscar.''
This sets Nora to thinking for a moment before nodding and rushing back to her bed, so she can read up some more on the various options and weigh them against one another. Jaune sighs in relief while Phyrra is still looking at him strangely for the sudden shift in personality that just took place in front of her. Then she shakes her head and just adds it to the list while grabbing a book herself as the others return to their reading.
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Atlas, Military Headquarters
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Two soldiers are in an office, going over a map laid out over a desk together with some reports laid out nearby, as the younger of the two, a white haired woman, speaks up ''Sir, are you sure you are alright to perform your duties?'' As he gives a non-committal grunt, the woman gathers up her courage and steels her resolve ''Sir, my sincerest apologies for stepping out of line, however you look terrible as if you haven't slept at all in weeks and even before that you had been extremely busy with the recently intensified Grimm assaults on independent settlements and more isolated outposts. Please, if nothing else, talk to me or somebody else you trust about it.''
The tall, dark haired man she had been speaking to sighs before running a hand through his hair and sitting down in the chair behind him as a slight glow seems to leave his eyes, before opening a small cabinet in the desk below the map and getting a bottle out. ''I have probably been using my semblance too much lately, if we're going to do this do sit down, officially it is after our duty hours anyways, I do thank you for helping me while I was stuck in it.'' As he pours the two of them a small glass he drinks a shot before feeling the burn for a moment. Then he looks at the bottle with slight alarm ''I am also starting to understand why Qrow turns to this whenever he feels troubled, which is probably a terrible sign. Thank you Winter, for putting up with my stubbornness if nothing else.''
The now named Winter gives a salute before giving her answer ''Of course sir.'' Then she gives him a small smile ''With how much you have sacrificed for the continued safety of our kingdom, I would be a very bad subordinate and citizen of Atlas to not support you with some of my time when you clearly need it General.'' He gives her a small tired smile in return, before he shakes his head.
''I think you've put up with my stubbornness enough that if we are alone you can call me James, Winter, though do be sure to not let anyone else know of it or they're going to spin some tale as enlisted men so often do when bored.'' He shakes his head slightly again ''But to get back onto topic, the main issue is that whenever I close my eyes for the past two weeks I have one of a very small selection of nightmares, with the two most prominent ones involving either the Fall of Vale at the hands of a combined White Fang and Grimm assault or a large scale infiltration assault into Mantle where no matter how many times we counter attack and push the Grimm back out, they break through somewhere else, occasionally with humans even supporting them…''
As he throws another glass down his throat, Winter speaks up again, with her smile having grown slightly upon hearing his willingness to be more familiar with her and the slightly better mood the man seems to already be in. ''If it isn't an issue sir, could you specify more how that situation in those nightmares comes to be, if we look into it and find issues we can better the situation and maybe it will allow you to rest once again instead of this?''
He nods, takes a moment to collect himself and starts up ''The first nightmare, the one with Beacon, starts with me watching from the stands during the Vytal festival, only for Penny Polinda to get ripped to pieces by a semblance, with the reaction of the one doing so indicating it wasn't her intention at all… as if somebody manipulated them. For some reason the person doing so has a great resemblance to that Nikos girl that got popular in Mistral in the past few years,'' he gives a small smile and shakes his head ''With how happy Ozpin was about taking her from them her part in the nightmare is probably a result of me hearing him talk about his new potential students a few weeks ago.''
He loses the smile quickly as his mind goes back to the idea of innocent Penny ''I see her head flying through the arena, her body collapsing as a wave of some kind of magnetic semblance rips through her weapons. Afterwards somebody somehow activates the announcement override installed as a warning system in the CCT, only to use it to try and strengthen distrust the people of the various kingdoms have towards their governments and leaders. The exact details aren't overly important of what she says, only that as she finishes a Grimm assault happens on Vale, with Amity in particular being targeted. I go out, fight and kill several Grimm before giving a short speech to a crowd of what I would assume to be students.''
He stills for a moment as if trying to remember, but before he continues he stops immediately as Winter also looks perplexed. Their eyes meet and Winter starts up ''Si… James,'' as she tries out the name he nods, causing her to continue ''Is it that exact same start each time you have the nightmare?'' He nods ''My apologies if what I say is strange but isn't that extremely specific and also a lot of remembered detail for what is supposed to be only a nightmare?'' He nods and they are silent for a moment, thinking it over, before he continues, both their minds racing for what that could possibly mean.
''After I finish said short speech I start piloting a dropship filled with some of our newest synthetic soldiers, intending on using them as a hammer strike to counter attack the Grimm wherever the walls have been breached the worst, only for said robots to activate on their own and attack me, forcing me to send the ship crashing before I have to fight them off, and once I am on the ground realizing that seemingly every robot in the vicinity has switched sides to the attackers…''
Winters eyes widen as she thinks of the sheer devastation it would cause if such a thing happened in real life, defenders, already engaged with the Grimm from behind improvised barricades, suddenly also facing those robots that were fighting side by side with them moments before with no form of defence between them and the element of surprise being in the robots favour. It would be a massacre before proper command has been re-established, and that is without counting in the damage the Grimm would do in the meanwhile.
''As I fight and try to take out as many of them as possible, my clothing getting ripped and sustaining damage to my aura, I then notice a Grimm wyvern appearing as if the situation wasn't terrible enough already, while our battleships seem to have turned on one another.'' As he takes a moment to let it all sink in he takes another shot, only to be interrupted by Winter bringing her glass forward, whereupon he fills it as well as his own before he continues.
''To be honest that one is the worst, the other main nightmare while in it setbacks are suffered, it is actually a battle that we do keep getting the upper hand in by throwing the Grimm out of the city again with counter attacks without our synthetic troops betraying us. It is less of a nightmare than the previous one actually, though with how many men we lose with each breach to close it again it is still a horrendous dream if nothing else. After one of those counter attacks, I get back to headquarters only to receive the news that the woman at least partially responsible for organising the 'fall of Beacon' which I think is my minds way of referring to the other nightmare, has broken through the wall somewhere but was spotted and engaged by a huntsman team with some synthetic support.''
He takes a breath for a moment, thinking about something before continuing ''I then rush out of the room, calling up a team called 'RWBY' to come support me,'' the moment she hears him say this Winter looks at him in surprise, however the general is too deep in thought to notice ''Who then rush to join me and together we enter a bullhead that rushes to the scene. For some reason this team has a young woman that looks a bit like how you looked as a first year academy student, but with an outfit looking more like a white dress rather than the military uniform you wore and a younger looking version of an old acquaintance of mine, Summer Rose.''
Winter interrupts him for a moment ''Sir, my apologies, but does the younger looking version of me have a scar near her eye, is slightly shorter than me and wearing a dress with a lot of white in it.'' Ironwood gives a slightly confused nod at the interruption before Winter continues ''And does the team also contained a fairly tall young brawler type woman with blond hair and purple eyes, while the young Rose girl is wielding a giant scythe, with the last member of the team being a black haired girl that looks somewhat similar to Kali Belladonna?''
As Ironwood gives one more nod he also adds ''In this nightmare that last girl even has cat ears of some type, how did you know?'' As he says this however he starts wondering if he had been sleep talking as Winter pulls out her scroll and searches for a moment, showing him a picture of a team in what seems to be Beacons post initiation ceremony, with there slightly younger looking versions of the women he saw in his dream ''Yes that is them, wait who are they?''
Winter looks him in the eyes, concerned ''Sir that is team RWBY at Beacon, my sisters new team… tell me do a blond haired young man with the name Arc, Miss Nikos, a black haired mistralian young man called Ren or a orange haired young women called Nora also feature in that second nightmare?''
The general is even more stumped ''Yes, all except Nikos feature here, they were the huntsman team that called in that they were engaging the threat and as the bullhead arrives at the location I see them striking the last blow, at a large cost to themselves as all except a black haired teenage boy with tanned skin seem to be either dead or critically wounded upon said last blow as I jump out of the bullhead to get down to them, at which point a flash of light escapes outwards from the blond haired young man…''
Winters eyes widen once more as she searches for a few moments on her scroll before showing him a picture again, this time from a group of men talking at what he recognizes is probably the aftermath of the most recent battle of Verdun, including once more two young men that look very much like the blond haired and younger black haired teenager he saw in his nightmare. At this point something clicks in Ironwoods head, though he is still stumped at the possibility ''I have a possible explanation on how this might be the case, that I will give you in detail once we have made sure there are few other options, but suffice to say I think somebody sent this to me as a form of warning rather than it being my own nightmare. I will need to contact Ozpin first, afterwards I will inform you of everything I can.''
Winter nods and salutes him before asking ''Permission to be dismissed sir to process this?''
He nods at her ''Permission granted specialist.'' As she walks out he waits till the door is closed before slamming his hand into the table ''I should have realized this was Ozpins magic bullshit coming to bite me in the ass. Ah well, at least it should give us possible results in the long term, but why do it in such a roundabout way through nightmares?'' As he shakes his head he starts up an encrypted connection to Ozpins office ''I hope you have some answers for me, old friend.''
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Next day later in the afternoon, forest ten kilometres north of Vale
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As the soldiers of Arc and Pines Rifles march on their patrol, their officers and the national militia scout keep their eyes out for any sign of Grimm, uncertain as to where they could be. The small column of almost identically blue uniformed men is marching along a less well used road in the forest, leading to a village who's residents had long since abandoned it for Vale proper, now only used by the Valean militia as a rest and resupply point for patrols like these.
One of the exceptions to said sea of blue colours is currently grumbling under his breath as he marches at the head of said column, this being a white haired young man in a smaller officers version of the uniform the men wore. Next to him, Oscar is chuckling slightly at Whitley's behaviour and how different it is from this morning all the while the scout still occasionally takes strange looks at Oscar. Which is somewhat understandable, after all not every day do you see a young man garbed highly reminiscent of the old kings of Vale, with even a cane sword just like them strapped to his belt. Getting an occasional glare from the earlier mentioned white haired youth for his chuckling.
''Hey, you did say you wanted to get away from the constant paperwork and training back at the base for a moment, and this certainly isn't either of those.'' At Oscars words the grumbling lessens but is instead replaced by the other young man glaring at him constantly, looking as if he is trying to burn the green garbed youth alive with his eyes alone. This causes the target to roll his eyes ''Come on Whitley, I talked about these patrols for quite a bit back at base and explained how they work. You can't blame me for assuming you understood what I meant when I said 'hours of walking'.''
Whitley looks away at that statement, looking slightly embarrassed ''I assumed you meant that metaphorically, not literally, and even if literally I assumed a few hours, not almost six hours with a singular half an hour break and another hour to go by this point.'' He now turns his annoyed look towards the third man ''Why are we actually even marching in the first place instead of using some kind of vehicle or even horses, we would get the patrol route done a lot faster, saving us time and the city money.''
Said third man, the national militia scout dressed in his Valean official uniform responds easily ''Because otherwise we wouldn't be in locations long enough to actually attract the attention of most of the Grimm, thereby nullifying one of the major reasons these road patrols exist in the first place, drawing out hidden Grimm from nearby before a supply or trade caravan does so.''
From the speed and casualness of said response and the tiredness in his voice the other two quickly surmise this had been far from the first time he was asked that question and the man likely also knew it would be far from the last time. However a few moments later, the scout holds up his hand as he focuses on his semblance, relaying the 'halt' signal to the column. The troops stop and all start looking around, aiming their rifles into the forest and searching for potential threats.
As they do so the absence of their own boots hitting the ground lets sounds previously hidden by it to become clearer, birds chirping, branches rustling and the distant roars of the Grimm, which are slowly becoming louder and thus closer. ''They're coming mainly from our right flank though at least a few are moving in from ahead instead.''
At the scouts words Oscar starts giving orders ''Formation, wheel right, back away ten paces!'' as it is shouted they immediately follow the commands, turning right and moving back till their backline is standing in the forest on the other side of the road from the approaching threat. ''Two closed ranks, sharpshooters to the left flank!'' Again it is followed as the now last line of the marching column moves out and instead widens the line formation, while the front rank goes down to their knees and takes aim, the second rank quickly following their example.
On the mentioned flank, the two sharpshooters take aim while their officers draw their weapons and prepare themselves to receive he assault. They quickly start seeing Grimm appear in the trees and Oscar shouts ''First volleys, fire!'' first the frontline, then the second fire into the approaching Grimm, sending a number stumbling and slowing down their charge as the wave of lead impacts ''Fire at will!''
As he gives the order and the men start shooting, Ursa and Beowolves fall and are luckily not replaced by more re-enforcements, but a larger than average Ursa and a Boartusk that were flanking manage to dodge or tank the few hits sent their way and crash out of the forest, forcing Oscar to charge in to engage the Ursa, leaving Whitley and the scout to deal with the Boartusk while the men continue firing at the remaining Beowolves and Ursa trying to reach them, while the sharpshooters take out any flying Grimm trying to join in on the skirmish.
Oscar rams his cane into the left leg of the Ursa as he charges it after ducking under a swing of its paw, before quickly turning and hitting the back of the same leg again as the Ursa cries out in pain and anger. However as Oscar tries to go in for another blow he has to instead parry a slamming strike of the far larger Grimm, throwing him back a bit and forcing him to dodge the next two attempted slashes before the Grimm stumbles from its injured limb, allowing Oscar to duck behind it and worsen that injury.
As this is happening Whitley managed to slow the Boartusk down with a glyph, only for it to break as his concentration lessens slightly from the strain, forcing him to then jump to the side to avoid being flattened as the scout puts a few shots into it only for the Boartusk to adjust its course slightly and just ram into him, sending him stumbling back into a tree as his aura flickers. As it is about to go in again and flatten him however, it is stopped by another Glyph before a boosted Whitley slams into its side sabre first, sending it flying into a tree and exposing its weaker side, allowing the scout to open fire with his SMG and riddle it with bullets, causing it to disperse.
With the victory over the Boartusk they can turn to look over at Oscar, who is slowly whittling his opponent down, as by now its right back leg is almost ruined, with it no longer being able to support weight as its front paws have also taken damage from Oscars hits before a last hit to its last healthy limb sends it crashing into the ground, allowing for an Aura enhanced strike with all his weight behind it to the beasts neck, killing it. The men start cheering and Whitley quickly realizes that there are no more enemies to fight, wiping the sweat off his brow and taking a quick drink from his flask.
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That evening, Arc and pines rifles complex
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As they arrived back that evening Auburn immediately started fretting over them, forcing them to sit on the beds in the former medical bay as she checks them over, and hugging both of them several times. They are again surprised, having expected the previous night to be an exception only for her to react ''Now that I've cleared the air I want it to be very clear, I am becoming attached to the two of you quickly and I'm not planning on letting you two go, ever. So prepare yourselves to be mothered each time you come back from a mission, especially you mister, since you very clearly need it.''
She points at Whitley with the last remark, who sputters somewhat back, but otherwise doesn't offer any commentary and instead silently takes the attention, a small smile and blush developing on his face at the care received. After she is sure he is fine she orders him to go contact his sister, since she deserves a moment to talk to him as well.
''So you got into a fight with a pack of Grimm, are you sure you are fine?'' While still slightly strange to comprehend, the affection shown by his sister is nice to the younger man, especially after having had a cold relationship with her to say the least for the past few years, as he happily nods to answer her concerned question. ''Good, and you better stay safe now. I'll come visit you this weekend with my team, I want to both introduce them and also talk to you about some things that are easier to say in person rather than over a scroll.''
As he nods she smiles at him ''Keep yourself safe until then baby brother, I still need to teach you all kinds of things about how to use the family glyphs after all.'' He returns the smile and says his goodbye before going to grab some dinner.
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Beacon
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As he is sitting down to eat dinner and overhears Weiss talk to Ruby about who she was on the phone with before being called over to eat, Spirit realizes something and warns Jaune 'You might want to go speak to your sisters the moment dinner is over, they probably won't take too well to you not calling them even after you have been in Vale for quite a while already.'
At this statement, Jaune stiffens, with his friends looking at him concerned since his hand was frozen in mid air, fork still clenched in it. Then he groans as he lowers his head to the table ''I'm an idiot…'' to the chuckling of Nora and Yang, who while having no idea what he is talking about do somewhat agree and find his behaviour just fun while Ren gives a small smile. Weiss meanwhile lifts an eyebrow as she looks away from her own conversation.
''Not that I disagree with you Arc, considering you didn't even know whom Phyrra or I were when you first met us, but why exactly did you notice this right now?'' As Jaune lifts his head to glare at her she rolls her eyes ''Oh please you are the one to point it out, not me, I am just agreeing with your statement of truth.''
Jaune sighs ''I forgot to call my sisters and parents about me entering Beacon, this is going to be less than fun to handle. Especially Saphron, Terra and Jade, they'll rip into me for not calling them earlier.'' Several of the people around the table look at him with questioning looks, causing him to retort back ''What?''
Weiss rolls her eyes again ''I think we are somewhat surprised by you saying especially and then instead of mentioning one person mentioning both of your sisters and what I assume to be your mother.'' Now it is Jaune's turn to look questioningly at her, surprised by the statement.
''But that is only three out of my eight sisters, and my mother is called Juniper.'' Weiss, Blake and Phyrra all look at him with wide eyes while Ruby sits there imagining having to live with eight Yang's and suddenly feeling a lot of sympathy for Jaune. Yang meanwhile is smiling at the thought of having eight sisters. ''Oh come on it can't be that surprising, especially since one of them is my sister in law, and our nearest neighbours back in Ansel had twelve kids.'' This causes the aforementioned people to stare even more, while Ruby's horrified mind is playing a doomsday scenario of having to deal with eleven Yang's.
As he looks around at the table he shrugs before he finishes the last bites of his dinner and stands up ''I'll be going to the comms room then to get connection to Argus, see you all later.'' While leaving behind a shocked table as they all work through the idea of living in a town where everyone has that many siblings... and Nora is again thinking on the idea of having eight new sisters if she manages to get adopted into Jaune's family as her eyes sparkle at the very thought, Ren smiling at her while laying an arm over her shoulder, knowing exactly what she is thinking of.
At the comm tower meanwhile Jaune is calling to Saphron's home address, and after a few minutes gets an answer from the tired looking face of the blond woman in question, with said tiredness quickly disappearing after she realizes just who is calling ''Jaune, is that really you… It is, nobody else can pull that kind of face on such a normal question!'' She turns away from the screen ''Terra, Jade, get here, Jaune is on call!''
As she is calling them over she moves the receiver to the table, allowing it to show her on the couch before Terra joins and also sits down, smiling at him while greeting him before Jade jumps up on the couch, smiling at him for a moment ''Big brother, you're there!'' before it turns into a frown as the young girl remembers something and switches her tone ''Why did you not call earlier?!''
The moment the young girl says this Jaune looks towards Saphron and Terra for support, only for two voices to join the young girl ''Yes little brother, why exactly did you not call us earlier?'' followed by a ''They are right Jaune, we were worried about you, why didn't you call once you got to Vale?'' from Saphron and Terra respectively.
Jaune sighs, realizing he is both outnumbered and that they do have a point ''I apologise, I should have called earlier. I didn't because it has been a hectic few weeks, including a number of battles with Grimm, becoming one of the owners of a company and living through initiation at Beacon. Still, I should have called earlier so again I apologise and I'll do what I can to make up for it.'' He knew he'd probably come to regret that last promise, but he'd already said it anyways and an Arc always keeps their word.
The three on the other side of the call look at him for some time silently, with complicated expressions as they process what he just said, especially on Terra's face. Being slightly unnerved at the long silence, Jaune speaks up again ''However I also feel like I need to ask you some things, why is Jade with you two instead of back home?''
He can see a tight smile start showing on Terra's face as Saphron starts awkwardly rubbing the back of her neck while looking away, all the while Jade is sending him a beaming smile. In his mind he can hear Spirit pipe up 'Well this will be interesting if nothing else', with Jaune himself easily agreeing to it before Terra starts up ''Well you see, your mother might have made a bit of a comment about you being helpless and that we were… endangering you badly by helping you…''
From both their knowledge of their mother, Jaune and Spirit agree that those are very soft terms compared to what their mother probably actually used, before Jade interrupts, still with a big smile on her face ''But then I told her about you using your semblank… semblanche..?'' as the girl wonders for a moment about what the word actually was she shakes her head ''I told her about your special power and how you were practicing already in the forest, so that she could stop blaming us when it was her actions that drove big brother away in the first place.'' And suddenly Jaune gets the picture as to why Jade was in Argus instead of Ansel.
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And that's it for this chapter, my apologies that you all had to wait so long, I was busy with all kinds of things and then I couldn't find how to make a decent end of it for almost a full week. I hope you all enjoyed, and see you all next time. Onto the reviews
MogtheGnome: My dude. Go into edit for every single one of these chapters, or whatever document you write them in. Hit control h, for search and replace. Search for "Phyrra". Replace with "Pyrrha". Because her name is Pyrrha.
Reply: I'll look into that, always thought it was Phyrra due to the Greek thing and most Greek style names I know having the h fairly early on in the word.