19 -|

Chapter 19

High above the foreboding inhospitable landscape of the Dark Continent there was a room. A room that almost no one knows exists. This room was older than most kingdoms, so old that no-one could seem to recall just who had created that room.

After all the Dark Continent had been lost to both the races of Man and Faunus for eons, the only successful expedition to enter it and return having barely scratched the surface of the realm's potential before being forced back by the sheer weight of numbers that the Grimm, who dragged themselves from the tar like black pools that covered the entirety of the landscape.

No one could survive in such a place.

Or at least, that's what most people think.

Inside this room, there was a table of purple dust that had seemingly grown from the very floor for that precise purpose with chairs seemingly made from ivory or bone torn from the Grimm themselves, and yet despite their irregular shape, each chair was identical, down to the slightest crack on one of the bones that served as the back of the chair.

There were six of these strange chairs sitting around the table, three on each side, but only four of the chairs were occupied.

On the left side, closest to the immense door which served as the only entrance to this place, sat a man in a sharp suit, his green eyes focusing of a stream of data on his scroll as he absently thumbed through it. Arthur Watts ignored the other people occupying the room entirely, devoting the entirety of his attention to the information before him, his mind constantly thinking and planning on how best to make use of this new piece of data.

To his left, with a chair separating them sat seemingly sleeping in his seat, his arms firmly crossed in front of him as he waited, the arms of his coat rolled up to reveal his forearms. And just where the coat met the skin there was the slightest hint of scarring, jagged and faded with age that spoke of the existence of far more extensive ones beneath the coat. Hazel Rainart kept silent, focusing purely on the inhale and exhale of every breath he made. The ones here weren't important. And if they tried anything he knew he could kill any other person around the table without much trouble at all.

Sitting on the opposite side of the table to Hazel, a man was perched on the seat of his chair like a bird of prey, arms resting on crouched knees with his hands clasped before him, his beady yellow eyes darting back and forth across the other occupants of room, before a cruel smirk crossed his lips, his head tilting to the side as he did so. He wore a far more minimalist outfit compared to that of the others sitting at the table, and his body bore the marks of more than one battle, a few particularly vicious scars clearly visible on his uncovered chest. But Tyrian Callows did not view his scars as a sign of weakness. Oh no. They were constant reminders for him, proof of his devotion to his goddess.

The final person seated at the table was clearly different from any of the others seated there. For one Cinder Fall was clearly a woman, dressed in an elegant looking red and gold dress that could have been taken directly from Mistralian high fashion. The other difference was in the way she held herself. Despite any attempts to conceal such a fact, Cinder Fall was clearly injured, the heavy scarring that dominated the left side of her face mostly covered by the fringe she had styled to cover her wound, but not enough to disguise the fact that she was in all likelihood now missing her left eye. She her left hand, both arms now mostly hidden from just above her elbow to the tips of her fingers beneath dark full-length gloves, and clicked her fingers.

Walking over from one of the large windows which gave a landscape view of the Dark Continent came Emerald and Mercury, Emerald shoving her partner aside to take her place next to Cinder.

Watts flicked his eyes up to watch the two children walk forward to the table and rolled his eyes in disgust, throwing his scroll into the table as he did so "Yes, yes, keep your posse in check." Watts said airily, readjusting his collar as he did so.

Mercury growled at that, hands clenching into fists and went to move towards Watts only to find himself impeded by Emerald's arm, the illusionist quickly shaking her head.

Watts smirked at the actions taking place before him. "You hear that?" He asked Hazel rhetorically, before turning his attention back to Cinder, "Silence. I have half a mind to thank the little girl that he bested you." He said mockingly, his words making his disdain for Cinder clear.

Hazel opened one eye to lazily glance at the table for a moment before closing it again, singularly unimpressed by the whole exchange.

Besides her Tyrian spoke up, smiling brightly as he did so. "If I were you, I'd hunt her down, find her and, well, she took your eye, didn't she?" He suggested innocuously, little snickers punctuating erupting out throughout his words as he gazed at her scarred form, before he erupted into cackling laughter stopping only to await her response.

Cinder stared at Tyrian form where she sat, going to speak only for a strangled exhale to escape instead. "Pathetic!" Watts scoffed in disgust. "Why did you even-"

The sound of the heavy metal door unlatching filled the air, and immediately silenced all conversation around the table.

The doors swung open and everyone stood from their chairs turning to face the door.

Through the door walked Salem, regal as always, almost seeming to glide across the floor without taking a single step, walking around the table not sparing a glance or a word to any of the others standing there.

Instead of taking her seat at the head of the table however she walked past it, the ivory skinned woman stopping before the crystal altar at the end of the room, a series of candles slowly accumulating wax beneath them.

"Watts." The queen said suddenly, her glowing red eyes gazing over her shoulder at the man in question before she turned to address him directly. "Do you find such malignance necessary?" She asked motioning, for the others to sit as she did so awaiting Watts' response.

The sharp dressed man swallowed discreetly, not expecting to have been caught out by his superior like this but his lighting quick mind aptly provided the proper response to such a situation. "I apologize, ma'am. I'm not particularly fond of failure."

"Then I see no reason for your cruelty towards young Cinder. She's become our Fall Maiden, destroyed Beacon Tower, and most importantly, killed dear Ozpin. So I'm curious, to what failures are you referring?" Salem asked, seemingly curious for Watts' reasoning.

"One of two Fall Maidens if I'm not mistaken." Watts said, referring to the fact that Cinder had failed to claim all of the power of the maiden. "And that's without mentioning her loss to the girl with the Silver eyes."

"Yes." Hazel spoke up, the words of agreement drawing all eyes towards him as the normally stoic man spoke up. "We've dealt with their kind before. How is it a novice was able to best one of us?"

"My thoughts exactly. Even without her new power, it should have been effortless." Watts continued on, giving a nod to Hazel as he did so as thanks for his contribution.

"It is because of the Maiden's power. Make no mistake, Cinder, you hold the key to our victory. But your newfound strength brings with it a crippling weakness." The Queen of the Grimm explained both to Cinder and the others at the table before turning to the woman in question. "Which is why you will remain by my side as we continue your treatment."

Cinder scowled at that piece of news but said nothing, acquiescing to her master's command. At her side Emerald looked on sympathetically at her saviour's plight.

"And what of Pyrrha Nikos?" Salem continued, addressing the table as a whole. "Have we discovered her whereabouts yet?"

"Ironwood left Vale a few weeks ago along with the fool but as far as we can tell, the girl was not with them." Watts answered, his voice tinged with scorn when he spoke of the 'fool'. "Our informants have kept their eyes open but there have been no sightings as of yet."

"Respectfully ma'am, could she not have already died of her wounds?" Hazel asked, wanting to examine every possibility as to why she had not been seen. "By all accounts she was an inch from death at the end of the invasion."

"Pyrrha Nikos still lives." Salem said firmly, no doubt whatsoever in her tone.

"Of course, ma'am." Watts demurred, taking the hint and dropping the subject.

"And how goes the progress of the build?" Salem asked, gesturing grandly to the foundations of the structure that were taking place below.

"Slowly ma'am, but still on schedule." Watts reported, unconsciously straightening his tie as he did so. "The crystals are quite difficult to harvest after all and with the quantities that you require-"

"Oh, they just need a little motivation." Tyrian giggled manically, his tongue snaking out as he did so. "Just let me have one, or two, a dozen at most and I can guarantee that the rest will work until they die."

"They can't work at all if they're all dead you imbe-"

"Enough." Salem spoke quietly and the table obeyed without question. "And how goes our search in finding Spring?" Salem asked turning her eyes towards Tyrian as she did so.

Tyrian flinched at that, his eyes shying away from her as he stared at the table. "We can't find her." He said quietly, his body shaking in both fear and his own outrage at himself for failing his Goddess. "Every so often I find one of her agents and I ask them as politely as I can but the answer is always the same. They know where she is but they don't know how to get there."

"Much as I hate to agree with Tyrian, in this regard he is correct." Watts interrupted drawing Salem's attention towards him instead. "Upon examining one of Tyrian's…leftovers. I found traces of energy within their cerebral cortex as well as damage to the memory centre of their brain, far too precise for it to be accidental. I hypothesize that the knowledge of Spring's location is quite literally burned out of them so as to prevent any possibility of someone betraying her location. It would be intriguing if it wasn't so infuriating at the moment.

"She isn't going anywhere." A deep voice rumbled and they all turned towards Hazel, his eyes finally sliding open for the first time during the meeting. "She's been hiding away in her little city since before the Great War. We'll find her soon enough."

There was a long silence for a moment before Salem nodded in agreement. "Very well. Now them your assignments,"

"Doctor Watts, you are to take Cinder's place and meet with our informant in Mistral."

Watts nodded, his mind already formulating possible plans to make the most of this addition to his busy schedule. "Very good."

"Tyrian, we'll hold off on Spring for now, until we learn more of her counterparts or her location it's a waste of time. Find the Silver Eyed girl. Bring her to me if you can. Kill her if you can't." Salem commanded, her tone like that of a judge handing out a death sentence.

The scorpion faunus laughed madly up that, bouncing up and down on his toes in ecstatic joy at the opportunity to fulfil the commands of his goddess. And at the same time his heart danced a beat at the thought of the slaughter to come. Oh, the look of despair on her pretty little face when he would be done with her would be exquisite.

"And Hazel, I'm sending you to the leader of the White Fang. Adam Taurus has arranged the meeting. The boy continues to prove loyal. Ensure that Sienna Khan feels the same." Salem's words were seemingly honeyed but the steel of command was as ever present as it always was behind her every word.

She needn't have bothered. Even if the command was to die this man would have obeyed her without question or hesitation.

Hazel nodded standing up from the table in a motion that betrayed the raw strength barely contained within the man's form, his every movement one that could have ended a life without so much as a second thought. "As you wish." He responded, nodding his head slightly towards his master.

"And if we should find the angel?" Watts asked as he too stood up from the table, finally bringing up the topic that had been hanging over the group since his appearance during the fall of Beacon.

"Then you are to bring him to me, alive." Salem said firmly, her eyes narrowing as she said the final word as if to make abundantly clear what was said. "For him to be of use to use, he must be brought here alive. I don't care how much you hurt him, so long as the wings are still attached and he's still breathing then I don't care what happens to him."

"While the angel is useful he is a secondary concern to the primary targets." Hazel grunted, pushing the door open as he did so and walking out of the room without so much as a second look.

He had quite a journey to make before he could reach his destination.

As the people began to file out of the room Salem spoke up once more. "Cinder. Remain behind. We need to talk." The tone was one that was full of implications, none of them good. Emerald stopped and turned to come back to Cinder's side only to freeze in place at the penetrating gaze of Salem's red eyes. "Alone." She said, the power behind her words sending the green haired thief sliding backwards before the doors swung shut seemingly on their own, the sound of the bolt sliding into place ominously loud.

The instance the door was locked into place the scene changed, like a movie skipping forward.

Where the scarred and defeated Cinder sat instead there was Neo, smiling wickedly as she popped her boots up onto the table in a show of disrespect that would have had anyone else killed before they had even thought of finishing the action.

And where the imperious inhuman Salem once sat, instead sat Cinder utterly unharmed, without so much as a single scratch on her face.

Granted the injuries that she'd been dealt by the end of the invasion, while not as visible as the ones Neo had portrayed were by no means small ones but through a combination of both her own power as well of that of the Fall Maiden she'd managed to recover completely a short while ago.

Blasted Quatermain.

Always getting in her way.

Cinder thought briefly of the Historian, of the words he'd said during their last little chat and shook her head.

In any other time, he would have been right.

There would have been no other way for her to achieve her goal without a living angel.

But that had never been something that she had planned on going after in the first place.

Why bother trying to hunt down a being from an extinct race?

It was an exercise in futility.

That was why she had come up with her own answer to the dilemma years ago, years before the Historian had even been born.

That was why she needed the Maiden's powers.

All of them.

That or she'd just have to

"Neo I have a special assignment for you."Cinder announced, the petite assassin turning to face her as she did so. "Do you recall the task I set you before Vale?"

Neo paused for a moment before, a puzzled look spreading over her face before she gasped in surprise, clapping excitedly like a child even as her eyes revealed far darker thoughts.

Cinder's lips drew back in a smile far too sharp to ever be called kind.

"Time for you to finish what you started."

Ren flipped backwards out of the way of a thunderous blow that shattered the ground when it struck it, his hands empty but all the more dangerous because of it.

I watched my friend and his opponent closely, doing my best to try and engrave the way his movements were changed slightly by his new outfit, making it harder to rely on old habit when it came to reading his moves.

Before his arms were primarily hidden beneath the overly long sleeves of his first outfit, but since you couldn't see the arms I'd relied primarily on looking at the sleeves to try and predict his movements. Now that the sleeves were entirely gone his fighting style seemed to have become something entirely different entirely.

And that wasn't even taking into account the new range of motion that the lack of sleeves now provided him, much to my chagrin when I relied on the restrains provided by his previous outfit and found myself catching a knife strike to the throat.

Not going to be forgetting that one anytime soon.

With the addition of Ren having grown his hair, combined with his new vest sleeveless glove combo, he looked entirely different from what he had looked like when he had left Vale proper. Which was exactly the point.

Ruby's outfit had changed as well, the once black and red outfit having transformed. The red cloak remained but it in a considerably ragged state compared to when I had first met the young huntress, and now had a broach bearing her emblem attached to it. Her once full-length stocking now halted at mid-thigh, with black rose decals on them. And while she still wore a belt that was near identical to her previous one, complete with a bullet belt. Her dress on the other hand her dress was certainly different. The corset part of her dress now extended much further up her torso to just below her shoulders compared to her previous dress but didn't extend onto the arms or any higher than that at all. Beneath the dress was a long sleeved white shirt with the sleeves held down by some leather cuff looking things that I didn't know the exact name of, and some belt looking things wrapped around the both of her arms. Her hairstyle was almost identical as well, but there was something different about it, something I couldn't put a name to, but it was there.

I certainly looked different compared to what had been my regular appearance as well. My lucky jumper was nowhere to be seen having been torn to shreds as well as turned to ash during the fall of Beacon. Instead I wore the brown leather trench coat that Peter had gifted me before we'd left patch, my wings carefully hidden within them. The shirt I'd borrowed from Taiyang was gone as well, replaced with a dark blue shirt with some alterations at the back so my wings could fit through them.

It was still quite an ordeal to put the shirt on over my wings I'll say that much.

My shoes had changed to, the borrowed pair from Taiyang was now replaced with black boots far more suited to the outdoors then my previous pair had been as well as being a much better fit. I was still wearing jeans, they were common enough that it wasn't an especially recognizable thing to be wearing them.

Finally, my armor had undergone an upgrade as well, one I hadn't realised I was it was in need of until after the fact I had put it on. The new armor I covered far more than it had previously, less an attachable chest plate and more an armoured vest in comparison. It was still primarily white, but a slightly different shade of it then it was before, and also entirely non-reflective something which would prove to be invaluable if I was trying to remain undetected in low light. In addition to the changed shape the trim had also changed as well, no longer the dull grey that it had been previously it was now the same dull gold as the hilt of Candidus Mors.

My gloves had been replaced entirely as well, with newly forged gauntlets that extended up into the sleeves of my coat. I'd been amazed with just how much articulation the gauntlets provided, it was just like I'd been wearing my regular gloves instead.

And that's without even mentioning some of the more special additions that Wayland had helped forge for me.

And as for my final teammate?

Her outfit had certainly changed as well, her white undershirt was primarily identical if not for the change to the cut out now having a diagonal line cutting through the heart. Her gloves were identical before as were the elbow protectors she'd worn before but the armoured bustier she'd worn before was gone entirely replaced with a pink skirt belt combo that seemed to be a set with her new navy and pink jacket the arms held tightly above her elbows by miniature versions of the belt around her waist. Her shoes had been replaced in their entirety, the previous ankle boots now replaced with ones that ended just below her knees and had laces all the way up.

"Kick his butt, Nora!" Ruby cheered, waving wildly as a madly laughing Nora went to town on Ren, her newly reforged hammer twisting in place to block Ren's kick only for him to let out a curse as a spark of pink lighting crackled across her weapon, sending Ren bouncing backwards, landing on the shocked leg gingerly.

I raised an eyebrow at that and let out a low whistle. "That's a new trick." I remarked turning my attention to the clearly upgraded Magnhild.

I paused. Was it still even called Magnhild if it was a brand-new weapon? I'd have to ask Nora that later.

Instead of diving forward to attack Ren once more, Nora stopped, bending both legs as if she was about to pick up a great weight before she moved her left hand up the shaft of her hammer and depressed a switch that most certainly was not there in the last iteration of the weapon.

As she did I saw the crackle of that familiar pink lightning spark up around the head of the hammer, first just one arc of the pink energy but steadily increasing until it was as if the head of the hammer had transformed from metal into pure energy, the hammer visibly vibrating within her tight-fisted grip.

As Nora lifted the hammer up above her head and her smile extended a few inches further into something that sent a shiver of fear running down my spine along with the realization that Ruby and I were probably far too close to witness whatever act of destruction was about to happen.

The hammer slammed into the ground with the force of a bomb going off, the quaking of the ground sending myself and a yelping Ruby to the floor as out footing gave way beneath us. Ren had an even worse time than we did, the rock beneath his feet fracturing from the force of his Partner's blow, sending him stumbling backwards to avoid injury.

But by then it was far too late. Ren looked up just in time to see Nora's hammer descend from on high with a blow that was going to knock him into next week. Only to stop as an armoured fist the size of her head wrapped around the shaft of the weapon, halting the weapon an inch from Ren's head.

"That's enough for now." Jorth said tonelessly, her power armour bodily lifting her daughter via her hammer and moving her to the side, allowing Ren to stand up straight once more, now able to regain his footing. He had a smile on his face and nodded to a still giddy looking Nora.

I knew where he was coming from because I had a smile just like it on my face, as did Ruby.

Even Jorth was smiling!

I think.

I'm never really quite sure when it comes to Jorth, but Ren tells me I'm getting better at reading her.

With Magnhild reforged, Nora's confidence was noticeably stronger and it was exuded from all of her actions, those slight hesitations from journey through Vale to her hometown born from the fact that she was without her weapon now banished forever with her beloved Warhammer/Grenade Launcher combo once more in her hands.

I can't believe I'm saying this but I'm kind of glad we're not at Beacon anymore.

Nora would have ruined the room with her new hammer.

Goodwitch would have given her detention for a solid month.

And then she would have given me detention for just as long for 'letting it happen'.

Again.

I sighed.

Good times.

"Now then," Jorth's words derailed my train of thought, drawing me back to the scene before me. "Since Nora has tested her weapon sufficiently. Are you ready to attempt again?"

I swallowed at that.

Oh boy.

Not looking forward to this again.

You see while Wayland was more than happy to let us head towards Mistral, and by more than happy I mean, we emotionally blackmailed him with Pyrrha until he consented his wife on the other hand was another story entirely.

When we'd brought it up with Jorth, she'd nodded solemnly for a moment before she'd laid down her ultimatum.

"You're welcome to leave whenever you want," She'd said simply before jerking her thumb towards her armour was currently being repaired by a constantly swearing Wayland as he attacked his creation with a wrench the size of my sword. "provided that you can prove yourself capable of defending yourself."

I recalled Ren making a high pitch whining noise at that and Nora turning a shade I'd only seen when she'd had one of Ren's homemade health drinks.

I soon found out why.

She challenged us to a fight, although since Nora was without her weapon of choice she'd decided to stay in the forge and finish working on her hammer instead of joining in on the fight.

So it had been Jorth, in her newly repaired power armour, versus Ruby, Ren and Myself.

And she destroyed us.

Her war axe had slammed into my new shield so hard that it drove me off my feet, and by the time I had landed she'd already back handed Ruby down the block and was proceeding to beat Ren into next week.

During that fight I had discovered that Jorth's empty left hand wasn't as empty as it seemed, with the skull with yellow dust crystals for eyes capable of creating a translucent shield of yellow energy that apparently felt just as solid as a brick wall when Ruby pancaked into it out with a semblance powered sprint that knocked her out of the fight entirely,

The second thing I discovered was that the shield that Jorth had thrown at me when she first threw at me was very different from the one I was used to, even beyond the shape and the weight. This one wasn't invulnerable, something that I quickly discovered after one of the final blows of the fight managed to shear off a third of the shield leading me to catch her snap kick across the chest and out of the fight.

So yeah, let's just say that the first fight against Jorth didn't go to well.

Neither did the next few.

But during the time between those beatdowns Jorth continued to teach me to use the shield in a way that could be deemed to be more than 'adequate' in her eyes. She focused on the use of the shield offensively, each fight between the her and the three of us demonstrating the use of these techniques in action. She showed how to properly make use of a shield press, she used it to separate the three of us and let me tell you, the edge of her energy shield hurts just as much as metal one when it slams into your kidney. She showed how it was ill advised to try and preform one using the face if your opponent was significantly stronger than yourself.

It wasn't just the technique, it was also the timing, it was moving into the attacks and learning to deflect oncoming attacks precisely the way I wanted them as well as block in such a way that I wouldn't be lifted off of my feet.

If my feet left the ground I had no foundation, if I had no foundation then I had no strength and if I had no strength then my shield was essentially a very heavy paperweight.

I'll give Jorth this much, she may not be the best at conveying her emotions but when it comes to shield techniques she really knows her stuff.

But I wasn't just blocking her axe.

Oh no.

Turns out that while Wayland can make pretty much any weapon you can think of, before he put out the weapons for sale or pick up, he had them all be extensively tested by his on hand weapons expert.

Three guesses who that was.

While I may have known how to block a hammer, or a spear or a sword let me tell you that does not always translate well over to other weapons.

And so Jorth did everything in her power to help me gain as much experience as I could in the time we had with new kinds of weapons, from crossbows, to tridents even an oversized chainsaw-broadsword combo that made my bones vibrate with every new block.

But as much experience we had gained it was time for us to continue on.

We didn't know how much time Pyrrha had, and we'd spent enough time here getting our new gear and weapons upgraded already.

It was time for us to leave.

I'd known for a while that these fights against Nora's mother weren't going to end in our favour in a straight up fight.

Jorth had more experience in the use of weapons then the four of us combined, and Ruby and I had no experience fighting someone like Jorth before.

That meant we had to gain as much experience as we could as fast we could.

That meant challenging Jorth together with Ren every second day, and getting our ass kicked.

A lot.

But with every new loss we learnt a little bit more about our opponent, uncovered yet another trick or ability hidden within her armor and most importantly, got as used to fighting with each other as we possibly could.

And on every day between we went over each new piece of information that we gained, and helped to make our new plan for the next day as well as our 'actual' plan for when Nora's weapon was finished as well as our own little additions that had been added to the list.

I had one of my own added to that list as well, something that had come to me after that first crushing fight against Jorth and with an hour long discussion with Wayland on the viability of said idea and with his revisions it was coming together quite nicely.

But that was not the centrepiece of our plan.

If anything, it would serve primarily as a very blatant distraction more than anything else while the real plan took place.

Ren had already grabbed the last few ingredients I'd needed last night as well as picked up something very important from the local dust store as well.

But we all knew that we were only going to get one chance at this.

Surprise tactics tend not to work if your opponent has already seen them before.

So, this right here was our all or nothing.

"Oh, we're ready." I affirmed with a smile, Nora and Ren smoothly moving into position as I walked forward calmly, one hand scratching at the back of my head as I did so. "But would it be okay if we waited a few minutes for Ren to recover first?"

Jorth let out a low hum at that. "Well," she began, looking down at me with narrowing eyes as I continued to approach. "If you thi…"

I cut Jorth off in the most literal sense possible, the hand that was scratching the back of my head grasping the hilt of my sword that was resting between my shoulder blades and bringing it down in a viciously fast slash that would have cut through an Ursa without so much as stopping.

It was a dirty trick and dishonourable in almost every sense of the word.

CLANG

And it wasn't enough.

The massive mechanical armour had twitched its arm to the right and Jorth had expertly caught the blow on her rocket powered axe, the now familiar sound of its engine roaring to life leading me to brace another hand of the blade of my sword as her counter swing sent me sliding backwards.

Just as planned.

Ruby fired her fully extended sniper rifle at the now seemingly open Jorth, only for the bullet to ping off the chest armour that closed around her, hiding her from view once more.

Well that bit of the plan was always going to be a long shot anyway.

"Formation 3!" I called out as I rushed forward, sword in hand, my teammates running alongside me their guns up and firing at the armoured titan before us.

Sure enough, Jorth's energy shield surged into existence once more, the bullets slamming into the shield ineffectively before Nora's round struck against the shield and exploded into a splattering of pink paint that covered the majority of the shield.

Nora's P3 grenades are remarkably useful in so many different situations.

Nora split off to the left and moved to circle around her mother, Magnhild returning to its Warhammer form with a flick of her wrist, Ruby mirroring her movements and sliding around to the right, scythe drawn back and ready for the next phase.

I slid to a stop before the shield and laced my fingers together just in time for Ren to place one foot onto them as I threw him into the air over the shield, a crackle of pink energy dancing over his body as he flipped forward, one of his legs raised for a devastating axe kick.

As soon as Ren had gone I twisted and sprinted off to the right towards Ruby as fast as I could, drawing back one of the sleeve of my trench coat to get ready to reveal one of the new additions to my arsenal.

As I cleared the paint barrier which was now beginning to fall apart I saw that while Ren had indeed been able to land a blow Jorth had been able to move her armoured suit slightly before a decisive blow could have been made, turning a finishing blow into a far more negligible one instead.

But still Ren had at least partially achieved his goal, one of the yellow dust crystals that had made up the eyes of the skull on the left arm now cracked and dull.

"FOOLISH." The mechanical growl of the armor's voice admonished, the helm clearly staring directly at Ren.

The shield had shut off in an instant as the metal hand snapped up with alarming speed to snatch Ren out of the air and slam him into the ground with a meaty thud, the breath whooshing out of him and the tell-tale crackle of his aura shattering making it clear that Ren was out of the fight for now.

I cursed inwardly. Maybe we should have waited longer for Ren's aura to recover before throwing ourselves into this fight.

No.

Now is not the time to be second guessing yourself Jaune.

Focus on the task at hand, critique yourself later.

Nora leapt forward with a fierce war cry, drawing back Magnhild to deliver a mighty blow even as I charged forward as well, Ruby blurring off the ground towards Jorth, what was once a huntress now more akin to a stream of rose petals to anyone that looked at her.

Jorth countered Nora with a swing of her own, the jet engine on her axe igniting, allowing her to easily overpower the attack of her daughter, sending Nora skipping backwards across the ground like a stone. At the same time, her left hand extended out towards Ruby and her shield reformed into the impassable yellow wall that had haunted us during every last encounter, clearly planning to have Ruby pancake herself on it and take herself out of the fight as she had before.

Good thing we were planning on that.

Ruby rematerialized from the stream of roses landing scythe first, her feet landing either side of it, seeming standing on the wall for a moment. Then the sound of her rifle firing filled the air, not just one shot but rapid fire, far faster than a bolt action rifle had any right to be, both propelling her backwards with each successive shot as well as forcing Jorth to keep her shield up and between her and Ruby.

I'll say this much, when Ruby says she's going to upgrade her weapon, she really means it.

I continued my sprint before spinning around the shield in a single smooth movement, using Jorth's defence to help propel myself around it, throwing myself forward, Candidus Mors whipping up with a vicious slash aimed at the source of the shield, hoping to remove it from the fight entirely.

The bright yellow energy beside me vanished, and Jorth spun on her heel, both dodging Ruby's bullets and moving her arm at the last moment, my sword glancing against the gauntlet with a spray of sparks but failing to touch the vital dust crystals. I heard Ruby curse, or as close to a curse as Ruby got anyway and the sound of her reloading her rifle, something that was necessary due to the rapid-fire routine that she'd pulled off earlier, but I found my attention far more concerned with the large yellow wall of energy that Jorth proceeded to backhand me with.

I'd say that she backhanded me across the face, but it's rather hard to hit just one body part when the thing hitting you is quite literally the size of the side of a house.

It's more of a full body experience that can't quite be conveyed with words.

But let me say this much, it is not something that I would recommend.

I landed heavily but managed to roll with the attack, pushing myself back up to my feet in time to face Jorth once more, her axe drawing back for another attack, the sound of the jet engine starting to build once more, and I readied myself to jump backwards out of the way of the swing.

The unmistakeable sound of Crescent Rose firing filled the air and one of the bullets just missed Jorth's left hand and the massive power armor danced backwards out of the way of the shots as they crackled through the air, dodging out of the way with nimbleness and grace that should have been impossible for something that was that size and weight.

But if the encounter with the P-01s had taught me anything it was to never judge a book by its cover.

That and the value of a well-timed counter.

CLANG

The sound filled the air as if a great bell had been struck and Jorth's armoured form staggered forward, totally unsteady almost toppling over if not for her lashing out with her axe and using it as an impromptu anchor to stop herself from moving any further, her other hand bracing herself against the ground to stop herself from falling.

I saw my chance and I took it, sliding forward during Jorth's moment of weakness and slammed my blade into the last remaining dust crystal, the yellow eye of the skull letting out a satisfying crunch before flickering out. I kept moving, bouncing back up to my feet and standing up next to my teammate, her weapon up and ready.

And her form was crackling with pink electricity as a clear sign of her semblance in use, the scattered shell casings around her indicating Ruby's involvement in my teammate's boosted strength.

Jorth had banned me from using my tonics early on, stating that this was meant to be a test of how we could make use of our weapons to defeat an enemy, and that letting Nora power herself up was not something that any enemy worth their salt would let them so.

So, we had to find a way around that problem.

How do we get Nora enough electricity for to fuel her semblance in the middle of a field where there was no electronics on a day without so much as a single cloud in the sky? It was Ren who'd suggested the solution to us.

And with a little help from the Schnee Dust company we'd provided Ruby with a few elemental options that would not have been possible to use without the modifications to Crescent Rose that Ruby had pulled off before. Among them were rounds with lightening powder encapsulated within them, which Ruby had fired directly into Nora.

The trick had been finding away for Ruby to shoot Nora, which at the same time didn't give away the fact that she was intending to shoot Nora.

That's why I'd had to have Jorth facing towards me instead of Ruby and doing my absolute best to keep Jorth's attention on me and not on her daughter, thus allowing Ruby to seemingly 'miss' her target of Jorth and at the same time allow Nora to power up without being impeded by her mother.

And with a stroke of luck, I'd managed to take out Jorth's shield as well.

But we needed to keep moving, we couldn't allow Jorth to regain her momentum or she'd render us into paste with her next rush.

Nora and I charged forward, Nora pulling back her hammer in preparation for a powerful swing, just a step behind me and Jorth pulled her massive axe again, the Jet engine roaring to life at a level beyond any I'd heard before, a clear sign of just how much power her next attack was going to have.

As close as we were there was no way for us to dodge Jorth's extended reach, and with the sheer strength behind the blow there was no way in Remnant that I was going to be able to block such a blow with Candidus Mors.

And as the axe came towards us with a blow that what would have knocked both Nora and I at the same time I felt a grin spread across my face.

Fooled you.

The axe blurred forward, powered by the roar of the jet engine only to go soaring over our heads with a whoosh of air that ruffled my trench coat from the force of the swing. On my left wrist my own ace in the hole was now hard at work, a glowing white shield that was slightly larger then what my original shield had been but was still more than familiar enough to be easily used, generated from the seemingly regular arm guard that was wrapped around my left arm.

Nora surged forward with a semblance powered leap that crushed the ground beneath her feet and she let out a roar as Magnhild swung out, the pink lightning snapping at the air as it moved along her body and hammer and slammed it into the jet axe as it passed her. The sound was tremendous, as if a clap of lightning had cracked across the heavens before I saw Jorth's weapon go spinning through the air before it came to a halt as it bounced against a tree surrounding the clearing, the weapon clearly dented from her daughter's blow.

And there goes that problem too.

Unfazed over the loss of her weapon, her left arm with it's now useless shield gauntlet slammed a heavy fist into Nora's airborne body, unable to dodge the blow in any way. She let out a grunt and was sent flying backwards, only being saved from a heavy impact with one of the trees surrounding the clearing by Ren catching her at the last moment, clearly having recovered somewhat from Jorth's slam.

Her other empty hand had moved to grab me in the same movement but I recognised the danger for what it was and moved, rolling between Jorth's legs as the massive iron fist snatched at empty air behind me.

I lashed out with Candidus Mors as I went, drawing the blade across what on a normal person would have been the heel cord, the Lunar Steel cutting deeply into the back of the armour's heel.

"Ready!" I heard Ruby's voice call out from somewhere in front of me and I let out a sigh of relief internally as I came to my feet. Then I dropped my sword and brought up my right arm to support my left as I surged my aura down my arm and into the generator, the shield deploying in the blink of an eye.

But as I saw the armoured form turn, one mighty fist drawn back to deliver a tremendous blow, I knew that it wasn't going to be enough.

When we'd sat down to try and incorporate Ruby into our typical JNPR strategies in Pyrrha's place it very quickly became apparent that such a thing was impossible.

In fact, the grand majority of our JNPR strategies were now utterly unfeasible.

Why?

Because Ruby wasn't Pyrrha.

Pyrrha defensive utility was much greater than that of Ruby's own, especially given her shield. Pyrrha's general strategy made great use of blocking or diverting the enemy's attacks with the shield before launching a counter in the ensuing opportunity afterwards.

Ruby on the other hand primarily made use of her agility, using the recoil and extended reach of Crescent Rose to not only increase her reach but also to allow her to quickly strike her opponents before moving out of the range of their reply as quickly as possible.

With the possible exception of Ren making use of his aura forcefield technique, something that was noted to drain his aura like no-one's business.

His use of it to protect Polendina and the other civilians during the P-01s' rampage in Amity Coliseum nearly wiped him and that was with Pyrrha providing support with her semblance.

So that left me as the sole defensive role of the team, having to somehow take on the role of two different defenders as one person.

And while Pyrrha and I may have been able to defend Nora and Ren working together, there was no way that I was going to be able to defend three people with a regular shield.

And that was when I had my brilliant idea.

I forced even more aura into the shield, and what was once the size of a heater shield expanded outwards, my own scaled down version of Jorth's defence taking form before me.

Why not just make a bigger shield?

The blow slammed into my shield, my feet sliding across the ground slightly before yet another blow slid into it and then another, each new blow sliding me backwards just that little bit more.

My shield was all that stood between myself and Jorth onslaught of attacks, my aura dipping noticeably with each new impact. It also was placed between Jorth and Ruby, my defence preventing Ruby from having a clear shot against our opponent.

Even with every impact against the shield, I still heard the round ratcheting into place, a sound that was far louder than any other round that I had heard from Ruby met my ears and I had to fight to keep the look on my face from giving the game away.

I dug my feet into the ground as best I could, keeping the shield in the same direction as before, trying to prevent myself from being knocked to the side instead of being knocked backwards.

The sound of the gun going off was like a clap of thunder, my ears ringing painfully from the sheer noise of it, the round aimed directly at the 'head' of Jorth's power armor. Jorth ignored the shot, knowing that my shield was between her and the bullet, keeping her safe from harm from Ruby's oversized rounds.

And then the stylized silver skull that was the head of the towering machine ceased to be, a ragged hole almost a foot across that revealed sparking cut wires and went all the way through.

The armor staggered at that, before falling like a great tree felled by a woodcutter's axe the impact of it hitting the ground lifting me from my feet for a moment.

The instant afterward I dispelled the shield and dropped to one knee with a gasp, sweat pouring down my face as I tried to force oxygen into my body with my heaving lungs.

That had been too close.

Another few impacts and she would have knocked me into next week.

I felt a hand clap onto my shoulder and I looked up to see a brightly smiling Ruby Rose beaming down at me, Crescent Rose held tightly under her right arm. Only it looked very different from its usual scythe configuration or the more box like firing mode. What was in Ruby's arms was a full-blown sniper rifle complete with bipods attached to the long thin barrel extending away from the body of the gun.

The work Ruby had done in Wayland's shop had been far more than a simple tune up.

She'd told me after that she'd first gotten the idea having seen our match against team BRNZ in the tournament and seeing just how much trouble May Zedong's sniper rifle had caused us during the battle. She'd deemed it to be something worth pursuing, and although she hadn't had the time or the facilities to allow such a rebuild to take place, especially with the possibility of having to take part in later rounds she had made her plans and put them on the backburner at the time.

"How?" I heard Jorth's question cut through my thoughts, the surprisingly short pilot making her way towards me, having exited the slightly smoking wreck that had been her armor, the chest plate open to reveal where she had been piloting the mech. "How was the bullet able to pass through the shield? A replica of my shield would not have allowed that to happen."

I smiled lightly at that. "That's because it's not based on your shield, not really." I admitted, pushing myself up with a loud exhale as I did so. "Wayland and I had it look like yours to help you think otherwise but the shield itself doesn't really work the same as yours, except for cosmetically of course."

Jorth raised a single eyebrow at that. "Elaborate." She said, less asking and more demanding the information.

"The shield's meant to replicate something that I saw a while back, someone's semblance." I started, gesturing towards the gauntlet again. "I think Wayland described it as a unidirectional field?" I posited, not quite sure of the answer myself.

The giant smith had descended into a stream of what had sounded like nonsense when he had tried to explain the thing to me, and I still only really could grasp the bare bones of what he's said, and that was with Ruby and Nora playing translator.

But still I had to tip my hat to Wayland's skill at creating such a thing that was able to replicate the Deputy's, no wait, it was Commander Cobalt now, semblance.

A shield that not only defended my allies from harm it also boosted their attacks at the same time.

Granted the fact that my aura was more mercurial then it had any right to be apparently helped the device be viable according to Wayland, but I would have never have been able to have make such a thing on my own.

Jorth paused for a moment, her eyes narrowing before they widened minutely. "The barrier accelerated the round, that's why my optics lost sight of it." She realised looking back at her devastated machine for a moment before turning back to face me. "That also explains why you didn't use the device earlier. How much aura does it draw upon?"

I grimaced at that. "A lot." I said sourly, still feeling the drain on my reserves that had been a result of using my new shield. "Every impact against the shield draws on my aura a little bit more, but the amount needed for keeping it active is pretty good. It's just when I try and make the shield any larger than the size of a standard heater shield."

"That's why we saved it till the end." Nora's voice cut in, skipping forward with a bright smile on her face, a slightly embarrassed looking Ren walking beside her. "Although we were supposed to have a certain someone," At this Nora dug an elbow into Ren's side in a spectacularly unsubtle manner, "but he got slammed by something he didn't see coming."

Ren grumbled something decidedly impolite under his breath that I as the magnanimous person that I am refrained from laughing at.

Much.

"Congratulations." Jorth spoke up again, drawing our attention back towards her once more. "I take it you're prepared to leave?" She asked us, her piercing blue eyes flicking from person to person before seemingly coming to a conclusion and turned on her heel and started walking out of the clearing, leaving her smoking suit of armor where it lay. "Well then, you might as well have one last home cooked meal before you head off."

We started making our way back towards the house and I was still basking in the glow of our victory over Jorth when Ren sidled up to me, with a look on his face that had me instantly on my guard.

"So Jaune," Ren began, dragging out my name in a way that had me wanting to reach for my blade to attack him before he could finish, "How are you going to get Nora her weekly allotment of pancakes on the way to Mistral?"

I frowned slightly at that.

She couldn't honestly expect me to fulfil my promise of pancakes once a week.

Could she?

Ren seemingly read my mind and smiled darkly at me. "Best of luck fearless leader." He crowed mockingly, waving goodbye as he did so.

Blast.

It was dark.

Where were the lights?

I could see people moving.

People running, people screaming.

But I couldn't hear them.

I couldn't hear anything.

The world was silent to me.

I felt, felt the hate course through me, the likes of which I had never felt before.

No.

That was a lie.

I had felt it before.

Just the once.

The rage cooled in an instant, the blood in my veins turning to ice bringing with it that serenity that was brought inhuman clarity with it.

Suddenly one of the shadows leapt towards me, arm drawn back before it slowed, eventually coming to a stop completely.

…l .h..

I heard something. I couldn't quite make it out.

I…I know this.

I've been here before.

k..l .he.

There it was again.

Where was I?

What was happening to me?

I felt something rush through me, a rush of power that brought new life to my limbs, filling me strength that made me feel as if I could take on an army.

But at the same time I felt something else, something I couldn't quite explain, but something that filled me with a sense of unease that ran through every nerve of my body.

Something was wrong.

Remove it.

The world restarted in the blink of an eye, the shadow descending towards me.

A sword lashed out, cutting through the shadow in an instant, a spray of blood painting the surroundings a macabre red, the shadow letting off a chocked off scream before it collapsed to the ground, clutching at its wound.

My sword.

With my hand wielding it

But I hadn't tried to move.

I tried to let go of the sword, knowing that something was wrong only for my command to go unheeded, my body no longer under my own control.

"Stop it!" I tried to scream, but my mouth didn't move, the words refusing to form, only ringing within my own head.

Kill them

My body moved and I bore witness, a prisoner of my own self as it tore through the shadows, the sounds horrific, the screams and cries ringing through my ears as I tore through them like a Beowolf through a henhouse, my every movement vicious not always killing on the first strike, sometimes taking my time, slicing off limbs, seemingly savouring in the violence before I finally cut them down.

One of the shadows stood up, trying to defend itself before my blade cut it down as if it wasn't even there, the head flying free with yet another spray of blood painting the shadow behind it, which recoiled away in horror.

I fought every step of the way, trying to regain control of my body, trying to force myself to stop, to drop the sword, to scream at them to get away before I was forced to kill them as well.

But to no avail.

KILL Them

The voice spoke again and the slaughter accelerated, the shadows dying twice as fast now as my body picked up the pace in response to the words cutting down the last few, having to hack through some of the shadows as they tried to shield the others with their own bodies.

And then came clarity.

And horror.

What had once been nothing more than vaguely humanoid shapes were now something entirely different, something that made me want to drop to my knees and vomit or scream but my body remained just as rebellious as it had for the entirety of the slaughter.

The bodies of Wayland and Jorth lay before me, lifeless eyes staring up at me, their hands reaching out for each other only to fall short in the final moments.

Behind them was Ren and Nora, the martial artist clearly having tried to shield Nora from my attack with his body but instead I had simply impaled her through him, leaving the two clutching at each other before the escaping blood ceased their movements entirely.

I turned and saw them, saw the bodies littering the ground behind me.

Yang, missing her arm with her father's barely recognisable corpse collapsed before her having failed to save her from me.

A bloody wreck of a being that could only barely be recognised as a human being, the iconic red cape making it clear on just who that had once been.

Beside it lay Weiss, her own rapier used to impale her through the heart, the blood trailing out of her mouth and staining her normally immaculate white outfit a crimson that could match the red cape next to her.

Sun, the shattered remains of his gun-chucks by his feet, his tail torn off and a great ragged wound across his throat that made it clear that he had died choking to death on his own blood.

Beside him was Blake, her sword shattered and a number of slashes making it clear that she would never rise again, the ribbon of Gambol Shroud drawn tight around her throat, her hands clearly having tried and failed to stop it from choking her.

Behind them was the remains of team SSSN as well as CRDNL, scattered limbs and body parts littering the path, the two teams clearly trying to defend something from me, spending their lives to try and keep me away from it.

And beyond them.

I staggered, before dropping to my knees unable to accept what I saw before me.

"No…" I whispered in denial, as if my words would dispel this nightmare before me.

The kids.

It was the kids.

They were lying down now.

Like they were sleeping.

But they weren't sleeping.

And before them with the smashed remains of his wheelchair behind him was Tob, propping himself up on Peter's corpse with a grip on his rifle that not even death could end.

The wound that was on his face was terrible, digging so deep into his head that you could see bits of cracked and shattered skull beneath it.

But even with all that, Tob's dead eyes still stared straight at me, deep into my soul, accusing me in a way that words could never have achieved.

'Why Jaune?' They seemed to ask me. 'Why didn't you save them?'

I heard a step behind me and I spun on instinct, my right hand drawing back as I did so before thrusting it forward into my enemy.

A ragged gasp sounded out.

Pyrrha looked down at the bloody rent in her flesh, my sword having stabbed deep into her side, right where Cinder had stabbed her on the top of Beacon tower, her hands coming up to place themselves over the injury.

"Pyrrha!" I cried out, grabbing her as her legs collapsed from under her, lowering her to the ground as she tried and failed to speak, a bloody froth spewing forth from her mouth.

This….

This wasn't happening.

This wasn't happening.

One of her hands reached up to cup my cheek and I could feel the warm lifeblood that was coating her hand against my skin.

I tried to say something, tried to tell her that everything was going to be all right, that I was going to fix this that I was going to do something only to find myself once more a passenger within my own head.

KILL THEM ALL

The voice spoke again and my body answer, one of my hands reaching out to grab the crimson stained weapon by my side bringing it up, fumbling to pick it up for a moment so slick it was with the blood before gaining a firm grip once more.

My body was straddling Pyrrha's own now, staring down at her weakly struggling body as my other hand joined its brother in its task, both hands now wrapped around the hilt of the blade as my body brought it high above my head, to thrust it down into Pyrrha's heart.

My partner's eyes closed softly.

The sword swung down.

Pyrrha's eyes snapped open.

But what I saw was not Pyrrha.

What I saw was fire.

And then then the world was wreathed in flame, the form beneath me a figure of molten stone and blazing metal, the bodies around me reduced to ash in an instant.

But I didn't vanish.

I burned and I screamed, the heat so intense that the very act of breathing was like stabbing myself with a knife over and over and over again, not even taking into account the body made of fire beneath me, quite literally grilling me as I saw my skin start to blacken with every passing moment.

A hand clutched at my face and it was as if the thing was some kind of brand, it's very touch bringing about a whole new level of agony, the sound of my skin sizzling filling my ears, the smell of it blocking my nose.

It forced me to look down at it, into its eyes of fire and death, and the fire that was a face leaned up towards me and its mouth opened.

"WaKe Up JaUnE."

I flew up with a cry, my lungs heaving as I my hand reached back for my sword, ready to defend myself and only grabbed a wing instead.

My sword was not there.

Reality reasserted itself.

Blast it.

I was in Nioavellir, in Valhalla, Wayland's forge. I'd been trying to get some sleep before we'd start our journey tomorrow morning to Mistral.

I swore internally, even as I placed my head into my shaking hands.

Again.

The same dream again.

Ever since I had woken up in Taiyang's house after the invasion of Beacon, that same nightmare had haunted my dreams.

Although admittedly that bit with the fire at the end was a new touch.

Guess my subconscious thought things were getting a bit stale with me only slaughtering everyone I'd ever known.

Really appreciated that.

I lay back down for a moment and closed my eyes, trying to go back to sleep, knowing that it would be important for the journey ahead but after a few moments I knew that it was a futile effort.

Damn it.

I threw the covers off once more and stood, throwing my shoes on and snatching my trench coat to go along my back, sliding my wings smoothly within it once more, the act now something that I could do without noticeable effort, the constant repetition making it something that was entirely routine at this point.

I thought about opening the door and heading towards the kitchen, getting myself a drink of water, maybe even a bite to eat before I decided against it.

I didn't want to disturb any of the others, this might be the one of the last good nights of sleep we get for a while now.

I turned towards the window and pulled it open before clambering out myself, feeling the cool night air as ran across my body, the trench coat taking most of the bite out of the chill.

Stretching up and pulling myself up onto the multicolour roof with a grunt, before I lay down onto it, putting my hands behind my head to prop it up slightly as I stared up at the moon, or at least where the moon would have been if it wasn't hiding behind the clouds over head.

The stars were bright tonight, not quite as bright as they had been out at Freshwater but still far brighter than anything I'd been able to see at Vale or even the short time I was on Patch.

I found it calming, looking up at the heavens.

Despite everything else that was going on in the world, the many problems going on both big and small, the heavens always remained the same, the stars and the moon one of the few constants in my increasingly frantic life.

And so whenever things got to be just a bit too much for, I always took the time to just stop and stare up at the stars, not looking for anything in particular just taking it all in until I calmed down again.

I paused.

Admittedly the fact the moon was out at night may have been the reason I had picked up that habit, at least subconsciously, given the clear connection between it and my angelic nature.

The fact that my wings glowed all the brighter under moonlight was not exactly subtle.

But that was all the indicator I had at the moment.

It wasn't like there was a in depth analysis of the history of angels on the web for me to look at.

And that was without even taking into account the fact that with the CCT tower gone, scrolls were essentially paperweights unless you were within a relatively close range of another scroll.

"And the fact I still didn't have a scroll." I said aloud with a groan, palming my forehead as I let out a groan.

Knew I forgot about something.

"Don't worry about it." Jorth's voice materialised a few inches to my left, making me jump out of my skin at the shock of the woman appearing out of nowhere.

I turned to face my erstwhile shield mentor to find her sitting on the roof next of me, her eyes staring up at the stars just as I had been.

"You should be sleeping." She said bluntly, and as she did she lifted her left hand up to her face, revealing a cigarette held between her fingers, taking a long drag from the cigarette before she let out a breath, a cloud of smoke escaping out as she did so.

"I, uh, had trouble sleeping." I admitted, feeling embarrassed as I did so almost feeling like I was a kid again and Tob was raising an eyebrow at me for not being asleep already. "Been having some unsettling dreams lately."

There was silence for a moment longer, both of us simply sitting there, staring up at the stars before she spoke up again.

"Killing the White Fang in Vale I presume?"

Her words were like a ball of ice had been dropped down the back of my coat.

"How did you…" I started, wanting to know just how the hell she had known that when Jorth interrupted me midsentence.

"Your eyes." Jorth said simply, lifting a finger to point at them before dropping it again, her own gaze still skyward. "They are the eyes of someone who has had to stain their hands with the lifeblood of another."

I fell silent at that, closing my eyes and watching the scene replay itself in my mind once more, of the way I had cut those White Fang grunts down without flinching, without saying so much as a word.

Of the sheer joy that had rippled through my form when I'd done it, the disdain that had filled my every swing.

What kind of monster was I?

"You did the right thing Jaune."

I sat up at that. "What did you just say?" I asked her, wanting to make sure I had heard her correctly.

Jorth was looking at me now, her thousand yard stare going right through me. "You did the right thing." She repeated. "And trust me when I say that as bad as you feel right now, in time you'll come to terms with it."

At that moment I was struck with just how very sure Jorth was of herself at that moment. And a part of me wondered just what it was that she had done that made her think she knew what I was going through.

Apparently my face gave my thoughts away because Jorth let out a loud sigh and a muttered curse under her breath in a language I'd never heard of before she started talking again.

"It was just after I'd graduated, I'd have been about twenty then I guess." She began, her expression reminiscent as she looked out over the town. "There was reports of a Grimm incursion heading for a village that was nearby to where I was so I took it upon myself to defend them."

"By the time I arrived, the village had been destroyed, the houses ransacked and the people…" Her words trailed off for a moment before she spoke up again. "Let's just say the ones who died when the Grimm attacked were the lucky ones."

Even though she didn't expressly say what had happened, or who had done it, my mind still found itself conjuring up the images that I knew would have happened, and of what such inhuman individuals did to people that they found themselves stronger than.

"Bandits." I spat, the word akin to a foul taste in my mouth.

Freshwater had previously had an encounter with a bandit attack.

Just the one.

After Tob had proceeded to blow off the head of the first three brigands dumb enough to try and break down the door and then finished the job by massacring the rest from afar with his rifle, not letting a single one escape alive.

At the time I had been shocked then horrified, asking Tob why he had to kill all those people, when he couldn't have just scared them off.

But then I found the Baker's wife Helena.

What was left of her.

She'd often went outside the town to collect herbs for her husband to use, a kind beautiful woman who was always generous when it came to the kids at the orphanage.

I remembered thinking that her husband could never see her like this.

Couldn't taint his memory of her with such a horror.

It would have broken him.

There was one that was still alive by the time, a gut shot having blown out his intestines, trying in vain to keep them inside with his hands.

When Tob had wheeled his way over to him, casually reloading his rifle with one hand, eyes locked on the dying man.

The man had begged for mercy, first from Tob and then from me, imploring that Tob not taint my eyes with the sight of murder.

Tob had actually hesitated at that for a moment.

So, had I.

Then I remembered Helena and told Tob to shoot him.

Bandits weren't people.

They were scum.

One does not leave scum alive to return again.

You remove it.

But it was an entirely different thing to swinging the blade yourself.

"One of the townsfolk was still alive, bleeding out beyond the hope of recovery but still alive." Jorth continued on, one of her hands tensing into a fist for a moment but relaxing again. "With his last breaths he told me which way they'd retreated, how many of them he'd seen and what they'd looked like."

There was silence for a long moment, nothing but the sounds of the wind blowing through the town and the faint murmurs of the nightlife before I spoke up, unable to wait any more. "What did you do next?"

"I followed their trail to the next town, found them all inside the tavern, already deep in their flagons bragging to each other about their big haul from their 'hunting trip'. She said slowly, raising her hands to make quotation marks with her fingers at the end. "Laughing about it."

I could see it, the rage that gripped Jorth's face as she said it, the appearance of it even more shocking than it wold have been from anyone else due to the typically muted depiction of emotion she portrayed.

"So I barred the door and killed all of them." Jorth said simply, taking a swig from her glass as she did so letting out a satisfied ah as she did so. "No words, no explanations, just my axe and their bodies."

"Even though I'd seen what they'd done, even though I know what kind of people they were, I still had nightmares afterward, ones that kept me up at night just like you are now." Jorth admitted to me without shame, patting me lightly on the shoulder as she did so. "Till this big idiot of a man told me to 'stop being such a pansy and stop wallowing around or so help me I'll kick your ass'." She said the loud boisterous words making me instantly grin at what had to be one of the best impressions of Wayland's voice I'd ever heard of before.

"What happened next?" I asked eager to learn the next stage of the story.

A small smile appeared on Jorth's face. "I kicked his ass." She said simply, shaking her head as she did so. "And every day for the next week he came to the bar and dragged me out for another fight and each time I kicked his ass again. After a while I honestly stopped caring about the drink. I just went there because It was the only way I knew how to find him."

"We started dating soon afterwards and later, I found out that he had actually been born in that village, although he'd left to train under Daedalus long before it had been destroyed by those bandits." Jorth revealed, adding a bit more context to Wayland's actions. "After he'd returned home and learnt I'd avenged his village he'd tracked me down to thank me, only to find me like that. And the rest is history."

"Do…" I started before I swallowed, suddenly realizing just how parched my throat was before continuing. "Does it ever go away? The nightmares I mean?" I asked finally, finally saying the question I had been too afraid to ask.

"In time, it'll fade." Jorth started finishing the last of her drink before placing the empty glass on the roof, resting it on tile that jutted out slightly. "But it never really goes away. And that's a good thing. Killing others should never be something that's easy or desired Jaune. Necessary at times, certainly but never something to be celebrated."

I nodded at that, grateful for the information that she had gifted me and yet at the same time not entirely at ease with the advice. "Here's hoping that time passes quickly then." I remarked with a half smile, laughing at myself as I said it.

Jorth let out a sigh at that and stood up, stretching her arms as she did so. "Get some sleep Jaune." She said, half ordering half requesting. "You'll be no good to anyone if you fall asleep on the road."

I let out a laugh at that as I watched Jorth leap off the rooftop, making her war back inside through the front door.

She was right.

I picked myself up, rubbing a hand over my face as a yawn came out of nowhere.

God how had I not noticed I was this tired?

I clambered back down off the roof and through my window to reclaim my bed.

I couldn't even remember my face hitting the pillow before sleep claimed me.