章 488: 44
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The first sensations Jaune felt as he returned to the world weren't his own, something he was more than used to. The ship was swamped in a tense anxiety and stiff nervousness, but even as his sensor range expanded he didn't find anyone but his friends… Well, plus Roman and Cinder, of course. The former in the room next to his with a agitated feeling woman and a concerned one,and the latter next to him, worried and afraid for him as much as for herself, and he got the distinct sense that the two were linked feelings.
He groaned audiby, forcing his eyes open and blinking at the light of the room, and Cinder reacted almost instantly, leaping to her feet and rushing to turn the light off, "Is that better, master?" "Stupid, stupid! I should have left the light off for him to rest."
"Better." He grunted, looking around the mostly empty and shadowy room. Several machines were pushed against the wall, and a cart with his armor and shirt on top of it and baskets of supplies below that was off to his left. He watched Cinder slide into a chair on the other side, his right, and looked at her, "What happened?"
"We boarded the ship once you lost consciousness ,and I saw to it that you were treated for your… injuries, Master. I have been in here since, but Roman told me he'd have us fly over the forests between Vale and Vacuo, and head for the deserts of Vacuo." She explained quickly, folding her hands on her lap and sitting with her back straight in her chair respectfully. Almost like she was addressing a superior in some military installation… Which she was in a way, he supposed. "I… have been avoiding everyone else, for fear of starting an altercation." Even if the red haired girl and I worked together to keep the doctor aboard…"
"The doctor tried to leave?" He asked, taking a breath and wincing when his ribs stretched his protesting skin and muscle, still stitching together with the help of his Aura under bandages that wrapped around his stomach and chest protectively. He coughed, his lungs constricting involuntarily, "W-Why did she want to leave?"
"Because she is a member of the White Fang, Master." She shrugged weakly, "She wished to help her group, whatever the result for herself may be. I would have let her be, but…"
"But?"
"You needed to be treated, master." She said simply, smiling in a sort of satisfied way, a touch of that sultry demeanor left over from her older self. "I couldn't let her just leave, or you might have died, and I don't know what I've had done if that happened, master. I need you."
A responsibility he'd have to bear, he feared, sighing tiredly. "Yeah, makes sense I guess. I just...feel bad for you forcing her to stay, I guess. I dunno." He sighed.
"Are you… upset with me, master?" She asked innocently tilting her head, pouting and shrinking into herself more akin to Ruby when Weiss would scold her than the dangerous, fierce, devastating warrior Cinder he'd fought behind their ship, honest and pure fear roiling out of her harsh enough and suddenly enough Jaune almost choked at it. "I-I only intended to serve you master. I…"
"N-No!" He almost shouted, flailing his arms in panic - mostly a reaction to her own sudden fear and anxiety, driving into him as far and as deep as her blades had - before coughing and grabbing at his side where he lay, grimacing and letting out a strained puff of air from his nose before continuing. "I'm… not angry at you. Just angry at the… the circumstances, I guess."
"Y-You're not angry?" He nodded and felt, as well as saw in her body language, the relief she took from that information.
"No, Cinder." Not for that, at least, and… Not at her. She was more than different at this point, she was almost an entirely new person. A different person from the last one, the other Cinder. Perhaps he'd overdone it, but in the moment, with his blood flowing in several senses and the adrenaline pumping through him,swamped by foreign emotions...
He'd need to treat her differently then.
"I'm glad, master. I was worried." She smiled,relaxing only slightly into her seat before fishing her Scroll out of her cleavage where it was stored… somewhere and somehow. "I haven't reported to Salem as yet either, master. I… did not know what you would wish me to report." "Or even if, honestly."
A thousand and one things shot through his mind at that, from Vale and Beacon and everyone in both, to Ansel and his family and everyone they knew, and even Salem's own castle. Mii, and all the other 'servants' forced into servitude there. He'd scarcely thought about them since leaving, more concerned with the battles coming down the pipe, his friends, Neo… His attention, torn in a thousand directions, had already cost Blake her life. With his Semblance, he should have known her intentions, even if she'd bee avoiding thinking of them for whatever reason, or even if she'd made the decision at the last moment.
Failing to plan that out had cost someone their life, and he needed to learn from that a small lapse in judgement could cost him... Or more likely, someone else, dearly.
"Report to her that the plans in Mountain Glenn were foiled, if she watches any news feeds she'll learn about the battle soon enough whatever the case. Report whatever you did-"
"I killed Ozpin, but I didn't accomplish much else before you beat me, master." She offered, making him flinch at the earnestness and frankness in her voice. The sheer desire to be helpful in her voice and intent…
"T-then tell her that." He continued, swallowing nervously when he remembered how potent she was as a fighter. "And tell her we managed to beat back my friends and… and capture them."
"And what of my former team, master?" She asked quickly, looking almost shy at interrupting once again when Jaune turned on him. He raised an eyebrow, out of curiosity as to her meaning, and she took it as a reprimand instead. "S-Sorry, master, I d-didn't mean to interrupt so rudely. I was merely trying to…"
"Cinder, Cinder, it's fine." He sighed, shaking his head and running a hand through his hair, "Just… Interrupting is fine, if you need to. Only if you need to of course. Just relax."
"Y-Yes, master." She swallowed nervously, twirling a hair around a finger and avoiding eye contact with him, "I have such a kind master…" "They are in two interior rooms, master. The doors are locked and drones are guarding them, four for each, and the rooms are at the far ends of hallways. When I met them, I… acted as my former, foolish self and demanded their Scrolls. They gave them to me, and then I ordered the drones to arrest them." They resisted, or Mercury did at least. But I was able to best that pathetic fool easily enough…" "A-After that, I didn't know what to do with them."
"You did well, thank you." He smiled, and she mirrored the gesture nervously, a spike of warm pride pricking in her mind at his praise. "Report to Salem that they were killed at Mountain Glenn, make up a reason good enough for it. One she'll accept, and then place more guards on them. Once we're safe enough from Vale to do it, start heading north, towards Salem."
"Salem will demand to know of your condition, and Lady Neopoloitan's as well, master." She said, addressing Neo with almost the same level of respect as himself. Because they were together? He didn't know, and she continued on before he could think to ask. "What shall I report of them, master?" "She wanted Neo dead before our return, after all."
"Report… Report that you killed her and disposed of the body then. And that you pinned it o Atlas, and I flew into a rage." He gestured at his body, grimacing lightly, "That will explain away my wounds as well. If she presses for details, you are free to make up whatever you wish, as long as it is hard to prove."
"Yes, master." She inclined her head politely, smiling ever-so-slightly and awaiting more instructions or demands. After a second, Jaune nodded, "Alright… How is Neo doing then? We got the medicine she needed, right?"
"Yes, master. The doctor is with her now, and when I asked earlier, she said that she should be awake soon enough." That explained why she was just milling about in the next room then, instead of moving around, or even coming to check on her other patient. "I-If you like, I can fetch her and she can give you a better report?"
He actually and honestly considered it for a moment before shaking his head, "No... No, she's tending to Neo, and that's more important." She grimaced and he sensed her disagreement, but she didn't voice it and he didn't press her, "I… would enjoy something to eat, however. And maybe to visit my friends?"
She stood and moved to the door, pushing it open and - he assumed since he didn't sense anyone - spoke to a drone, "Can you notify everyone aside from the prisoners that master Jaune would like to see them and have a meal?"
"Yes, Fall, Cinder. Relaying message through the networks immediately." She waited several seconds, leaning out the door and making Jaune have to turn to void a view that bordered on what he considered moral, before the two of them heard the voice again, "Messages relayed, Fall, Cinder. Rose, Ruby is en route to see him. We requested she not, and her response was incomprehensible."
"Why?" Cinder asked.
"Her speed of movement was such that the sound warped." It explained, after a moment adding, "Here she is."
"Jaune!" She half squealed, nearly knocking Cinder over before the woman could leap to the side, appearing at his shoulder in a flurry of rose petals, checking every inch of his chest that she could see over the blanket's edge before looking at him in relief, "Jaune, we were all worried about you." "After you stabbed yourself!"
"I'm fine, Ruby." He chuckled dryly, looking past her at Cinder and raising his chin, "Cinder, help me out of the bed? I can't bend much, it hurts when I shift my ribs around too much. I'm fine-" he added with a raised finger at Ruby to ask her to wait a minute when her mouth opened,and she pouted and rubbed her index fingers together, "-I just want help up to stay fine, you know?"
"O-Okay.." She said, pouting and shifting her legs awkwardly, avoiding his gaze, "Just be careful…" "She's the one who hurt you,why would you ask her? I'm right here!"
Sighing, he made a snap decision and used the information.
Cinder leaned down, gripping under his shoulders gently and helping him sit up, and he looked over his bare shoulder at Ruby, who was blushing furiously and avoiding looking at him, and smiled, "Ruby, help me stand up? Wanna make sure I can keep my balance, and nothing is wrong."
He felt the satisfaction she felt at the gesture, the small girl flitting around the bed and helping him stand while Cinder watched worriedly and mildly irritated, her lips pursed slightly and eyes narrow while he leaned against the blushing teen until he felt 'confident' that he could handle standing. Or, well, until he felt Ruby was willing to back off and calm down now that she'd helped.
He stopped to reach for his breastplate but Ruby got in front of him, flashing past the other two larger people with petals flying and slamming a palm against it, "Nope! No armor! You're too hurt, Jaune." "And the muscles are nice…" "C-Cinder! Back me up, okay?"
Sensing her chance to pave over her 'previous self' as she'd put it somewhat, Cinder leaned forward, "I-I must agree with her, master. Your injuries aren't conducive to wearing plate armor. I-I mean, I don't have a spare shirt for you, I didn't think to look for one when I boarded with you, I'm sorry master. I could-"
"Master?" Ruby realized after a second, surprised thoughts racing through her, "What did Jaune do to her?"
"No!" Jaune said quickly, looking over his shoulder at Cinder as he stepped towards and out the door into the hallway, "E-Even if you found something, it'd be White Fang gear. I don't want to dress up as a terrorist. Not anymore, not after everything. Now, Cinder, go and make your report to Salem."
"Yes, master."She said, stepping past him and bowing her head slightly before turning and walking away, irritation roiling off of her at being sent away. And Ruby too to an extent, he noticed. Was she jealous he'd had her help him?
Things were just getting complicated… Never simpler, never easier.
"She calls you her master?" Ruby asked after a second, walking next to him down the hall. He'd considered visiting Neo for a moment, but he sensed she was still sleeping under the doctor's watchful gaze. Ruby nudged him when he hummed an acknowledgement, "Why does she do that, Jaune?" "It's weird…"
"I…" He almost lied, partially out of instinct and habit but mostly out of his own fear. He knew how his Semblance looked to most people, Pyrrha even had mentioned it. And felt the fear he knew others would have, aside from Salem and her group. He'd never sensed most of their feelings, but greed was likely there. "It's part of my Semblance, Ruby."
"Your Semblance?" She asked curiously, head tilting to the side.
"Yeah, it's…" He sighed, resting a hand on his abdomen where Cinder had stabbed him. "It's a bad one. I won't get too into it, I want to tell everyone at once. But it let me… control her, change her mind a bit, I guess."
"That… I mean, a Semblance can be anything I guess… Even if it's… Kinda..." "Even if it seems evil." She trailed off awkwardly, swallowing nervously and unconsciously stepping an inch away from him. "I-I mean, yours is cool, I just, um…"
"It's evil, Ruby." He said, sighing and shaking his head as they turned to head down a flight of stairs, "The things I can do are… Wrong, but I have to use it. Have had to use it, at least, just to survive and keep the people I care about safe."
She was quiet after that, her mind racing with thoughts he forced himself not to hear. Soon, they reached the area the crew used, or had used at least, to eat. The roof was lower then one would necessarily like, only a foot over their heads, and the room itself was a stark white with the same sterile paint-style and lighting as used elsewhere. A White Fang symbol was painted in red at the far end from the door he stood in, a dozen burns scorched into its surface from - something he was sure was entirely unrelated to them in every way.
That Yang was reloading her Ember Celica near to him was entirely irrelevant.
"Jaune!" Pyrrha called, waving him over to where everyone was sitting. She'd saved him a spot between herself and Ren, Nora on Ren's other side. Ruby sat next to him as he joined them, Weiss next to her and Yang on the furthest side. "How are you feeling, Jaune? Your wound is well, yes?" "Why are you already out of bed? You should have rested more, Jaune. That wound was serious, even if it is survivable."
He sighed, and groaned as well, as he slid into his seat beside her, "I was hungry and… Well, all of you are here and I won't take you where I'm going. Not unless you know what is happening, and how, and why."
"Jaune, you don't have to-"
"Yes, Pyrrha, I do." Jaune argued, turning to glare at her. She blinked at it, nodding and turning to gaze at the table forlornly. He almost regretted that, grimacing before looking at the others, "I can't plan this out by myself, even if some of you want to leave. Not talking to people, not planning ahead well enough… It killed Blake, I didn't anticipate what she did. I didn't stop her. I won't let that happen again."
"Kind of late for that." "Since she's already fucking dead…" He looked at Yang, as did everyone really, and she sighed, "I mean, she's d-... Gone now, so… Why bother?"
"Because it was a mistake." He answered instantly, frowning and looking at her, "My… My Semblance was overpowering me, and I wasn't thinking straight, so I… I messed up. And I don't want to do that again. I don't want any of you to get hurt, not because I didn't tell you something."
"Jaune, what happened to Blake isn't your fault." Ruby tried to argue.
"Yes, it fucking is." Yang growled loudly, slamming a gauntleted fist against the table, "She was there. Why? Because of him. She blew herself up because of a plan his cronies were working on! Pyrrha, you were hospitalized by his new friend in the other room up on the medical floor or… Or whatever that is!"
"I was kidnapped Yang!" He snapped loudly, "They took me against my will, held my entire… My hometown over my head like a damn guillotine! They told me, flat out, I do as they say or they destroy it. Then they'd come for each one of you, one after another!" He shook his head, resting a hand against his forehead as memories hit him, "The… The things they thought of, the images…"
"Jaune's Semblance," Pyrrha started quietly, "is mind reading. He can read anyone's thoughts, from far away if he tries hard enough. He even… This all started because he… Well…"
"I read a Grimm's mind, when I first had my Aura activate at Initiation, and-"
"Wait, you didn't have Aura at Initiation?" Nora asked in surprise, before Ren elbowed her, "What? It's important! I wanna know, Renny. He'd have to be super badass to make it to Initiation without Aura, right?" "How could he lack Aura in Initiation? I had to demonstrate mine."
"I… Faked my transcripts to get in." He admitted with a sigh, avoiding their eyes even as a barrage of thoughts slammed into him. Curious, accusatory, angry, indignant and more. "I was just desperate! I, ever since I was a kid I wanted to be a Huntsmen. It was everything to me, but… But my father wouldn't train me, so I did it on my own. I worked out, ran, exercised, read what I could. But… Well, my dad didn't let me attend the school at Ansel. The Hunter one, I mean."
"And since you never attended, you never read up on Aura." Weiss finished for him, sighing, "I suppose that makes sense… Many 'normal schools', civilian ones I mean, they lack any Hunter information." "So he'd have never known about it…"
"And when you heard about all the special powers Hunters used?" Ren asked drly.
"I assumed it was tech." He admitted honestly, "I mean, honestly, the stuff coming out of Atlas and even Vale always… I mean, our militia had spears Weiss. Spears and shields to ward off Grimm attacks. And then, when I was nine, a huge herd of Beowolfs were trying to wipe us out, and my family were all scared, my dad was fighting and… In comes this random woman with two little knives that shoot out the tips, flipping and blowing them up… Just the weapons and the tech seem like magic. Seemed like it, at least."
"And you never asked, because you assumed…" Ruby started, biting her lip nervously, "And, um, since everyone else assumed that you already knew and had yours unlocked, no one unlocked it." "Which makes sense…"
"Until I unlocked it in the forest, yes." Pyrrha added, nodding and sighing as she tried to explain what they'd encountered a lifetime ago, "Then he… 'felt' something in a Grimm, like a directive or a… I don't know. Jaune?"
"It was a presence, behind the Grimm. Watching, observing, giving it a… A basic sort of direction." He explained, "It was a woman, named Salem. She… I don't know, honestly, but she commands Grimm. She has a… castle, up north. On the northern continent. It's why you almost definitely encountered Grimm out there, in the forest."
"Bull fucking shit." Yang snapped, throwing her arms in the air and shaking her blonde head. "You expect me to believe there's some… 'Queen of the Grimm'? Why? Because you say so? You just admitted you're a fraud, so why would I?" "I'm not going to get jerked around by this limp-"
"-dicked, lying, piece of shit who got Blake killed." Jaune finished, reading out her thoughts as he heard them coming. She blinked in surprise, the words parroted as she'd thought them, and he raised an eyebrow, "That's what you were thinking, right? So, explain why Ozpin would have enough interest in me to send Blake after me then?"
"I don't know, but-"
"No?" He asked, rising and leaning onto the large, round table, "How about why Cinder, and the White Fang, tolerated me so much? Why they listened, enough so as to lean on me for two raids? Three, including this battle." He waited for her to answer, the blonde just looking up at him surprisedly, "Because Yang, I'm… I'm sorry, but I have been through hell in a hundred ways. I have felt myself die hundreds of times. You know what that's like?"
"N-No, I…"
"No. You don't know, but I do." He said quietly, sliding into his seat and boring a hole into her forehead with his eyes. "I also know what it feels like to do specific things, die in specific ways. Neo almost did, one of those friends you mentioned? Leapt between me and an Atlesian soldier, using an axe that electrified a person's body so badly, the muscle and flesh, and skin and tendons spasm and explode. The pain…" He shivered at the memory, "So don't… Don't ignore that this is complicated, and let me tell the story."
No one interrupted him after that. Even when food came. Even when Cinder joined them, sitting at a table nearby and watching him protectively. They all sat, listening quietly and intently, as he explained to them his every act. Every violation, every fight, every decision, and every friend made. Aside from thoughts held, but… They couldn't help that.
When he finally left, leaving them to their thoughts and the decision they had to make, Cinder followed closely on his heels, "Master, are you-"
"I am just fine, Cinder." He growled, sighing when she flinched back and shrunk into herself. Sighing, he continued, "Sorry, just the stress. I… shouldn't have snapped."
"It's alright, master." She said quietly, and Jaune was reminded again of what he'd made of her. A meek puppy of a woman, made out of the warrior she'd been. "I… I should have known you'd be stressed out. I could… help, you know." An image flashed into his mind from her, Cinder on her knees for him bare of even a stitch, ready to comply to his every demand, eager to please her new master in any way he could ask, on her knees, her hands or her back even.
He shook his head to clear it, "No, Cinder. I… No." Sighing, he continued down the hallway, "Let's go see Neo, okay? I want to check up on her. She's… the only one I'm interested in like that."
"Oh." She said, embarrassed to an extreme. "I'm… Sorry master, I didn't mean any offence." "Dust, I didn't even consider her… Not that she compares to my body, of course." "S-Sorry, master, I didn't mean that."
"Yes, you did." He said with a groan, shaking the image further out of his head. "And that's fine Cinder, your thoughts are your own."
"But-"
"No arguing, Cinder Fall. That is an order." He snapped, exercising the authority he held over her. It felt good, much as he hated it when he realize why he was feeling that satisfaction. He quashed it down with a sigh, "I won't broach that territory."
They completed the journey in silence after that, until they reached Neo's door.
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