9,803Today is a short one as I've been stuck in meetings all day.
Cover Art: Curbizzle
Chapter 62
Ruby was in a sour mood when she woke up at 01:12am to loud knocking on her door. She'd been in the midst of a good dream that was already slipping from her memory, something involving monsters made of sweets that she'd been tasked to fight by eating them. Her stomach grumbled at the thought of it, and now she had to try and get back to sleep until breakfast.
The knocking on the door grew louder.
After that.
"Someone else handle it," Yang groaned, over from the top bunk on her side of the room. Ruby personally agreed that it should be the bottom bunkers who had to do it, seeing as how they didn't have to move as far, but she also knew that wouldn't happen.
Blake was excellent at simply refusing to do things she didn't want to, and Weiss would protest the thought of having to expose herself in her sleeping gown to goodness-knows-who at this hour of the night. So, with a sigh, Ruby dangled her feet over the edge of her bed and dropped to the ground like a rock. The impact jarred her sleepy body, whipping away the last ounces of sleep. Ruby groaned and yawned, rubbed at her eyes and plodded unhappily over to the door, yanking it open.
"What?" she snapped, in a very un-Ruby-like manner.
Sue her. It was 1am and a weekday to boot.
Pyrrha probably didn't deserve her spite, but the redhead was there in her armour and wearing a worried expression on her face. "Is Jaune here?" she asked, almost desperately.
Given the fatigue clouding her mind, Ruby actually turned around to check if Jaune was, in fact, somehow sleeping in their room. It took a few seconds of searching for Ruby to actually realise how stupid an idea that was, especially given Weiss and Blake would freak out and Yang really wasn't the type to bring her boyfriend to the dorm for that kind of fun. And it wasn't like Jaune was hiding under one of their beds.
"Uh. No. He's not here." Ruby yawned. "Why would he be here?"
"Because he's not in our dorm!"
"And that means he'd be here? As opposed to literally anywhere else on Remnant?"
"Ruby, please!" Pyrrha begged, which was so unlike her that Ruby felt a little bad for being so waspish. "Jaune never came back last night after he went to talk to you, and he isn't answering his calls and we can't find him anywhere!"
That woke Ruby up a little more. Jaune finding somewhere quiet to think after their chat was one thing, but that'd been over four hours ago. There was also the very real risk of Cinder out there, who had some vendetta against him and Blake for outing her to the authorities. Ruby shook her head wildly.
"Uh. Give me a second to get changed and wake the others."
Pyrrha nodded.
It took Ruby a few minutes to actually pull it off, not least of all because her team really didn't like losing sleep. It took much shaking and explanations that no, Jaune wasn't absent but missing, and that it was under suspicious circumstances. Eventually, the girls woke and got dressed, with Blake grumbling that Jaune was being a complete pain in her ass of late. Within five minutes, Team RWBY were filtering out into the gloomy corridors.
"I'll show you where we talked," Ruby said, "It was outside, but only against the school. We were sitting against the wall. We didn't leave the grounds or go into the forest."
They ran into Nora and Ren en route, with the two of them deciding to check the forest's edge for tracks, in case Jaune had decided to go off to train. It sounded like a terrible idea, and not one he'd make without at least forewarning someone. Once they had the spot she and Jaune had been talking, Yang whipped out her scroll and called his number. The ringtone came from nearby, and they quickly found his scroll face-down in the grass, the light from Yang's call making the grassy patch around it glow in the dark.
"That is not good," Weiss said, understatement of the century. "Even I don't think Arc would be clumsy enough to lose his scroll and not realise."
"He keeps it in his jeans," Pyrrha said. "And they're tight, so it wouldn't just slip out."
In the back of Ruby's head, a wry voice pointed out that Pyrrha seemed to know a lot about the tightness of Jaune's pants, and probably from gazing at his backside. But the huntress side of her realised what Pyrrha was saying, that the only way Jaune would lose his scroll was if he'd had it out and was attacked, thus dropping it in shock, or if someone else had taken it out his jeans and thrown it away, likely to prevent it being tracked back to him.
"Cardin?" Yang asked.
Pyrrha shook her head. "Cardin hasn't tried anything against Jaune in months. They're not even on that bad terms anymore." Pyrrha drew out her own scroll. "I'm going to call Doctor Oobleck and ask him to tell Ozpin."
The explosive option. If they were wrong, they would get in trouble for rousing the teachers, but this looked suspicious enough that no one stopped Pyrrha making the call. Yang and Blake quickly moved toward the forest in search of tracks, since there was little chance someone had taken Jaune back into Beacon.
By the time Oobleck and Goodwitch arrived, they were all searching.
"Clear away!" Doctor Oobleck barked. "Don't contaminate any evidence! Has anyone found anything?"
"There's been some movement through the bushes by the forest," said Blake, pointing. "But this is literally right next to Beacon. I don't know if it was people taking Jaune or just some students going out to train earlier today. Are there cameras here?"
Ruby shifted. "No..." All eyes were on her. "It felt weird for Jaune and me to have a private talk right in front of a camera. Even if we weren't doing anything wrong, we found somewhere without prying eyes."
It was just the logical thing to do at the time.
Now, she regretted it.
"Not your fault," Yang said, bumping her arm. "If people were after Jaune, they'd have struck no matter what happened." She nodded to Pyrrha, Ren and Nora, who were in a hushed and frantic conversation with the teachers. "And it looks like they all know something we don't."
That was true. The teachers and Team JNPR were quite animated, and Oobleck sent all three members of the team off running back to Beacon while he and Miss Goodwitch had their own quiet discussion. Finally, with everything decided, Oobleck came over to them while Miss Goodwitch headed to the forest.
"Team RWBY, we'd like to ask your assistance in combing the forest. Team JNPR will be bringing news of this to Ozpin, who will rouse more teams, and then they will attempt to reach out to Jaune through other methods."
"Other methods?" asked Weiss.
Oobleck shook his head. "Unimportant to you. I need you all spreading out and searching the forest for what we believe to be human tracks. Our primary suspect is a scorpion faunus—" Blake sucked in a breath. "—who we do not believe to be aligned with the White Fang. Instead, it's likely he is working alongside Cinder Fall."
That was no better!
/-/
Pyrrha, Nora and Ren bundled into their room with the heaviest-duty tranquilisers they could be given. Doctor Oobleck's idea for them to fall asleep and give Jaune someone to reach out to if he was unconscious made a lot of sense, enough that none of them had disagreed with it, but falling asleep when they were wracked with worry wasn't going to be easy. That was what the drugs were for. Ozpin had warned them these were no mere sleeping pills, so they should lay down, take them with water and then prepare to be knocked out.
"If anyone wakes up," said Ren. "We don't wake the others up. Jaune may be giving them important information. Okay?"
Pyrrha and Nora nodded.
As one, they took the drugs and laid back.
Pyrrha Nikos stared at the ceiling, wide awake.
These sleeping pills are useless! I can't fall as—
Unconsciousness struck like a meteorite.
/-/
"Is it a good idea to leave him unconscious?" asked Hazel, when Tyrian walked into camp with the target over his shoulder. "That's when he's at his strongest as I recall."
"Only if we're asleep as well," Tyrian replied. The faunus handed the boy over, struggling with him more than Hazel would. With a grunt, Hazel brought him up over one shoulder. The child had been in his dreams as well, that much Hazel could recall, but he hadn't used any of that power of his to resurrect his fallen sister.
Had he, then Hazel might have considered saving him whatever fate Salem had in mind.
"Then I suppose we will be moving without rest for a while," Hazel said. "Should we fall asleep with him even for a moment, he might be able to kill us. Cinder's details on his abilities may well be outdated by now."
Tyrian shrugged, unconcerned as ever. The insane faunus had never cared for his own survival and that was what made him such an efficient agent of Salem's. "Doesn't matter. The goddess demanded we do this and here we are." He cackled. "And of course we achieve what Cinder has struggled with for weeks."
Hazel grunted, not really wanting to get involved in the petty rivalry even if he privately agreed with Tyrian. The problem with Cinder and Watts both was that they refused to cooperate with others and tried to do everything on their own to secure all the glory. Hazel didn't care, and Tyrian cared more about being loyal to Salem, so they had no trouble working together if the cause demanded it.
That didn't mean they liked one another. Hazel despised Tyrian, and he was sure the feeling was very much mutual. It was just that they were mature enough to ignore such feelings – which didn't say much about the other two that Tyrian could show more maturity. That was what Salem got for taking on such egomaniacs.
"We'd best move before Cinder hears about this, then." Hazel had already started moving, and only said it to get Tyrian going. "I wouldn't put it past her to try and sabotage us just to look better herself."
"Hmmm. That does sound like her, doesn't it?" Tyrian pranced ahead. "I wouldn't care if she died. You?"
Hazel let out a grunt. "Not entirely bothered myself."
"Ha ha! Good! Good! I'd love to have the excuse but the goddess would be angry, and this takes priority."
Indeed, it did, and Tyrian's laser focus on the mission was another reason Hazel could put up with him. Or rather, it was harder to put up with him when there wasn't a personal task from Salem. He had the tendency to get bored and drift off to cause chaos if he wasn't tied to a single task.
"Hngh. Mghh..."
"He's waking up~" Tyrian sang.
"Do we let him or knock him out?" The boy's arms and legs were already bound, and Hazel wasn't about to let go. "I'll let it be your choice."
"Hmmm. How about we let it be his choice!?" Tyrian laughed and grabbed the boy's hair, pulling his head up. "Wakey-wakey, Mr Dream-Wanderer. This is your in-flight entertainment speaking. You have quite the long haul to our destination, so would you prefer to be asleep for it or awake?"
"W—What...?" Arc, slowly returning from forced unconsciousness, obviously didn't have full control of his faculties yet. "Where am I? Who are— You! T—Tyrian. And Hazel? I know you. I..." Realisation slammed in and the boy writhed, not that it helped him. "Let me go! HELP!" he shouted. "SOMEONE HELP ME!"
Hazel dropped his shoulder and then pushed up, bouncing the boy and slamming into him to silence him. "Stop that," he ordered. "We're too far away for your voice to be heard – almost four hours away from Beacon now. You'll just hurt your throat and annoy us. If you cooperate, you'll live."
Probably.
A Semblance like this, essentially the ability to rewrite reality via dreams, was in Hazel's opinion too valuable to kill off. Salem obviously saw that as well or she wouldn't be so adamant on them bringing him back alive. If he could be made loyal, he could be the ultimate assassin – or perhaps someone who could empower and heal allies, reverting all damage or making them stronger in ways training alone would never replicate. The potential was limitless, and gated only by control, aura and imagination.
"Where are you taking me? To who?"
"To whom," Tyrian corrected, clicking his tongue. "You'd think someone in higher education would know proper grammar."
Hazel ignored him. "You're meeting someone named Salem."
The boy gasped. "Salem—? The... Wait, she's real? Ozpin was telling the truth!?"
So, Ozpin had told the boy. Interesting. It wasn't like that monster to share the truth, even with his allies. He was usually a being filled with nothing but lies. It looked like Arc hadn't fully believed him, which suggested Ozpin hadn't tried very hard. Typical.
"She's real but not as monstrous or violent as you've likely been led to believe."
"She controls the Grimm!"
"In a sense. She doesn't have exact control of every Grimm. And if you're thinking she's responsible for every death ever, think again. Without her control, the Grimm are mindless and violent anyway."
It was part of the reason he didn't blame Salem for Gretchen's death, because he'd seen with his own eyes that Salem could control Grimm, but not always, and only those physically close to her. Salem hadn't had any involvement in the death of a single woman thousands of miles away from her. Gretchen had just been an unfortunate victim of a wild Grimm doing what wild Grimm did.
"She is intelligent and can be reasoned with, and she makes deals. You may find she can offer you something you want – perhaps the promised safety of your family and friends. Or power. Or whatever else your heart might desire."
He was laying it on thick and Salem was no genie, but she'd have to be if her plan was to win Arc over, so he didn't feel he'd get in trouble for doing some groundwork for her. Salem couldn't simply threaten him into obedience like she could Cinder and Watts. If Arc wanted to die, he could kill himself in his sleep – and he could take out every other human in Salem's tower before he did. The soft approach was better here.
If Salem didn't realise that, Hazel would make sure he was busy far away from the tower before Arc fell asleep. He wouldn't be sleeping anywhere near the boy until he was absolutely on their side – and even then he might hesitate. Cinder and Watts were "on his side" and they wouldn't think twice about sticking a dagger in his back.
"You won't get away with this!"
"Oh, that's a new one!" Tyrian laughed. "But we kind of already have gotten away with it."
"Don't tempt fate," Hazel cautioned. "You know better."
Arc wriggled and arched his back, then let himself fall, banging down on Hazel's shoulder over and over. It wasn't very effective at breaking free, and so Hazel ignored it, simply letting the teen exhaust and hurt himself by slamming his stomach down over and over. The reason soon became clear however, as Arc struck down one last time and, with a pained groan, slipped into unconsciousness.
Clever brat.
"I literally gave him the choice," Tyrian said, smiling in amusement. "I'd have knocked him out myself if he asked."
"It doesn't matter. If we keep moving, it won't matter who he contacts in his dreams or what help he summons. His power has no impact on the waking world and we'll be far, far away from Beacon by the time it matters."
"Hmm. Hear that, kid? You've got one chance." Tyrian laughed. "Best make it count!"
Next Chapter: 25th July
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