บท 70: 70
Thanks to the aftermath of the appearance of the Black Knights, the White Fang and Menagerie both found themselves pretty busy. Donations were gathered, reserves were pulled out of storage so that they could send out care packages and supplies to the displaced peoples that were liberated by the insurgent group's efforts.
Especially now after their third attack on another MTC mine with nearly equally abhorrent policies.
While Jaune could respect their efforts, the lack of responsibility at the end and clean up afterwards for the rescued people left an odd sensation. It was distasteful, especially since it felt deliberate, somehow, but their aim was also clearly to free the oppressed. It didn't make sense.
The worst part was that it seemed not unlike how the Branwens used to operate, the Black Knights traveled in the wilderness, often avoiding entire settlements unless 'Justice' was to be meted out. He'd asked for Raven's input, his aunt happy to give him some pointers to wash away a few favors (especially as this time he wasn't doing something borderline suicidal), getting a better understanding of ideal migration patterns in Sanus in regards to weather, settlement locations, as well as resupply.
It had been really helpful actually.
He'd almost even caught onto their scent after their third display of force and took a chance, extending a trip to Mistral an extra hour or two as he flew on a literal magic broom to try to chase them down. Trying to track them down using a net of theoretical Mistralian trade convoys layered over the current list of active settlements wasn't easy, so he figured he should take the shot when he felt it was possible.
He really hoped nobody would see through the rough disguise he'd put on and think of it as a weird ass Semblance, should they have chanced to see him. Just a hooded black figure soaring through the sky like some sort of ghost Grimm.
He'd found the remains of their camp, but it seemed that they packed up immediately before operations, separating into a single guard group (it appeared as if a new unit had been formed for that purpose with stolen materials) with a bunch of people that managed logistics and the rest of the fighting force that proceeded with their operations.
And they were almost all predominantly Faunus.
He didn't have photographic memory like his new friend Velvet (though he did have basic Echoic Memory as a byproduct of the Bloodline Awakening Tonic he'd consumed as a child) and definitely couldn't memorize the sea of nearly a hundred blurry faces, but he had utilized a SR Rarity Consumable: Memory Of The Land to observe the voiceless mass of people shaped specters wandering about what was once a Black Knight base camp anyways for some clues.
All he'd seen was faded shapes of people, many if not all with some visible animal trait, wandering about. Sometimes even the modified exoskeletons they wore had crests and horns that merely existed to hide Faunus horns within. Ears on the other hand could often be crammed in without too much discomfort if one knew what they were doing.
His own motorcycle helmet had channels that let his ears lay flat on their backs against his head and not be squished, for example, though it did require a bit of adjustment and the tips would hang out the back.
…it couldn't be… right?
…Sienna Khan herself had not made any public statements, rather using the people who worked under her that had been given the weight of her name explicitly for denouncing the Black Knights.
Not for what they did, per say, but for the lack of care they showed the people they saved after. Though they also did note slightly offhandedly that the new Mistralian insurgents were too violent in their methods.
It certainly helped paint the White Fang in a good light, but something was uncomfortable.
…it shouldn't be.
But if they had people in the White Fang it would have been easier to steal from him. Maybe it just didn't run to the top (gods he hoped not), but the dominos lined up nicely. Too neatly.
Still after the case with Sun and his uncle aboard the Marching Finn, he worried that he was just looking too deep into a potential coincidence. He… he had to be.
…but it felt too convenient that almost every shade he'd seen through his Gacha item were some variation of Faunus. Though there were a handful of human looking ones, but it wasn't difficult for some Faunus to even pass off and live as human. Blake's friend Ilia (who didn't like him much, though they both got along passably enough) was a good example, having gone to Atlas Academy and passed as fully human until an accident a year ago.
It couldn't be the whole White Fang, but maybe the Black Knights were some sort of disgruntled White Fang offshoot? A long time ago, when he'd first been curious about the first White Fang rally he'd attended, when he'd met Blake, it had been his Big Brother Juniper that had warned him about being careful.
That the goals of any organization could change over time. That no group was a monolith.
Shit. He'd been right, wasn't he? He'd been warning him. Jaune was happy that his Big Brother Juniper let him make his own mistakes and grow, but… well he probably wanted Jaune to have something he could believe in. That wasn't his fault. He couldn't blame Juniper for giving him a warning because Jaune himself hadn't taken it quite seriously enough.
He had so many good moments and memories of the Fang. It wasn't the fault of the organization as a whole either.
Eventually leadership changed. There was a shift from pure peace protests to moderacy. That people could physically defend themselves if pushed. That meant there was the occasional riot, but then some results could be found of that too.
Chieftain Ghira's vision of peace was beautiful. But it wasn't well suited for Remnant, even if the White Fang made a lot of allies as a result. They had less allies now, but the movement itself appeared stronger than it once did. Jaune knew it to be true, but that left a poor taste in his mouth too.
He wished the world could have accepted that beautiful dream.
But at least the White Fang never drastically shifted to what his brother had feared it had the potential to become. They'd never resorted to terror. Hopefully not ever. Please.
Even though it was violent, assuming that the Black Knights had SOME roots in the White Fang, they weren't yet outright terrorists either (from his own perspective, though Mistral's government thought otherwise), though it was also true they toed the line. Unfortunately it was also true that the people they were attacking mostly did work within the bounds of the law (as flawed as those laws were), though it was also true that there was some shady activity, only their first target had done anything truly vile.
The only difference between them and Jaune was that he cleaned up his messes the best he could and as the leader of the small partnership of two between him and Trivia, he could ensure that their vision wasn't lost. Although technically that… the Knights had cleaned up, just with separation via the White Fang?
For what, just so that… he was tired of thinking about it.
Partly because he didn't really have a leg to stand on.
He'd become the power behind the king of Vale's Underground, after all.
Vale's Underground had never been as well managed as it was now. Honestly they could be said to be prospering further weirdly enough, as while the criminal elements of the city made plenty of cash, it preyed far less on the civilians, rather it took care of the populus more than it had ever done.
There was a sense of honor amongst thieves now, even. Protection was more regulated and enforced and significantly less on extortion. Hard drugs were pushed out of the city and anyone that crossed his lines were eradicated and their wealth turned over to Roman to pass down to his goons or to Jaune and Trivia when they personally handled it. It was even an incentive for Roman to keep things in house to keep as much of the pie to himself.
Mostly Jaune and Trivia just dealt with more small timers now. Probably for the best anyways, though now they fought Grimm a bit more so that they could stay sharp. The last time they'd needed to do a serious intervention was when a set of serial murders began and needed cleaning up, and he'd tracked down the criminal in two weeks.
Not that it was a perfect system or that he felt fully comfortable with it even now, but Vale was head and shoulders better than when Jaune had first found it.
…was he being petty? No, they stole from him. Betrayed his trust.
…why did it feel like he was just being petty? His mind was racing too much. His heart hurt. He had to slow it down.
It was time to come back to Remnant.
Gosh what was he even doing? This wasn't why his friends had dragged him to the beach. They'd wanted him to relax. He might have been physically sitting under a beach umbrella, but he couldn't stop working in his brain.
…sorry guys.
"Jauuuuune!" Ruby called (whined) out to him from the beach volleyball court in the sand, waving her arms to try to catch his attention. "Come and playyyyyy! Team CRXN's kicking our butts! We need heeeelp!"
Something about Ruby always gave him a smile.
Aura enhanced beach volleyball was not for the faint of heart, it seemed. And he needed a distraction. Because he was just going crazy.
He couldn't participate though, that would make him go crazy in a… different way. Gods, it was always a rock or the hard place that was his own thoughts. Or maybe his own body? Ugh.
The older Huntsman and Huntresses in training were far better conditioned and had better mastery of their Aura and Semblances, of course. It wasn't a fair fight despite their younger side having the numbers advantage.
Despite that, Yang (being a sort of poison to his eyes in a highlighter yellow sporty NIKKOS two piece with black elastic) pushing herself with Burn, Blake (Yang had made a joke about Bellabooty and now he was STRUGGLING to not stare) with her Nikke enhanced legs and additional short warps via Shadow, Ruby with her Speed Type Semblance Petal Burst, and Sun with his Via Sun were able to mostly keep up with Team CRXN pulling constant dirty tricks.
Ren, Velvet (she wore a black blouse over her red two piece), Nora, and Ilia were filling up the rest of the gaps, none of their Semblances gave them an edge (Nora could get a boost, but wearing her Strumvindr battery pack by the beachside was an awful idea, even if it was waterproofed so he'd vetoed it on safety alone for the civilians on the beach's sake) but they were all fairly well trained as well, so they kept up decently.
As her Semblance went from 'cheating' to 'impossible' in this context, Emerald (in a simple white with green elastic NIKKOS brand two piece sporty swimsuit like Yang) was playing referee. Her illusions, like Trivia's were able to be stepped around, but unlike Trivia's illusions which would shatter from enough force, Emerald's had learned with practice to even allow one to physically feel her illusions. It wasn't powerful or perfect, but it was enough to emulate the sensation of a volleyball or a decent, but light, impact.
Nothing stopped a team from dropping the ball into the sand as they interpreted themselves as having blocked a ball. In this specific context it just wasn't fightable without things getting boring.
Plus it was clear she found more humor in watching their friends struggle a little. Her rivalry with Yang in many things still echoed in a way Jaune interpreted as 'Seethe and Cope' towards his blonde practice buddy. (Stop thinking of girls' lips, Jaune, holy crap. Control yourself.)
"I can't exactly pick sides here." He called back from the shade of the beach umbrella, the Shackles of Spiderclimb on his feet jingling as they rubbed against each other. "Plus I'll know where the real ball is launched every time. Hardly a fun match then. Plus you all still have the numbers advantage by far."
And as much control he had over his body right now, he was better off staying seated. Shit, this hadn't been an issue last year. Having this little self control was foreign to him. Embarrassing.
It was good training for all of them, though.
Still, when it came to a fight, even if it was beach volleyball, if you weren't cheating, you weren't trying.
For example, Xayah spiking with Echo making five volleyballs that had to be blocked was pretty unfair and killer. Still counterable with teamwork considering the numbers advantage.
Trivia would also cheat and use her Overactive Imagination to mix in some additional fakes that would appear upon spiking as she set the avian girl up in a combination play of some bullshit proportions.
Rakan and Cinder simply physically brought a lot of performance to the table to cover the rest of the field, though they both didn't really bother using their Semblance as it would have very little purpose here. And like Ren himself, somehow they seemed to have both picked up the Shunpo Aura Footwork technique someone had managed to develop based off his Dragoon Jump.
People kept applauding him over it, but it was a skill from an item. Honestly the guy who developed that from Jaune's magic item was much more impressive in his opinion.
"Awwwww noooooo. Okay!" Ruby rejoined his friends after giving him another cheerful wave, bringing a smile to his face.
Ok. If thinking about the Knights right now wasn't productive and he wasn't going to let his mind relax… maybe his own personal matters?
Shit, he knew that they'd brought him to the beach so he'd relax and stop thinking, but it was like he could never fully sit still. There was always something else he had to deal with.
As a result of Yang and Blake taking the courage to confront him about their feelings had made him begin to attempt to piece together other things. Like the possibility (he wasn't positive, of course, as he clearly was, somehow, awful at judging people's attraction towards himself) that Trivia and/or Neopolitan also viewed him as a love interest.
Despite it having been normal for him as a result of his many sisters, he'd garnered that kissing a girl, cheek or no, was not normal with the new context he'd gathered now with the aftermath of the kissing practice he'd gone through.
Not without pretty significant attraction involved, unless specifically it was between siblings.
Both Trivia and Neo had been demanding such for a long time and he'd gone along with it, hoping to help be a positive emotional support. He hadn't thought much of it then.
Actually, hadn't he started it? Back during Qrow meeting Trivia's parents? He'd wanted to help give her some silent assurance then, though it had just been on the back of her hand. Had he caused this? Maybe given a misunderstanding?
No, wait. She'd cuddled with him plenty even before then. Additionally kissed him on the cheeks, neck, and nose aplenty. That too was apparently potentially romantic intent. Gah. This was all so complicated!
How was this the ONE intent he struggled with?! Stupid Ring of Conditional Victory! Darn thing left that ONE part out?! WHY DIDN'T IT JUST COMPLETE THE JOB?!
And as much as he'd always found himself uncomfortable with the idea that he could read intent so well, he'd grown up to be so subconsciously dependent on it that suddenly he didn't know what to DO when he couldn't! It was almost sickening if the irony of it wasn't also kind of funny.
He… cared for Trivia immensely. Neapolitan too. Their partnership meant more than he could put into words.
He wasn't sure if that was romantic love though. That was something he was struggling with Yang and Blake as well.
All he knew was that he'd give his life for her, but that was the same with Blake, Yang, and the rest of all of his friends.
Plus she seemed to be holding herself in check (gosh she'd grown so much from the girl that just tried to steal whatever she wanted without care), possibly out of concern for him and how he'd worry about her if it came to light she might possibly have feelings for an underage teen.
Most people wouldn't care about the context of their relationship and simply villainize his Partner. He wouldn't stand for it.
Shit. She… really knew him well, didn't she?
Maybe that was why she'd never confessed to him outright like Yang and Blake? Because she knew him as well as he knew her? Trivia and Neo always did have the softest spot in her somewhat prickly heart for him. It made him warm at the thought. Even if he still wasn't 100% sure she felt that way for him.
It sort of felt uncomfortable that he could potentially be wrong. Wouldn't it be so embarrassing to get all emotionally worked up like this and it turned out it had been just him overthinking it?
But the thought that she might like him like that…
Jaune turned his gaze to look at her through the lens of the shades on his face.
The bright summer sun shone down at her skintight high waisted and backless (her Maiden mark showed, was that bad? Should he say something?) one piece swimsuit that reminded him of her normal Huntress outfit's leotard.
Trivia caught him looking in her direction, somehow knowing he was looking at her. She gave him a grin and a wink.
Yeah it was better he remained seated, stupid hormones. Thank the gods Trivia had thought it'd be funny to have him wear her shades before they began the beach volleyball match. It helped hide the heat that suddenly rose to his face, if even a little.
Sure, Trivia slipping her shades on his face had made Blake and Yang get too competitive and defensive, but Pyrrha had taught him competition could be healthy.
And speaking of Pyrrha, she was getting kind of upset that nobody was really challenging her enough in her Circuits though and the weight of her title as the Invincible Girl. Hmmm. He'd have to do something to help spice those up for her at this rate.
Ok. New plans. He wanted to think of something to make his friend happy and feel happy and productive rather than focus on himself and feel miserable.
He snapped a photo of himself and his friends on the beach, telling her that he wished she was having a happy winter break. That he was excited to go and experience the Vytal festival with her and introduce her to more of his friends.
He did miss Pyrrha on his travels. Rather it felt odd that she was sort of left out during those times. He didn't like the thought that it felt like he was leaving her out, even if that wasn't what was happening. She was just spending time with her family too. It wasn't as if her world revolved around him, that was a selfish thought.
Jaune looked up to see Blake leap up and make a wall of clones via Shadow to try to hide the direction that Yang would spike the volleyball. Gosh why did swimsuits expose so much?
…Was it odd for him to get more physically riled up the more of an emotional connection he felt to a girl?
That sounded… right? Maybe?
Ugh.
He'd have to go and ask his dad later because Big Brother Juniper wasn't giving him any straight answers, telling him that figuring that out for himself was also a rite of passage. Hopefully his own father wouldn't play cryptic with him. Or maybe at least be less cryptic.
Even if he was absolutely going to ask Jaune way too many questions about which girls he was interested in.
He wasn't looking forward to it, even if he knew it would be a good bonding moment.
Pyrrha looked jealously at the photo Jaune sent.
MHOM had been muted as she'd gotten tired of hearing the prototype MEDI Armband's Jaune voice worry over her sluggishness for the third time, mothering and doting just like how her best friend always was, even if he denied such.
Also she felt weird about how it felt like it was like Jaune was at her side worrying over her, even though she was sitting there missing him and the rest of her friends.
The image showed him in a pair of large and weirdly girlish designer shades that didn't look bad on him, dressed in a loose short sleeved unzipped beach hoodie and swim trunks (both baby blue), the sight of her friends playing volleyball (seemingly Aura and Semblances included) against four older teens (maybe even young adults in their early 20s) on the sands of Menagerie.
"...I should have built up the courage to ask if I could come join him." She sighed languidly as she practiced with Polarity, solid metal orbs the size of ping-pong balls rolling up and down the length of her arms and legs as she leaned over the kitchen table, tapping out a response on her Scroll with the tips of her fingers. "That looks like so much fun, too."
Her green eyes gazed up at the window, seeing the snow building up outside and batting against the insulated glass.
"...It's boring without him." She let out another sigh, her Scroll vibrating as she got a message from Weiss.
Although there was still a bit of a formal distance between the two girls, she made for a decent enough friend over messages. She was a bit stiff sometimes, and despite dealing with more fame, she'd never known what it was like to be normal like Jaune and Pyrrha. Even so, she'd been invaluable for Pyrrha as the Atlasean girl had taught her how to deal with the press and other attention hungry individuals.
She wasn't that different from Pyrrha herself, just a lonely girl with a different outlook on things and a different coat of paint.
That and the fact they were both friends with Jaune made it so that they made decent enough penpals, though.
But unlike Pyrrha, Weiss had siblings to keep her company.
Maybe that was unfair to be jealous over when Pyrrha had parents that loved her and treated her well, unlike Weiss who's mother (her friend never confirmed anything) seemed distant and her father was controlling at best.
The Atlasean Heiress had recently had been begun to be paraded around to perform as a songstress for her father's prestige. Weiss even mentioned that her father seemed to believe that her newfound forced appreciation for music (Weiss liked to sing, but not like this apparently) might attract more of Jaune's attention.
She tried to not feel awful at that.
Weiss liked Jaune, but only really as a friend at the moment. She'd never been allowed to associate with boys, to even know what kind of person she liked. Jaune understood that, and had agreed to only pretend to be interested in her and take her around to let Weiss experience more of what it meant to be a teenager. He was kind like that.
That didn't stop Pyrrha from feeling jealous. Jaune was her best friend. But she was just one of his best friends. It was an ugly feeling that she was ashamed of. His world didn't revolve around her. That was an ugly feeling.
And even though he'd never performed live, never really considered doing so, he'd be performing during the upcoming Vytal Festival alongside Weiss. Sure, he'd be doing a small performance for their class' cross-dressing maid and butler cafe first (he'd sort of caved when he'd seen how excited Pyrrha had looked about the suggestion from Neptune, their class president), but somehow the thought about Weiss and Jaune doing something like that without her made her feel icky.
"Maybe the snow is just making me feel depressed." Pyrrha grumbled, letting the ball on her left arm roll back over her shoulder, rolling down her right arm, clacking against the ball on her right. "Probably the snow. It hasn't let up for two days."
And her mom was feeling under the weather, her father up attending to her in the master bedroom, so Pyrrha was just down moping in the dining room all alone.
The steel orbs ground against each other as they spun over her elbow, her face laying in the crook of her left arm as she stared down at the orbs spinning over her right elbow. She didn't neglect making sure the orbs on her legs kept moving. Training was still training.
Training…
"Ugh." Pyrrha leapt to her feet, the four metal orbs flying up and into her right hand. Her hands were a bit larger than other girls her age. She was a bit self-conscious about it, but it was an advantage in a fight. "Let's just sweat it out! Being sad like this isn't helpful!"
It was snowing too hard to go out and take a jog, but her house had an underground gym that doubled as a bunker for potential Grimm attacks, with side rooms full of food and everything.
She quickly ran down the stairs, having grown too tall now (she was 183 centimeters now, or six feet in weird Valean measurements, towering over her classmates) with her most recent growth spurt to slide down the banister like she'd used to. She tossed her training balls into a metal basin by the entrance to the basement gym.
"A little cardio and weight training then. And a hot shower after! Cheer up, Pyrrha! Winter break isn't that long!"
"Whooooooaaaaaa!" Kozuki smiled as he watched Guren run along the length of the deck of the Green Zako. "This is amazing!"
He hobbled on his crutch, his rotting leg having been amputated recently by a battlefield surgeon that The Candlelight hotel had introduced him to on the cheap. He still felt the phantom pain, but at least the rot wasn't being allowed to spread.
"Gura! Slow down or you'll trip!"
"Okaaaay!" She smiled brightly, her teeth flashing, a gap from a recently missing baby tooth. "I'll be good!"
Guren probably didn't remember, being born into servitude, but Kozuki Kotetsu had been helped a lot by her parents when he'd been taken from his settlement to work in the MTC mines. They'd helped shelter and protect him. She'd only really remembered him looking after her all life because they'd died of fever when she was four, believing him to be her real brother.
Sometimes he didn't know if he was simply living to repay the favor or if he truly thought of the girl as- no. She was his sister. Truly family. He'd contemplated dying and selling his organs to give her the money she'd need to survive Mistral before that strange rich kid helped them out.
Proof that not all of Mistral was corrupt to the bone, he supposed.
He'd never thought that a passing blue blood would lend a hand of kindness like that, but he couldn't afford to look a gift horse in the mouth. Literally.
He'd even been able to take some of the remaining cash, reach out to some of the other miners that had been freed, giving them some funds to try to scrape something together for themselves.
Though one of them also showed their true colors, trying to get more money out of him and taking advantage of the fact he was currently a cripple, the others that Kozuki had helped had all turned on the man, defending him.
It made him realize that being a helping hand was worthless without strength. That strange nobleman's son had Aura and must have been training to be a Huntsman, otherwise he wouldn't have been brave enough to help him and Guren as well.
"Come on, it's almost lunch time. They're having beefsteak for lunch with mashed potato."
"Oooh! I love taters!" Guren squealed, running to him, offering her shoulder so he could hobble faster.
He shook his head, content on just watching her run about. Free.
She frowned and grabbed his free hand anyways.
"Also, what does beef taste like? Is it like chicken? Chicken broth from the cans we got on holidays were tasty. The other miners always said everything tastes like chicken."
"No, it's not. You'll like it though." He assured her with a laugh. "It's supposed to be really meaty and filling."
"So it's like rat?"
"Hopefully not." Kozuki frowned. In truth he'd never had beef either, only knew that it was pricy and there were some miners that stared jealously at the MTC management that got to have steak on the regular. "Beef was the stuff the camp owners got to eat."
"Oooh! That stuff did smell good. Rat's still kinda tasty though. Wouldn't be bad if it tasted like rat."
"Gura, that's just because you like meat."
"I don't like lizard." She whined, though completely ignoring the fact she'd eat every lizard she could get her grubby hands on.
"Lizard meat really isn't very appetizing, is it?" He agreed with a small laugh.
"Snake is good though! And it tasted sorta like chicken!"
"Beef is more expensive than chicken, so it'll taste better."
"Better than chicken plus taters…" Guren drooled a bit, wiping the corner of her lip with the back of her hand. "I'm excited!"
Kozuki squeezed her hand.
"Yeah. Me too."
สถานะพลังงานรายสัปดาห์
-- การจัดอันดับด้วยพลัง 
-- หินพลัง