章 19: White Noise over the Past's Shadows (2)
"Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another, 'What! You too? I thought I was the only one." – C.S. Lewis
~John's POV~
It was another early morning for me in Remnant and I could already tell it was going to be a crazy one by just looking at my first obstacle for a pleasant and 'safe' awakening back in bed.
I was surprised when I found myself questioning about the means I should be use to deal with the overgrown cat currently napping on my chest.
Seriously, why did she had to move in her sleep? I could have sworn she had been the one free from any aching in her body that should have spark any nightmare.
The conversation of the day before was still fresh in my mind and, frankly speaking, I couldn't see it being the issue behind such a tactical move in the unexpected effort of screwing me in the metaphysical level.
Yep, nobody likes to get to deal with critical circumstances which weren't dealt by the solvers… especially if said circumstances would eventually lead to some violent escalation towards me!
I mean, there was nothing truly wrong about the scene as we had been just sleeping.
Sienna was kind of warm and she wasn't wearing anything indecent in that very moment, but I couldn't help but see more of what her her reaction would be if she happened to wake in that precise instant instead of musing over the overall cute display.
Even the adorable purring coming from her vibrating lips and her calm snuggling weren't doing enough to to disperse the awkwardness that this scene presented to me.
I was carefully quick to push her arms and head away from my proximity, knowing that a wrong move could see me subjected to further aggression for trying to merely move away from extra-danger zone.
I waited some more seconds of silence after I was done to gauge if I had managed with my utmost effort to get her to move away from me without waking her up and…
Yep, she's still sleeping.
A quiet sigh left my mouth as I thought myself finally free of the threatening issues within my current whereabouts, only for my easiness to die down mere moments later.
My eyes were quick to pick up that there was something shining from the little couch set several meters away from the bed.
I was quite sure that the room occupants until late yesterday were just me and Sienna, prompting me to slightly panic at this detail…
Only to frown at the realization of who was lurking by the shadowed corner of place.
The red glow that I had first seen was unique to a certain scarlet-colored blade that was being currently polished by a certain dark-haired, red-eyed woman that had made herself a seat by the furniture.
Her attention was directed at the activity itself, giving me plenty of time to prepare to what looked to be a planned surprise from Raven.
I continued to stare, sure that the attention would have caught her own and… I was proven correct when the former huntress lifted her stare right up to match mine.
"Oh," She hummed quietly. "You are awake."
...That's it?
"Good morning to you too, Raven."
She nodded, proceeding to return most of her attention right at the blade cleaning.
"Before you ask, Yes I did enter from the window," The Branwen mentioned distractedly. "And then I closed it once I was inside."
I merely blinked back at her, leaning on my pillow as I continued to watch her as she continued with her activity.
My stare was one of curiosity and fascination, but also one of confusion and nervousness as I was trying to understand why she was here to begin with.
Sienna had sounded fairly genuine when she had said that she hadn't contacted the woman about what had happened with the Taurus family; plus, it seemed that Raven wasn't even aware of what had happened to me quite recently.
I was quite sure that it wasn't what had happened yesterday.
...So what exactly got the woman to present herself unannounced and so late at night, considering that both Sienna and I had gone to sleep just before midnight.
It took me just a few more moments of staring that I finally noticed that there was a certain degree of tiredness lingering on her face and, now that I thought about it, I could also remember some of it in her voice.
"Having a tough time with the rest of the team?" I asked with some careful tone, worried that any eventual discussion could stir too much the sleeping tiger.
The question seemed to draw her away from her weapon's maintenance once again, a surprised look briefly appearing.
"I had some… issues getting the whole 'mother' thing working with Yang," She replied slowly, some hesitation present in her tone. "Summer helped a lot. I think… it could have been much worse if I hadn't her around to guide me with some instances."
"But?"
…
She sighed, giving a blink or two before actually replying.
"I guess I might not feel happy with… some of the frustrating bits with our interactions."
Now that was interesting. I had seen the older Rose behave fairly hesitant to approach the Branwen, but the two seemed to hit it off fairly quickly just before they left for Patch.
"Is it about Summer or-"
"Summer is as understanding as I remember her be. But she has developed some unusual sternness which she would display heatedly when I... exaggerate with some of my comments towards Yang and..." The woman paused for a moment and then- "I think I'm doing more bad than good if I continue to stay with them."
I blinked, a little surprised by this unexpected escalation. She did sound fairly fine with Summer's comments but… what could have driven her to think such thing.
Qrow? Maybe some snide remarks, but the man wouldn't just risk creating a fallout with his sister. Now with how difficult it had been to convince her to go back with them.
Taiyang sounded pretty chill and quite serious when he mentioned having no beef with his former wife and, while I knew very little of what he thought of his wife, I was quite sure that things would just be… fine with him.
"Care to elaborate?" I inquired with a curious voice. "I mean, doubts are something that 'new moms' have to experience or if it's something about your former team-"
"Yang is always trying to stay in my arms and I've seen her struggle violently when Summer tries to pick her up," The Branwen interjected with a more unnerved tone. "I think she might end up disconnecting from them if if I continue to be around."
I waited a while before answering, just a quiet sigh offering a glimpse of my pondering over her words.
"You are worried that it will ruin Yang's connection with-"
"Ruby."
…
What.
"Uh-"
"While I can say that Summer could easily understand what is going on with her, same for Taiyang and my stupid brother, I don't think Ruby would-"
"Sorry, but… while I can see why some would care for Rubes in this case, why is so important to you when you have barely met her?"
Her lips parted, then closed. There was some silence, quite the tense period of time that passed without major interruption as I stared down at Raven as I knew that there was something more about it.
"F-Fine," The woman said with a scowl. "I-I've tried to take care of Ruby too when Summer was busy, to see how it was to deal with a younger child and..."
…
"And?"
Her red eyes averted in a rare display of embarrassment.
"She is… easier to manage compared to Yang," She ultimately admitted. "Or it's easier to make sure she doesn't get sad, angry or cry."
Facepalming at this irritating development, I let out a soft groan.
"Raven, you understand that children after a certain age tends to get a little more high-maintenance and thus 'more difficult' to keep up with, right?"
There was a few instants of silence, but the Branwen gave a slow nod.
"I'm aware about that-"
"While it's fine for you to help around with Ruby, I want you to know that it doesn't mean you can just favor her over your 'Little Sunny Dragon' 'cause you decided that it was easier like that."
"But- I'm not-"
"Then please start putting more effort on your child instead of complaining," I pressed on with some annoyance. "I understand it's difficult, but don't just give up without making some serious effort about it and..."
I gave her just enough time to give a nod before resuming with my merciless pressing.
"And Raven, forgive me if I ask, but have you tried to tell Yang that Summer and Ruby were still her aunt and cousin, right?"
More silence, this time it was driven by the woman's confusion.
"W-What?"
"Did you tell her that while Summer wasn't her mother and you were, that she was still family and that she should be treated as such?" I repeated with some seriousness in my voice. "Since, you know, she is a child and she is possibly having some confusion herself over the matter compared to other people of our age."
…
"I thought that… it should have been Summer's job since..." She paused a moment. "She does that with Ruby."
"Because Ruby is her daughter, and you should be the one to tell Yang that since you are her mother and she listens to you," I pressed on with some irritation. "Raven, this shouldn't be difficult for you to understand after years of leading a tribe made by bandits. They are meant to be more difficult to manage compared to a little girl."
Yet the situation was proving to be difficult enough for her to actually have to ask advice about it.
I was impressed, incredibly so, but I blinked in surprise when she merely nodded at my words, leaning her head a little back by the couch's soft fabric.
"You didn't even try to catch any sleep yesterday?" I inquired with a suspicious tone.
"Yang has started to sleep with me in the same bed and… she had been having some nightmares," She replied before letting out a yawn.
Soon the woman was settling her blade by the floor, adjusting herself on the couch as she eased her head by the comfy arm-chair that gave sight over the bed.
"What about you and the Faunus?"
I tensed up at her finally switching her attention right onto the curious predicament that was going on in that bed.
"What about us?" I tried my best to not show any uneasiness over the matter.
"If I recall correctly, you two weren't this… close."
There was no way in hell that she was actually suspecting something more from the predicament… but what if she actually was?
What a troublesome instance.
"To be fair, the closeness is the same as before," I admitted with half-truthfully. "But after spending a little too much in the couch, I conceded to the fact I did need some proper rest in a bed."
"Sounds like bullshit," She interjected with a minor scowl. "How come she just 'relents' over having the bed for herself. You weren't injured enough to warrant this little situation."
I gulped nervously, perfectly aware that I could just end up revealing unconsciously about the thing that got me in a mini-coma.
Raven didn't move too much at first as I stayed quiet, her eyes narrowing even a little more before she actually started to get off from the couch.
"What are you doing?" I blurted almost instantly.
"I would love to have some sleep in a bed and… I really need to sleep."
It was almost like she was begging at this point and I felt a little bit nervous about it all.
I mean, I could see how tired she was right now, but to have her actually come be this close after what had happened in the last few weeks...
I might have forgiven her for trying to do some stuff that I wasn't consenting about, but I couldn't just forget the matter altogether.
My body tensed up instinctively as she started to slowly enter inside the covers, reaching for the side that was unoccupied and… settling her head by the furthest bit of my pillow.
With her eyes closed, just before I could even start to refuse such a sudden assault, I found myself looking at the woman as she just… fell asleep.
She was so close, I could feel the warmth of her body and her breath coming so close to my neck that I had to let out a shiver or two at how things had escalated without reason.
But before I could have done anything about it, I felt some shuffling on the other side of the bed and I felt my arm completely ensnared by a certain still-sleeping Tiger Faunus now snuggling at said limb.
Now I was stuck in that bed… and I had this need to go to the bathroom.
Goddammit.
My inner groans were met with the quiet walls of my mind… which was odd considering that I had two people inside that should have been having some commentary over it all.
Seriously, where are Ozpin and Sallie?
~'Sallie' POV~
This staring contest that had been going for hours now was starting to get ridiculous.
Sure, the blonde was perfectly aware that Ozma was quite the stubborn mule back just like he had been back when he had been alive in his first life but to see him keep up with such a self-destructive attempt… was quite frustrating.
Not only would he shout at her about keeping away, but he would also constantly grumble about missing his 'cup of coffee' and blaming his inability to perceive the threat close to his turf.
It was quite confusing to see the man she had loved for so long decline into the blabbering elder that she had thought her father to be.
Of course her father was malicious in his nature, but the tones and the words used by both were awfully similar if not the same.
Still, Salem was certain that it was his own mean to react to surprises just like her presence in this mindscape had been that had gotten him to be this much abrasive with everyone and everything.
She could still remember the heated discussion spared between John and Ozma that had happened the day before.
Both men begun a verbal sparring that would eventually end with the youngest of the two going to rest away from this 'nagging', going to ignore their efforts to contact him while he was sleeping for the next day.
And leaving her to face the slightly-drained Ozpin.
The man was still rejecting her proximity, threatening some physical retaliation in case she came way too 'dangerously' close to him.
She obviously kept her distance, realizing quickly enough that approaching the old man would have resulted in her just being despised even more by him.
Magic made her capable of sustaining any damage he could throw at her, but the woman was also smart enough to realize that the issue would then be something that couldn't just be fixed with any spell.
And that was trust.
John's trust.
Despite the clear dislike the young man had over her former husband, the brunet had been quite clear in keeping away from 'escalating' any further situation to something 'irritating and unneeded'.
It proved to be quite easier than she had expected, especially since it reminded her how difficult it had been to confess to that foolish man still dangling from his 'safe spot'.
Despite the serious efforts displayed back then to catch his attention, the man had been dense enough to ignore an unfair majority of signs that she had left for him to notice and understand.
Those were all meant to show show the strong feelings she had developed for him just after being freed by her imprisonment but he ultimately managed to dodge a non-negligible amount of those.
To some degree, she could now see why the brunet had been so close to call her 'Pyrrha' as her early predicament and her propensity to apologize quite profusely when wrong greatly mirrored the polite attitude that was known to the redhead.
Still, it would also be true to see some of herself in Jaune with his lack of knowledge of the big world around him.
But while she would have been more than glad to continue her musing over the uncanny resemblance she sported with the leader of 'JNPR', Salem had something a little more complicated to face about.
The same stubbornness that was expressed back during their first shared lessons about magic was now being applied in a somewhat semi-legitimate reason as he continued to stare/glare at her while continuing to stay by his little perching in one of the distant trees' branches.
He looked like an old and weary-looking vulture trying its best to keep his stability in that tiny and somewhat resilient branch beneath his feet.
The blonde sighed, blue eyes fixed on his angry-looking form.
"You are going to fall from there," The blonde warned for the umpteenth time, her mind slowly losing its grasp over the worry about any pain born from that stupid stunt.
The more he continued to stay there, the more she started to feel like an eventual crash would be deserved by the tired-looking Ozpin.
"I refuse to be too close to you," The former headmaster of Beacon stated coldly. "Even if you managed to trick Mr. Bukharin, I know exactly what you are trying to accomplish with this shy masquerade of yours!"
...Trying to really fix the horrible mistake she had committed?
Salem was still having a hard time trying to make sense of what had happened to her after falling in that pool, her memories growing blank the more she tried to think back about that last act of her life.
Then her Grimm self had appeared, keeping some lucidity for years… until negativity seemed to truly overwhelm her.
But those memories that saw her commit kinslaying weren't part of her mind, nor were the result of some insanity created by a trickster.
The orb that was now giving her warmth until she stayed near to it had granted her a glimpse of what the current host of this body knew about the world he was facing and the possible future that was now away to be reached.
Endless routes have opened since his arrival, each containing unique sets of obstacles that were there to halt the advance of John Bukharin and his inner mission of bringing some order within Remnant.
Nothing was truly centralized within the planing.
Everything was made flexible to best take advantage of the opportunities and depended on the chances presented by the world itself.
It was pure chaos, the embodiment of discord becoming the perfect tool to balance back to Terra- Remnant.
The old world, the one she had been prime responsible to shatter in the first greatest rebellion against the Gods.
Childishness had driven everyone, but her sins were so far even greater than anything that Ozma could consider himself guilty of.
She was the one that brought an end to 'Heaven on Earth' for the sake of repelling the natural rule that claimed from her the soul of her lover.
Her anger had been so intense, yet it had been her carefulness to make sure to gain the support of everything available in the world to wage war against the Gods.
Her Chaos failed before Light and Dark… but now that there was no God to truly tremble before?
Salem was… conscious about the unpleasant sensation born from thinking of defeating the husk that bore her name so mightily and so dreadfully, but this sadness was easily dismissed by the truth about the monstrosity that hid behind her grimmified appearance.
While joining side to those that had long faced the Grimm would have been a good choice, considering the memories available to John, it was easy to see how wrong that could end up becoming.
If this Ozma was sporting barely-veiled hatred towards her, the same would have happened with the one that was still alive and in a position of power that could easily create problem for everyone, especially herself.
Which meant that the best faction was the one that John was slowly but surely building up from various pieces.
It was a sluggish process, but there was no reason to chide over the results of his recruiting.
His friendly personality, combined sprinkles of genuine interest over making sure that this crisis was over the fastest possible, made it possible that his efforts would start to attract a more active group of people to his side.
Which would create an alternative to Light and Dark, something that would shatter without hesitation the classic chessboard that had for so long reigned over Remnant while making it possible to establish newer hopes for those that wanted a better human society.
It was idyllic for a dream, but one that she could see come into fruition with dedication and-
CRACK!
"Damn i-"
Ozma groaned as he fell on the ground, following the now-broken tree's branch to its descent.
Just like she had seen it happening.
She sighed, shaking her head at the disappointing sight before turning her attention right at the orb and what was going on with the owner of this mindscape.
There wasn't much to said about Ozpin as the former headmaster merely tried to climb back up the same tree before settling in another branch.
Salem blinked once… then twice as the orb granted her a limited vision of what was going on with John from his own perspective.
The young man was stuck in quite the curious predicament as he was literally being restrained by the presence of two women, one for each of his side.
One was the Tiger 'Faunus' that he had so quickly labeled as a friend and which Salem had quickly seen as a 'special-kind of friend' instead of a regular one.
It was clear as the sky was in a cloudless day that the woman did feel something for him but that she was holding herself from letting out her true emotions… which made Salem the more irritated by their chemistry.
John wasn't dense, but he also didn't have clairvoyance about what was going on in the tanned female and thus was unable to know what to do with her overreactions.
If only Ozma had been as quick to recognize romance as he is...
The other one was… familiar, but the blonde was fairly unsure about why she was here in that very moment.
[Seems like you got yourself stuck in quite the curious circumstance there.]
The brunet tilted his head as he heard her words through their connection, a sigh building up from his lips before he gave a solid nod.
I can assure you that nothing 'lewd' is happening here.
[I can see that by myself.]
The three were all clothed, seemingly just resting in that precise instance and the lack of any strange action under the covers further showed that they weren't doing anything particularly indecent.
It was still odd for a man to be in the same bed as two women… without them being romantically close to him.
[Are you still sure that you are just friends and-]
I think this still is a case of close friendship, Sallie. Don't make this scene look bigger than it actually is.
[I don't see why should I. At least, can I confirm that we are normal friends and not that kind of friend-]
Can it, you tease!
A giggle died down by her throat, but before she could have pressed for more, her attention was caught by some shifting happening by his side.
The blonde's eyes widened as the brunet turned his sight by where Sienna had been sleeping until now and… his eyes fixed onto a pair of feline yellow orbs.
"G-Good morning?" The young man greeted with some hesitation.
…
Soon her eyes widened and her posture tensed as she noticed that there was a certain Branwen resting on the other side of the bed.
"Wh-What- When did she?"
"A couple of minutes ago and she is merely resting," He assured swiftly, visibly relaxing as he noticed the Faunus' body easing over the predicament. "How… how are you?"
[Really smooth.]
She blinked. "Mostly well. How are you?"
The brunet shrugged and gave her a tiny smile.
"A little stuck there, you know you… kind of moved in your sleep."
…
"I can see that yes," Sienna replied quietly. "And how is that a problem?"
John tensed a little at the blatant trap, but didn't hesitate much to answer.
"N-Nothing truly, it's just that… I would like to move to go to the bathroom".
The Faunus' lips parted in surprise, moving just enough to allow the young man passage out of the bed.
"O-Oh, sure."
"And… shouldn't we be getting up right now or-"
"Appointments start at 10 and it's… 6," She groaned a little as she noticed the early hour. "C-Couldn't you- Why do you even wake up this early?"
"As I said, I need a bathroom break," He replied tightly, snorting a little before entering inside the little bathroom and-
Salem detached from the 'terminal' preferring to not look at certain embarrassing things to unfold before her eyes.
Her attention turned back to Ozpin in the Mindscape, the man having fallen off from two branches while she had been distracting herself by chatting with the brunet.
He was still glaring/frowning at her and she merely nodded back at him.
This experience was sure going to be far more irritating than she had hoped it to be… but at least she got John's shenanigans to keep her from going truly mad.
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