Empyrean 20 - Breathe

Empyrean 20 - Breathe

Jaune POV

He could see the enemy.

The jellyfish Grimm had killed itself, its red dome cracking and releasing an eerie red mist. The creature itself died, its tentacles falling limp under it as it eerily continued to float. Yet the mist had a life of its own, as it coalesced into an image of her.

His first observation was just how… human she looked. No one had ever described Salem to him. In his mind, the image he’d conjured of her was of a monster. Yet, what appeared in front of him resembled a human corpse, animated through vile magic.

She was also not angry. Even after Jaune had reduced an army of Grimm to ash, there was no anger on her face, just a tinge of curiosity, a look of intrigue, like she was looking at an errant curiosity rather than the greatest living threat to her plans.

“My, you even look suitably like a storybook hero. How very cliche.” she commented with a chuckle that reeked of condescension. Her posture, her gaze, it all painted an aura of invincibility, a confidence in silence. She knew there was nothing Jaune could do to her, even if he was to find her.

He did not like that one bit.

“And you look like a trophy wife past her prime who asks for the manager if there’s pickles on her burger.” Jaune replied cooly, a deadpan expression on his face.

He watched as she tried her best to maintain her composure. The smile on her face gained a strained quality, as her shoulders tensed. He could tell that she was not used to being talked to like this.

That was good. Giving her a position of power in their conversation was the last thing that Jaune wanted.

“And you’re got a bite to you. Amusing.” She concurred.

“Could you get to the point?” Jaune asked. “I try to make a habit of not talking to megalomaniacs.”

“Is that how you truly see me, Jaune Arc?” She asked. Jaune expected acceptance or denial, but not even in his wildest dreams could he have predicted the look of concern on her face. Concern that couldn’t be feigned.

It was unnerving. A monster like that should not be capable of such an expression.

“What else would I see? You’re trying to destroy humanity. Way I see it? It’s pretty cut and dry.” Jaune answered, still a bit shaken by that momentary expression on her face.

“Is that it? You’ll find a way to kill me, and that would be it?” She spoke. “You do not even see what’s happening to you, do you?’

“And you do?” Jaune asked.

“It’s plain for me to see, Jaune Arc.” She spoke, and the faint tinge of regret coloring her tone felt almost eerie.

“You’re going down the same path that I once went.”  She spoke, her illusion locking eyes with him. “And it always ends the same way.”

“If you’re going to give me the ‘you’re just like me’ spiel, save it. I’ve already heard it from two men who both died by my hand.” Jaune countered. 

“Quite the opposite, actually.” She spoke back. “In fact, I’d venture so far as to say that we are nothing alike. Our circumstances, on the other hand, are similar. Eerily so.”

“I highly doubt that.” Jaune grimaced. “I do not see any situation that would push me to destroy humanity.”

The smile that appeared on Salem’s face was not condescending, it wasn’t one that reeked of self-satisfaction. No, it held a tinge of compassion, like a peer trying to guide another. 

Jaune hated it.

“That is true today, when the world loves you.” She spoke, her voice barely crossing a whisper. “To them, you are a nascent god, a symbol of hope. How long do you think that will last?”

“You have an endless amount of time ahead of you. Do you truly believe their view of you will stay unshaken?” She asked, and Jaune hesitated.

It was the same rhetoric Weiss had thrown at his face earlier, and he was not naive enough to believe that he was perfect. His past had shown well enough that under all his might, all his ability, he was very much still human. 

Even an act as simple as revealing his identity at the wrong time could turn the public against him. After all, his character assassination when his transcripts were discovered was both through and internationally covered.

If something that small could turn the world against him, just how many other reasons would they find in a century, in a millennia? 

“You already see it. You know how fickle the world is. Will you still want to protect humanity when they curse you with every breath?” She asked, and Jaune couldn’t answer.

“I do not exactly want immortality.” Jaune countered. “The concept of watching everything around me die as I stay ageless is not something I want.”

“If that’s your decision, then all I have to do is hide away for a century.” She countered. “My resources are infinite. Every Grimm you kill, I can replenish. Every agent of mine you remove can be replaced with more.”

“There have been heroes that have supported Ozma before, Jaune Arc, and time has taken them all. Yet, I still persist, and as long as I persist, I will eventually win.” She finished.

“Then I will build up humanity till they can counter you without my interference.” Jaune stated.

“And I will poach them, turn them against their own kin, as I have, time and time again. This is no new stratagem, and over time, it will undo itself as it always does.” She countered. 

“You cannot kill me, you cannot change human nature. All you’ll be doing is giving me time to build up my forces, my machinations, till the day you’re gone. And that very day, I will return humanity to the state it was in before you ascended.” She spoke solemnly. 

“A mortal cannot threaten me, because time, their greatest enemy, is my ally.” She finished, and a moment of tense silence settled between them.

“Then I’ll embrace immortality. Anything to stop you.” Jaune finally spoke, a solemn expression on his face.

“Then, even if you manage to kill me, you will have lost.” She spoke.

“My forebear was weaker than me.” Jaune continued, a faraway look on his face. “Yet he was able to give immortality to those close to him.”

“And do you think they are happy with their immortality?” She asked, and again, Jaune did not answer. He knew that the only reason they hadn’t ended themselves was because they were honor-bound to him, to their duty to their old friend.

Without it, would they have persevered? If they wanted to live free, they could have. Yet they simply sat in the arc gaol, waiting for him, waiting for purpose. Was that truly an existence one would willingly want?

“I cannot answer for them, but were my forebear still alive, things would have been different.” Jaune spoke.

“Yet that is the thing about immortality, Jaune. You cannot simply give it up, and given an endless amount of time, anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.” She spoke, a solemn look on her face.

“In fact, allow me to show you the exact way you will come to see things with my perspective.” 

LB

“It always starts with praise.”

He stood in the party hall, mask on his face, as every single person of note in Atlas took turns shaking his hands. Praise, hollow promises, buttering him up, trying to get a peek under the mask. 

He didn’t want to be here. Yet, Ironwood insisted. He was off to the side, politicking with the people who had already spoken to Jaune.

“They will try to use you, I will not insult your intelligence and call you gullible, but the smartest of them will already be using you before you’ll ever realize it.”

And the way Ironwood was striking deals with the people who’d been invited, the way he was politicking, solidifying his now unopposed power, drawing from the perception that Jaune backed him. People capitulated easily, willing to trade momentary losses for safety, for just the chance to earn Jaune’s favor.

While Ironwood’s intentions were good, the only reason Jaune could say that was because he understood Ironwood. A man who took action against someone who was on his own side, for the betterment of his nation? A person like that was worth backing.

“The smartest, on the other hand, will try to link their names to yours forever. Religions have been built on the backs of lesser men.”

He could already see it.  People talking in hushed whispers when he’d arrived at the venue. Hiding curious gazes. Every expression from admiration to hope, he’d seen it all on their faces. 

They already considered him something greater than human. How long till that belief turned into faith?

“Even if you deny it, they will consider you a god.”

“I’m terribly sorry about this, Jaune.” Ironwood spoke, walking over to him.

“I understand the need for it, people want closure after something so…” Jaune trailed off, unable to find the right words to adequately express the magnitude of the events that had taken place.

“World changing?” Ironwood helpfully interjected. Those weren’t the words that Jaune would have used, but it was close enough.

“Yeah. It still feels weird to say it out loud.” He spoke. “How’s progress on relocating the indentured workers?”

Ironwood sighed. “It’s… it’s a slow process.” His gaze shifted, “We’ve had some help with it, but…”

“Good intentions will be appreciated by most, but not by all, and given time, a minority can rapidly evolve into a majority.”

“It’s the only way of life some of them have ever known.” He continued. “Sometimes, familiar chains are less terrifying than the idea of facing the unknown.”

“What do you plan to do with them?” I asked.

“We’re offering them relocation to Menagerie.” A deep, baritone voice chimed in. Turning to face the speaker. 

He was a faunus. A large one at that. Jaune was a tall man, but even then the black-haired man towered over him. He wore a friendly smile which distracted from the black circles forming under his eyes. 

“Ghira Belladonna, chieftain of Menagerie. It’s an honor.” he spoke, offering Jaune a handshake. “I have heard much about you.”

“Likewise.” Jaune lied, shaking his hand. Sure, he knew of the man, he knew the man’s progeny too, but other than that, Jaune knew precious little of the man himself. His first impression wasn’t helped by the fact that the man seemed half-dead on his feet.

“Apologies for my presentation. It’s been… a trying week.” he spoke with a sigh. “Would have been a lot worse without Ironwood helping out.”

“Then you’re the ‘help’ he mentioned, I assume?” Jaune asked.

“I wouldn’t go that far. Compared to your contributions, mine pale to insignificance.” He stated. Humility, paired with the man’s exhaustion, however, painted a different picture. A man who did not look for favors, who came to help a nation when he had his own to run. Jaune could respect that.

“There’s humility and there’s this.” Jaune spoke. He cracked a smile, even as it was hidden under his mask. “I’m good at killing Grimm. People? I let people smarter than me handle that.”

He took another chance to look at the man. The eyes, the hair, it was both familiar yet completely different. Yet, Blake had none of the confidence this man carried, none of the gravitas. It was like comparing a salaryman to a statesman, different leagues.

“Do I remind you of someone?” He asked, making Jaune realise that he had been staring. 

“Sorry about that. I’m acquainted with your daughter. I was just… surprised by the similarities.” He spoke, and internally cursed himself. 

The man, thankfully, just laughed at that. “If you think I look like Blake, you should see my wife!” He guffawed, a prideful smile on his face. Yet, there was a knowing look in his eyes. He was trying to cover up Jaune’s little blunder.

A good man.

“If you ever come by Menagerie, you should drop by our household. My wife’s quite a fan of yours.” He continued. 

Jaune didn’t comment on the fact that Ghira’s daughter probably hated him just as much, but then again, Blake had been impartial during the entire affair at Beacon. Inaction was her forte, after all.

“I might take you up on that offer sometime.” Jaune commented.

“Yes! In fact, I actually did have a favor to ask of you.” Ghira spoke.

“There will always be more for you to do. The more you do, the more they will expect.”

But Ghira Belladonna was a good man. The least I could do was listen to him.

“Of course, now is not really the time to discuss it. It’s not that urgent either. I’ll leave my contact details with the General here.” He continued, likely hesitating due to not getting an instant response, fearful that he might have overstepped his boundaries.

Jaune shook his head. “I have some plans in Vale in the near future. After that, let’s talk.”

That piqued Ironwood’s interest. He looked at Jaune, his eyes full of curiosity, and a hint of concern. 

“You don’t plan to stay and get the mines set up in the frontier? He asked. The question was posed innocuously, but there was an edge of worry there, barely noticeable, but still present and not missed by Jaune.

“They will never be able to trust you, but they also cannot live without you. The moment you’re away from them, they will fear you.”

“I’ll be leaving my people here. My sister and her wife will be working with you. If you haven’t noticed, I’m not exactly good at building stuff. Plus, my trip back to Vale is overdue.” Jaune joked, and he could feel Ironwood visually relax. He hadn’t even noticed just how tense the man was.

Was he truly that paranoid?

“Then I assume we won’t be seeing you for a while?” He asked.

“They may love you, they may hate you, but more than that, they will fear you. It’s why Ozma hides. It’s why he keeps me a secret.”

“Not anytime soon, sadly.” Jaune gave him a smile. “I’ll be taking my leave now. I still have someone to meet before I leave.”

Ironwood gave him a polite nod. “Godspeed, Jaune… and thanks, for everything.”

Jaune gave him a polite smile. “Don’t even mention it.”

LB

“Love, as always, will be your real undoing.”

Jaune had never seen Winter this unkempt, this much of a mess. Her eyes were puffy. Her left arm was in a cast, Yet there was no blame in the gaze she reserved for him.

“I’m sorry…” Jaune apologised. For not taking charge, for not arriving to help her sooner.

For killing her father.

She was silent. He couldn’t read the emotion in her gaze, not because he was oblivious, but because of the sheer conflict of emotions she was exhibiting. It left him confused, not sure how to react.

“It… it had to be done.” She spoke, her voice not rising past a whisper. “He…he tried to take down the city.”

Jaune didn’t respond, not because he didn’t have the words to say, but because it was slowly becoming apparent to him that his priorities did not align with her own.

When he’d killed Jacques, he’d been angry, not because of the assault on Mantle, no. To some extent, both Ironwood and him had predicted that Jacques would assault Mantle, cut off the supply of resources to Atlas, and force a surrender. To Jaune, the only surprise was Salem’s involvement.

Of course, there was the chance that Jacques wouldn’t fall to that level of depravity, and Winter had held out hope till the very end. 

Jaune, and Weiss, on the other hand, only cared about the fact that Jacques had gone as far as to threaten his own daughter. The only person who had a modicum of faith left in him. That had been the final straw.

“Would you really condemn someone you love to an eternal life?”

He didn’t vocalize it, he couldn’t. What would she say if she knew how he thought? Would she be angry because he believed she couldn’t protect herself? Would she blame herself for involving him?

Would she blame herself if she knew?

“And if either of you were to die, what would the other have left?”

“No one could have seen it coming.” Jaune spoke, almost on autopilot. As far as condolences went, it was as cookie-cutter as it got. He knew he wasn’t good at dealing with loss, apparently, that stood true when it came to consoling others too.

“We did see it coming. You and the general not only predicted it, but also prepared for it.” She took a deep breath to calm herself, tears threatening to spill again, this time, in anger. 

“Yet I still had faith. Against everything, against my own better judgement, I still thought that once he knew he was finished, he’d give up.” She hissed. “I let the hope that I could have the father that I knew as a kid back control me.”

“He was too far gone, too lost to his own hubris.” Jaune spoke, putting a hand on her shoulder. Her good hand reached up, landing on his own, and their fingers interlocked, a show of solidarity, or compassion. It was the least he could do.

“I know… I know. Still, that doesn’t make it any better. I’m meant to be better. I’m a specialist for crying out loud.” There was a tone of desperation in her voice. It felt wrong. She had never displayed such uncertainty before. Her personality wouldn’t allow it. Yet, here she was, a deconstruction of the person she had painstakingly built herself into.

“You’re also his daughter. You can’t be faulted for hoping for a resolution that didn’t involve… what I did.” He spoke, giving her hand a little squeeze. 

“Don’t blame yourself for it. You did what was needed.” She squeezed back, her damp eyes meeting his own.

“I could say the same to you.” She spoke,”Don’t dare blame yourself for any of this. You did what was needed. I could never hate you for that. Don’t you dare apologize.”

He had never intended to, but he understood why she had to say it out loud, more for her sake than his.

“They will be intimidated by you, even if they love you. They will forever doubt themselves, doubt whether they belong with you.”

Jaune moved to leave, but was stopped when Winter refused to let his hand go. He turned to face her, and the look on her face almost broke his heart.

“...don’t go.” She whispered, “At least not tonight.”

He loosened up, allowing her to pull him into bed. There was nothing sexual about it, just comfortable, as he held her close. Small hiccups wracked her body as she let tears flow freely, while Jaune wrapped himself around her, letting her soak in his warmth as she cried her heart out.

He loved her, he couldn’t deny it anymore. She’d slowly worked her way into his life and become someone irreplaceable to him to the point where living without her felt… empty. Just seeing her suffering like this hurt him harder than even Lau had.

“Love makes an endless life loving, but let me tell you from experience that all it takes to turn the love of your life into an eternal enemy is one bad decision, one bad day, one wrong turn.”

He pulled her closer, burying her head under his chin, feeling as her breathing slowly started to even out, as the sweet surrender of sleep slowly overtook her. She would still suffer, one didn’t recover from loss this fast, but she would have time.

For now, all he wanted to do was savor the warmth of the woman he loved one last time before he left, not knowing when they would meet again.

“I love you, Winter.” He breathed out. It was the wrong time to say it, as he felt her heartbeat quicken, but it was the last chance he would get for a while. 

He was done letting opportunities pass him by.

“I love you too, Jaune.” She replied, turning her head to plant a little kiss on his cheek, one that he reciprocated with a chaste kiss on the top of her head. The temptation to just ignore his promise to Ozpin, his promise to Emerald, and just stay with Winter was tantalizing, but he owed Emerald, and he needed answers from Ozpin.

“Could you live with yourself, knowing that the only person in the world who knows you for what you truly are, hates you for it?”

“We never did get to go on that date, huh?” Winter whispered, moving in Jaune’s embrace till they were face to face.

“Honestly, the timing just didn’t seem right, did it?” Jaune answered with a kind smile. “I’ll make it up to you someday.”

“You’re leaving tomorrow, aren’t you?” She asked, slowly inching up on the bed till her face was mere inches away from his own.

“Yeah. There’s… some stuff I need to take care of. I’m not sure how long it’s going to take me.” Jaune answered.

“I’m going to finish getting the company in order, then I’m going to come find you.” Winter spoke.

“Are you sure you want that?” He asked.

“I’d given up on love, Jaune. I’d always assumed I’d end up marrying someone dad chose to lead the company after he was gone. You changed that.” She spoke, locking lips with him. It wasn’t like their last kiss. It wasn’t spontaneous, over before either realized what happened. No, it was sustained, passionate, and reciprocated by Jaune with the fervor of a man starved of love.

“I love you, Jaune Arc, and I want to be by your side as you change this world.” She spoke, breaking apart. There was a blush on her face, an expression that radiated love the kind Jaune had never felt before. 

He wanted to tell her that it would be dangerous, that she could come to harm, yet he couldn’t get himself to do it. He wanted her beside him, wanted it more than he had ever wanted anything.

“So, you’re all mine, tonight, and forevermore.” She spoke, putting her head on his shoulder, her body resting flat against his own as he held on to it like a drowning man would hold on to a raft.

She took his silence as permission, sitting up, straddling his waist, the loving expression on her face taking on a far more endearing quality that Jaune found hard to look away from. A hint of playfulness, a tone of fervor, all enveloped in that adorable rosy blush.

“So, let’s make up for that date before you leave.”

“Would you be able to persist in a world without her?”

LB

“You came.” 

The illusion didn’t do her justice. In person, Salem cut a far more imposing figure than his initial encounter with her illusive form. 

“You made the effort of leaving your sanctuary to meet me. The least I could do is repay your efforts.” Jaune spoke, walking up to her as the two men flanking her backed off. 

“I take my word seriously, Jaune Arc.” She spoke. “I hope you have given some thought to our last conversation?”

He had. Her words had haunted him every waking moment since their conversation, forcing him to see ghosts where there were none to be found, to seek hidden motives where there were none to be found. Overanalysis had almost killed his mind, but Winter’s embrace had given him clarity.

“You’re right, that much I’ll admit.” Jaune stated, taking some pleasure in the surprise that appeared on Salem’s face. 

“I sense a ‘but’ there.” Salem questioned, seemingly surprised that Jaune had even given her words the time of his day. 

“Your claims essentially boil down to ‘given an infinite amount of time, the world will corrupt you’, and I’m openly admitting that you’re right.” Jaune reasoned. “It makes me empathise with you, with the story you gave me of what happened between you and Ozma.”

“I just fail to see how any of that is my problem.” Jaune finished, and a stunned silence hung in the air as Salem looked at him, wide-eyed.

“How… how is that not your problem?” She tried to reason, “You do realize you’re in the middle of a war between me and Ozma, right? We are both immortals. As long as we persist, this world will never know peace.”

“And I cannot kill you, and even if I did kill Ozma, he would simply find a new host.” Jaune spoke. As much as he wanted to deny it, just a cursory probe of Salem’s body had proven beyond his capabilities. Whatever curse forced immortality on Salem, it was divine, beyond his capabilities to remove.

For now.

“Then do you plan to simply be a bystander as me and Ozma wage war? Forgive me, but that seems quite out of character for you.” She spoke, eyebrows raised in doubt.

“You’re absolutely right!” Jaune answered, a smile on his face. “And I’ll intervene whenever I need to, whenever I can. Sure, you can destroy a settlement or two, but your goals aren’t just wanton destruction anyways.”

“Oh? And what makes you think that?” She asked.

“Because if you wanted to destroy humanity, you’d have destroyed it already.” He spoke. He knew it, and so did anyone who knew of her existence. Humanity was sparse, spread, and the minority in this world. The only reason they could fight the Grimm was because they were brainless animals, unable to band together for anything but the simplest of tasks.

Of course, the moment one learnt of Salem’s existence, that idea went out of the window. She’d had thousands of years to put her plans into action. She could have spent less than a fraction of that to gather all the world’s grimm into one large army and simply steamroll down the bastions of humanity till not a single human remained.

“Thousands of years of time and planning, when you could have simply brute-forced an end to humanity? Come on, Salem. Give me some credit here.” Jaune spoke. 

“You just want to find a way to kill yourself, and somehow, the destruction of humanity is a byproduct of that desire, else Ozma wouldn’t be trying to stop you from ending yourself.” Jaune finished, and again, there was silence.

“You are a lot smarter than I expected, Jaune Arc.” Salem stated. “So, you know what I desire. You know what the cost of it is. Knowing this, what do you plan to do about it?”

“Isn’t it simple?” He spoke, a toothy smile on his face. “You called me a hero when you first saw me, so I’ll do as a hero should.”

“If saving you means killing you, then so be it.” He finished, taking in the astonished look on Salem’s face.

“The curse on me is divine in nature. As powerful as you are, you are no god!” Salem hissed, but her heart wasn’t in it. 

“A few months ago, I wasn’t even strong enough to be on your radar.” Jaune countered. “Give me a year, a decade, a century? I’m reasonably sure I could get rid of that curse.” 

“I’m not going to stop trying to lay low Ozma.” She continued, a dangerous look in her eyes. “Just because you can kill me doesn’t mean I don’t want my revenge on him.” 

“And I’ll stop you, every single time you try.” Jaune countered.

“Then you’ll die too.” She shot back.

“Somehow, I highly doubt that.” Jaune snarked back.

“Ugh! Why do you have to be so infuriating?” Salem cracked, and for the first time since he’d first seen her, she seemed more human than Grimm. Jaune liked it. He liked it a lot.

“It’s just the way I am.” He spoke, crossing his arms in front of his chest, a self-satisfied smirk on his face. 

“... And what about yourself? Will you still chase immortality? Knowing all that comes with it?” She asked, changing the subject.

Jaune nodded. “In a way, yeah, I guess?”

Again surprise found its way onto Salem’s face. “Kindly elaborate.”

“I want to live. I want to see this world without the stain of Grimm there to ruin it.” He spoke, his arms spread wide. “I want to help the world better itself, and I want to do it with the ones I love.”

“So, I will live for as long as that takes, and not a single day more.” Jaune spoke, locking eyes with Salem, “Because the immortality I will chase will not be a curse, but a voluntary blessing. Something me and mine can shed whenever they wish.”

“That is not something a human can achieve.” Salem countered.

“Then I guess I’ll have to become a god.” Jaune stated, not breaking eye contact for even a second, making sure the sincerity of his words was well understood by his undead frenemy.

Salem was the one who looked away first. She drew a dramatic sigh, before giving Jaune a weary smile.

“It should be a crime to like your sworn enemy so much.” She spoke with a slight chuckle. A sound too sweet to be coming from the nemesis of humanity.

“That’s rich coming from someone who’s been fighting the man who she shared a bed with for centuries.” Jaune countered, turning Salem’s giggle into a full blown laugh.

“For the record, he was many different men over the course of those centuries.” Salem commented.

“I… really didn’t need to know that.”

LB

Jaune walked into the settlement on foot.

Instead of the three-leg journey back to Vale in slow bullheads, he’d decided instead to simply use Dies Iraes and his deep mana pool to fly over. It was definitely the right answer, as it shortened the two day journey into less than a few hours.

If only he could sustain flight the entire way, that was.

Even with his incredible mana pool and fast mana regeneration, there came a point two-thirds of the way down to Vale where he had to stop for a little break. That, and the exertion of sustained flight had left him very hungry.

So, he’d decided on a detour. Kalm, a small town seven hours northeast of Vale when travelling by car, was his target. 

He’d landed in the forests outside the town. There were anti-aerial defenses on the walls surrounding the town, and while a few bullets were unlikely to impede him much, he really didn’t want to put a town on the lookout for an unidentified flying item vaguely shaped like a human.

So, he’d stored his armor and strolled into the town wearing the nice white and gold jacket that Winter had given him. 

Not that it helped much. He had to provide identification at the gates to a pair of tense guardsmen. Something had the town on edge, and he couldn’t be sure if it was because they might have caught sight of him on their equipment.

He was moving far faster than any aerial Grimm could, after all.

He eventually strolled up to a continental restaurant. Again, the serving staff were tense, looking at him with concern until he explained he was stopping by before continuing on to Vale. The relief in their voices was clear to hear. 

So they were concerned for him, not because of him. Intriguing.

It wasn’t till he was digging into a heavy breakfast of pancakes, toast, and bacon that a familiar face barged into the restaurant.

Cardin Winchester, in the flesh. 

He lowered his gaze. When his expulsion was still under consideration, of all people, it had been Cardin who’d been in Jaune’s court. He’d been one of the two people who Jaune had told the truth to, even though Cardin had just been eavesdropping.

It was funny that the eavesdropper, his erstwhile bully, had kept it quiet, when his own partner had spread his secret to the masses.

Still, it was better for them if they didn’t interact.

“Greetings. I’m here to report that the Grimm Migration is highly unlikely to reroute towards Kalm. Even so, I urge every civilian to keep a lightly packed bag of necessities and memorize the path to their nearest Grimm Shelter.” he spoke, rattling off details and protocol like a seasoned huntsman.

Jaune frowned at that. While Cardin’s tone was even, his hands were shaking. Sure, he was trying to hide it, clenching his hands into fists and keeping them low and out of sight, but his body language betrayed him.

That migration was going to cross Kalm, and Cardin was trying his best to assure people it wouldn't. Keeping morale high and public sentiment good. After all, despair attracted Grimm.

Thankfully the serving staff and patrons seemed to buy it. 

“Jaune?” 

It wasn’t Cardin who saw me. Then again, Velvet was both a faunus and a photographer. Attention to detail was part and parcel of who she was. That, and with her reserved, jumpy posture, she didn’t register next to Cardin. 

Busted, Jaune gave her a light wave of his hand and a cheeky smile as he saw the color drain off Cardin’s face.

Maybe he didn’t mind this detour lasting a little longer than expected.

LB

That concludes the Atlas Arc! Next two chapters will lead into the Beacon arc and Ozpin's side of the story.

I took a bit of a different approach to this chapter. It was quite hard to write as a result, but i hope you like it.

Anyways, next two chapters will be for the pokemon fic in the coming days. After that, I'm going to be putting up a poll for the $10 tier subscribers to choose my next story. Please look forward to it.

As always, join the discord for more shenanigans. Link is https://discord.com/invite/AP8nG65RmA

-Cold Daylight