Stronghold

The Games We Play

Stronghold​

After sending several of her men off to the library and contacting a librarian, my grandmother had arranged the trip and I'd followed quietly. I'd checked on Blake to tell her what was happening, to find that Adam had already left to deal with something. I wasn't sure what that meant, but in the end, Blake decided to go deal with business of her own instead of taking my offer to wait inside. Maybe it was because of all the dogs.

Either way, I trusted both of my friends to handle themselves, and so focused on my own tasks. My grandmother had called…someone, and arranged a private airship to ferry us around the city come dawn. Evidently, we had several stops to make before it was time to train.

If I'd been in better straights, I'd have probably admired the scenery as we travelled, from the architecture in the city to the grand spires, but the steadily pounding pain in my head was bringing down my mood. The Gamer's Body caused pain to fade quickly, but the side-effects of my Clairvoyance had become a persistent and constant source of damage, such that one throbbing moment led smoothly into to the next. Nonetheless, I bore it silently, keeping constant watch over our surroundings and everything in them as my perceptions expanded in every direction. However much it hurt, I knew it wasn't doing any permanent damage, just as I knew that I'd be able to level it up enough to make the pain stop long before my brain gave out, even if it took weeks or months.

For now, I soldiered on and just tried to ignore the occasional disruptive shifts in my vision.

It didn't strike me until we'd reached our destination that this was the first time I'd ever truly laid eyes on a combat school. I'd seen pictures of Signal, of course, both inside and out, but I'd taken my evaluations in Vale and had never gotten to go there myself. I'd dreamed of a place like this since I'd been a young boy—at first with hope and later with sadness—but my trip to Sanctum was the first time I'd ever gotten the chance to truly see one.

"Do you know why the schools in Vale are named as they are, Jaune?" My grandmother spoke up at last, sounding conversational as we rose over the school. It was undeniably beautiful, a grand series of temples that at once stood apart and melded into a greater whole. The buildings represented the many different cultures and belief systems of the continent, if partially because Mistral had a history of stealing religious artifacts and placing them on the so-called Tower of Gods back in the day. With my painfully sharp eyesight, I could make out carvings in the walls around it, inlaid with images and scenes of myth and legend—or perhaps history; who knows—drawn in carvings and colors both. Thousands of years of culture and art came together in a beautiful display, such that an ancient carving of a many limbed god, accented by weapons set into the walls, could do battle with a three-dimensional portrait of another and not look out of place.

Having one's works held up on the Tower of Gods was said to be one of the greatest honors one could achieve as an artist. It was a tribute to the many religions of Mistral, illustrating the many beliefs that had helped keep people warm in their darkest hours.

At least, that was how it was considered now. Anyone who could fish out a history book could tell you it was really meant as a highly artistic form of mockery towards the people who'd prayed to their gods for safety in the face of Mistral's marching armies and found none. That it was set on the highest mountain overlooking the city was merely so they didn't need to make room as more gods were added—and enough had been that they wound a spiraling course over halfway down the mountain. Millennia of conquest had seen too it that there were enough temples on the mountain to house a large number of the city's inhabitants.

They knew from experience. Alongside the ziggurat which housed Haven and the catacombs beneath the city, the mountain served as a shelter in emergencies. Where the people would be taken depended on precisely what kind of emergency.

"Signal and Beacon, you mean?" I asked, at last tearing my eyes from the artistic wonder and historic tragedy.

My grandmother simply nodded, eyes on buildings below and we skipped the normal means of entry, flying right to the top.

"Yeah," I said, turning back to the sight as I lifted an arm to rest my forearm on the glass. It was cold, thanks to how high up we were, but the chill felt soothing when I rested my forehead against it. "The First Insurgence, right? After the Vytalian War, the Grimm tried to invade again and nearly destroyed Vale. Much of the city fell, but the Hunters bought enough time to evacuate the civilians to Patch before the battle started. The tower that's now at the center of Beacon used to be some kind of lighthouse to guide people to Vale. The Hunters kept the tower lit, as a sign that they were still fighting, and it never went out once in the seventeen days it took to push the Grimm back completely. It's said that without the hope given by the tower's light, Vale would have been destroyed."

"And Signal?"

"There was a similar tower on Patch, though not as big. Back before we had the communications we do now, people would use the lights in the tower to transmit important messages. During the Insurgence, the people on Signal used the tower to send words of hope and encouragement back to the mainland. After it was over, Beacon was built up around the tower while Signal became the first combat school in Vale, taking the place of the apprenticeships used before. Probably because of the number of casualties in the battle and the need to train more warriors quickly."

"Very good," Grandmother said, tapping the glass. "And do you know the stories of Sanctum and Haven?"

I hesitated for a moment, uncertain. I knew the histories of Signal and Beacon because of the amount of interest I'd had in both, but I was less sure about the other schools. Still, I thought I'd heard…

"It was something similar, wasn't it?" I asked. "Another invasion during the Breaking. The civilians withdrew to fortified locations, protected by the army and Hunters. Alexandria's Library was one and the places that became Haven and Sanctum were two others."

"Yes," She said as the ship slowly landed on one of the platforms carved into the mountain. "The Library was built to withstand an assault, so it was an obvious choice, but even something as large as it could not house all of Mistral. Most of the city was forced to retreat up the mountain and into the many temples, or else into the ziggurat. As the attack was thrown back, those three places stood firm and that is, in part, why they are named Sanctum and Haven—and why the Library is also called Fortress."

"But that's not the only reason?" I guessed obligingly, giving her my arm to be polite as we touched down—the arm without Autumn wrapped around it, of course. She took it, giving me a small smile.

"Indeed not," She said. "Unlike Signal and Beacon, Sanctum and Haven are within Mistral itself and thus were open to attack when the Grimm overcame the defenses. Hunters were sent to protect them, of course, but they were also needed to push back the assault and could not be completely tied up in defending the populace. As such, other measures were taken."

She gestured around vaguely as we exited the airship, but I was pretty sure I knew what she meant. With the way my sight was blending together, I wasn't sure if it was visible to the naked eye, but there were pathways along the ground, looking faded enough that I might have thought them several weeks or months old—if not for the size. Gigantic, just barely luminous lines spread across the ground like veins, completely circling the structure, and even the smallest was as wide as my shoulders.

The amount of power needed to leave something of this scale across an area this big…I dialed the timeframe up a bit.

"I can see it," I confirmed at her look, nodding slightly. "There are lines all over the ground. The remnants of something old and big."

I saw her relax a bit at that, nodding to herself.

"I've never seen it," She said. "It was an archaic method even back then. But there were several…I suppose we could call them defense grids, built into major areas at the time. Used properly, they could erect a defense barrier capable of warding off even an army of Grimm."

My eyebrows went up at that, surprised. She saw my look and chuckled.

"It sounds amazing, doesn't it?" She asked. "And it is, I suppose. But…"

"There's a catch?"

"The cost is prohibitive," She nodded at me and then at the ground. "Sets of Hunters—eight to a set, positioned at the cardinal and ordinal points. The number of sets was dependent on the area to be protected, as well; Haven, it seems, needed three. The mountain, however, required at least five; forty Hunters dedicating their full power to the task, and records show they could exhaust themselves quickly. From the instructions, it was recommend they be replaced hourly or semi-hourly, in circumstances that warrant the defense at all. It's believed that even in such a situation, the barriers were only kept up long enough to remove the largest threats; the flying Grimm for Sanctum and the most dangerous ground enemies for Haven. After they were defeated, superior position and raw power were used to do the rest, and in time the Grimm were defeated. Much like in Vale, the ziggurat and the top of the mountain were then remodeled to train warriors."

"Impressive," I said after a short pause. I was silent again for a moment before continuing. "I'm strong and I've got a lot of power. But I don't think I can match forty Hunters, or even twenty-four. If I can level the ability up a lot, maybe, but if it's that costly, I don't know if I could even activate it."

"You don't need to defend an entire mountain, either," She replied. "Nor do you need to hold off an army. If you can just defend a few rooms enough to shield them from Raven's sight and push that up to a house over time…"

I nodded, looking up at Sanctum. Once an enormous temple—the throne of Mistral's gods, set above the rest of the mountain—the school retained many signs of its previous nature, if bearing a modern touch from its frequent updates. Now it stood, a spire of marble and steel that literally rose above the clouds. Like the rest of Mistral, it had withstood the test of time and weathered the storm with grace, pushing back any threat no matter how fierce.

Standing here seemed…strange, yet also comforting. Whatever its makers original intentions, the people now held the mountain to be a tower of faith and unity, leading up to the training grounds of Humanity's defenders. Even if it wasn't the school I'd dreamt of, even if I wasn't here for the reasons I dreamt of…it felt good to stand here. I wouldn't let anything as minor as a killer headache and horrible situation take that from me.

Still, I had to ask…

"I was the one who suggested it, so maybe I shouldn't voice any doubts, but…do you think it'll actually be able to do something like that?" I voiced the concerns I had aloud. I'd thrown the idea out there in the hopes of striking gold eventually, but for something as strange and obscure as Raven's power…

"It's possible," She mused. "And we lose nothing by trying. Recall that it's only relatively recently that we had the technology to create fortifications that could actually hinder the Grimm—and even now, problems arise. Though we largely discarded them in pursuit of more…sustainable methods, there was a time when such techniques were the only way for a society to defend themselves. There are countless methods from around the world; there's a decent chance that at least a few will do something. I told my boys what I was looking for, so…we'll see. It's not impossible, at least, and I'll take what I can get."

I sighed.

"Honestly, if it could just inconvenience her, I'd be happy," I murmured. "But I guess beggars can't be choosers, can they? They know what else to look for, right?"

My grandmother nodded calmly, tapping the veins of my wrist with a finger. I blew out a breath and tried not to be impatient. I'd have preferred to go myself, of course, since I was the only one who could really tell what counted as skill books. Not just anything counted, after all, but…I also understood that with a library that had hundreds of millions of books in it, going through it with nothing but Observe and my hands would have been unfeasible. Even if I went through it at a book a second, there were just so many that I'd be looking for years. Trusting a librarian to do the work instead was the smart thing to do.

Which didn't explain why we were here, though.

"Patience, dear," She murmured, though I was sure my expression hadn't changed. "There's still much to do, but it must be done well."

She turned her face abruptly and smiled, drawing my full attention immediately.

"There you are, Cynosarges," She said. "You're late."

I focused on the man immediately, picking him out of the crowd the moment my grandmother mentioned his name. It wouldn't have taken long to find the man, even if the angle of my grandmother's face hadn't tipped me off—it was only the fact that I hadn't been looking for anyone that allowed him to escape my attention, given his appearance.

Which is to say that he was big. Real big. As in, I was around two meters tall and barely came up to his chest he was so huge, and his shoulders were broad enough that he could probably bear hug an actual bear and have it trying to escape. He had a broadsword strapped to his back and it was large even relative to him—three meters long from point to tip, even with its odd design. It looked like an older weapon, if not as much as Crocea Mors, but…

Well, there was a quiver strapped to his thigh, gleaming in the light as he turned. A closer look at his sword revealed its true nature as a, well, bow-sword. I assumed the arrows were modified with Dust; bows weren't as easy to use as guns, but the size difference between the ammunition might have given him some more room to work with. Enough strength—which I doubted was an issue for the man—and it might have evened out. It was something to consider.

I then slide my focus to his right, looking at the young woman he was standing beside.

"—Oh," Pyrrha said as her godfather rested an arm on top of her head as if the tall girl were an armrest. She ignored the action, apparently used to it, and waved at me. "Hello again, Jaune!"

The mountain of a man beside her grunted loudly before I could reply, squinting down at me and my grandmother. I couldn't tell what he was thinking from his expression—at least not through the shifting haze of my sight—and he was too high leveled to Observe. Perhaps he just needed glasses to see us from up there, I don't know.

"Jeannie," He rumbled after a moment and I paused in the midst of formulating a reply to Pyrrha. "Be glad I came at all on such short notice, you wrinkled old bitch. I'm not your fucking dog."

If he hadn't had my full attention for having the audacity to call my grandmother 'Jeannie,' he'd have certainly claimed it then. I looked up at him with wide-eyes, but despite the words they both smiled. I gave him a closer look, looking over what little else I could easily see; long white hair, a short, neatly trimmed beard, and heavily bronzed skin. He wore armor that I thought to be vaguely like Pyrrha's, but closer to gold and engraved with a symbol like a lion's head. It looked heavy and otherwise built solely for function, but he wore it with the attention one might give to a T-Shirt.

But then, I guess that was to be expected from the head of one of the Families.

???

LV???

Cynosarges Alexandria

"Godfather," Pyrrha sighed, looking up at him aggrieved. "We're in public."

He just grunted dismissively, turning to look at me.

"So you're the boy who gave my little ankle-biter an actual fight, eh?" He asked, moving his arm so his hand rested in her hair. If he'd tried, he might have been able to wrap his fingers fully around it, like a child with a doll.

"Uh," I said, meeting his gaze. After a moment, I shrugged. "I guess so."

He snorted again, the sound more like that of a bull than a man.

"It's about time, I suppose," He snorted. "None of these runts have been able to give her a challenge in years—God knows Kyanos doesn't. It's good for her to have someone her own age to play with. Speaking of which."

He removed his hand to clap Pyrrha on the back in an action that probably would have sent anyone else sprawling. Pyrrha, however, merely stumbled a step forward and recovered fast enough that it almost looked like it was of her own volition.

"The hag and I need to talk shop for a bit," He said. "You two go do something; I don't care what, as long as you don't wreck anything I can't collect insurance money from. Jeannie?"

"After you, you dumb oaf," She replied, taking a proffered monster movie hand and allowing the giant of a man to sweep her up to one shoulder, giving me a meaningful glance as she did. After allowing her a moment to get properly situated and to look around for…whatever the hell you could see from up there, he leapt away, jumping what must have been at least halfway down the mountain in a single bound. It was far away, but not out of my range, so I made sure Raven wasn't watching them as grandmother had silently asked, though otherwise leaving them to talk privately.

Which left Pyrrha and I to watch them go in silence, left standing there as they went to do crazy, scary old people things.

"Hi," I said belatedly, remembering that I'd never answered her greeting. "Everything going okay?"

"Oh, certainly," She replied, looking away from her godfather's wake to glance at me in surprise. "As well as ever, I suppose. You?"

"As well as ever," I repeated, nearly sighing at the somewhat grain of truth in that lie. While it wasn't completely true, I was beginning to accept that my life was becoming a series of moments of unbelievable danger separated by long stretches of repetitive training.

She nodded and if she noticed the lack of enthusiasm in my words, she allowed it to pass without comment. I did the same for the traces of doubt I'd noticed in hers out of reciprocity.

"What brings you up to Sanctum?" She asked. "Are you…?"

I understood what she was asking and shook my head.

"No, I'm just following my grandmother around today," I said honestly. "I'm not going to combat school at the moment; I'm just gonna study on my own for the rest of the year and test into Beacon. I live with my mother and father in Vale, you see."

"Ah," She nodded slightly in understanding.

"What about you?" I asked. "Heading for Haven, I take it?"

"Haven…" She mused, closing her eyes. "Perhaps. I'm not certain where I'll end up, to be honest."

I looked her over quietly at then, catching something in her words that made me pause. I hadn't thought much about it, especially as the two I'd heard it from—Kyanos and Melanie—hadn't seemed to care, but…if I thought about it logically, things must have been difficult for Pyrrha. Not just because of her power and fame, two things that would follow her everywhere she went, but also because of what those things meant, especially taken with everything else. A girl so powerful her victory was all but accepted before the fight even began, who'd crushed Kyanos, the heir presumptive of Alexandria, and who seemed to be doted upon by her godfather, in his own way.

In Mistral, where things like the head of house were decided not by blood but by the eligibility of the heir…Kyanos didn't seem to care—or perhaps didn't realize it—but I had to wonder what his father, Cynosarges's son, must have thought about the girl who'd crushed his son. Even more than that, I had to wonder what Pyrrha had to deal with. Mistral had a history when it came to contentions over succession, after all, and a lot of it had been written in blood. Most of that wouldn't fly in the modern day and I'm sure a lot of people wouldn't stand for anything overt towards her, but…

I opened my mouth and then turned away, not sure what to say to her. Nothing I came up with sounded right in my head; it came off as too pushy, too invasive, too…

I wasn't sure what to tell her. So in the end, I just talked.

"I think I understand," I said at last. "I'm…well, to be honest, there's a lot I'm not sure of, either. I plan things out but they always seem to just…surprise me. But even beyond that, I'm really just not sure what to do; everything I try always seems more complex than I expected and it's like…I don't know. I thought things would get easier, but…they didn't. Not the important things, at least. They're complicated and confusing and sometimes I'm not sure if there even is a good choice."

I thought of my mother and grandmother, of Ozpin and the White Fang, and then continued.

"A lot of the time, I just keep going, no matter what comes up, and…it works. Has worked so far, I mean. I don't know—I know I can't do that with everything, but…sometimes it seems like the right thing to do, even when it's a bad idea. But then I look back and, well, hindsight's twenty-twenty but I don't like what I see, you know?"

"Yes," She whispered.

"And it's like…I'm heading for Beacon, because I've always been heading to Beacon—and I guess it's fitting, because the place is sort of like a lighthouse, right? But with the way everything's going…with how it always seems to go…" I shook my head, thinking about the things I'd done and might do, and for whom. "I don't know what I'll find when I get there or what I'll do next. Because…maybe it's just me, but it's hard to imagine sometimes. I'll be seventeen when I enroll and it's four years, right? But thinking about it…four years is a long time. If those four years are anything like this one's been so far, well, damn. And sometimes I wonder if I should do something else, too; it's been my goal for so long, but sometimes I wonder if it's only my goal because of that. I was so sure I knew exactly what I was doing before, but as time goes on…I know I'm smarter now, so why am I so much less sure about everything?"

"I…" Pyrrha said after a minute of silence before pausing and tilting her head. "I think it's normal. When you're young—"

"We are young," I muttered and she smiled at me slightly.

"When you're younger," She corrected. "Everything seems so certain and clear, but as you grow up, you find that things are more complicated then you thought. That—"

She cut herself off abruptly, falling silent before finishing the words. I didn't press her, but simply nodded at her with a smile. When she said nothing for several seconds, I took over.

"I think you're right," I said. "Or at least, I hope it's not just us. So don't feel bad if you're not sure about everything, because…I'm not sure of anything. If you're ever feeling down, just remember that I had to pick a place with a giant glowing light as my destination so I wouldn't get too lost. I'm sure you can do way better."

Pyrrha laughed, and it was almost as if the sound came as a surprise to her.

"I wouldn't be so sure," She said, smiling brilliantly. "Once, when we were training on the Inbound Sea, my entire class was scattered by a storm and it took—"

There was a sound like a sharp, clear bell and Pyrrha cut herself off, looking up.

"Class?" I guessed and she nodded, looking at me apologetically.

"With the tournament tomorrow, not much will happen today, but…" She trailed off, looking torn.

"I understand," I said. "I'll see you later?"

"I'm sure of it," She replied. "I'll see you at the tournament, Jaune."

I hesitated but she was gone before I could truly answer.

"Right," I murmured. "The tournament."

With things the way they were…I'd been looking forward to it, but I wasn't sure if going was an option any more—work before pleasure and all that.

Then again, it was always possible I was really unlucky and this whole mess with the White Fang would involve the tournament. Really, given the timing, I'd be shocked if it didn't have at least something to do with the festival. Fun, fun, fun.

I sighed to myself and sat down to wait for my grandmother's return, watching the city of Mistral far below, countless tiny shapes going about their daily lives. With nothing to distract me, my head began to pulse and throb, but I ignored it, unwilling to drop my enhanced perceptions even here. Though my sight cycled and flickered routinely, it was better than being caught off-guard, or allowing my grandmother to be—of course, that just led me to worrying about my mom, who hadn't come home. My mind was happy to provide me plenty of possible explanations, most of them bad, but I knew there was nothing I could do about it right now and tried to focus on the city instead.

That was why I saw the ship coming long before it arrived; a small transport exactly like the one Grandmother and I had used to fly up here, down to the markings. A bit curious, I welcomed something to focus on and watched the ship as it made its trip out of the city and up the mountain. When it at last it landed beside our own ship, the pair of twins I'd seen guarding my Grandmother's house exited. Their black hair and grey suits were the same, but they'd apparently added sunglasses to hide the strangeness of their eyes.

"Hugo," I said, remembering the names. "Enzo. Is something wrong?"

They were silent for a minute, scanning the area careful. Enzo held a decently sized bag of books in one hand while his brother paced around the area, making sure nothing was hidden from his sight. After a moment, they locked eyes with one another, nodded, and looked at me.

"Red," Enzo said, his brother keeping a look out. He offered me the bag and I took it, frowning slightly at him.

"Is that good or bad?" I asked. Generally, red meant the latter, but neither of them seemed nervous.

"Red is good," He said. "Violet is bad."

I nodded at him considering before just Observing him, and then nodded again in understanding. They could both see danger in the forms of color—Enzo seeing how dangerous something was and Hugo seeing how much danger they were in. Well, that explained why my Grandmother employed them, at least.

"If you're here to speak with my grandmother, she'll be right here," I said as I looked back down at the bag. Sure enough, my grandmother and her friend leapt up into sight, landing softly beside us.

"Hugo, Enzo," She said as she hopped down from Cynosarges's shoulder, giving each a nod before glancing at my books. "Ah, good. Thank you for your hard work. Keep an eye out for me."

They gave a nod in unison, Enzo taking position in front of her and Hugo behind. At a gesture, the Alexandrian Patriarch and I stepped into place beside my Grandmother and she started walking.

"Everything go okay?" I asked.

"Quite so," She said. "You'll be happy to know we've acquired some dumb muscle."

Cynosarges gave a snort, casting her an amused glance, but I could see the change in his demeanor—a sudden wariness. He knew about Raven now, I guessed, and was justifiably worried. Playful insults aside, I knew full well that he wasn't dumb and I couldn't say I minded having him on our side. Still, best to be sure…

"He knows?" I asked my grandmother, carefully not specifying what I meant.

"He knows," She confirmed.

"I know." He agreed, shaking his head. "All you whippersnappers and your crazy powers."

"Thickheaded as he is, I trust him," She said and I nodded. I'd already extended trust to Adam on Blake's word; this was no different. If anything, the fact that she trusted him enough to tell him was reassuring. My grandmother went silent then, watching our surroundings carefully as we walked through Sanctum, at least until she came to a stop by a door. "Here. Do you see anything?"

I glanced it and nodded, seeing the still bright lights all but glowing on its surface.

"Yeah," I said. "This is the place, then?"

"Yes," She hummed, pushing the door open. "Boys, guard the door, please."

The twins took up position on either side of it without a word as we entered, closing the door behind us. When it was shut, Grandmother nodded to herself and went over to a small bookshelf to the side, idly traced several scrolls before drawing loose a journal and flipping through it. Smiling, she tossed it to me, glancing at me out of the corner of an eye as I caught it.

"Now then," She said. "Shall we begin?"

A twitch of a finger and the book unraveled into light.

XxXXxX​