The Games We Play

DISCLAIMER: This story is NOT MINE IN ANY WAY. That honor has gone to the beautiful bastard Ryugii. This has been pulled from his Spacebattle publishment. Anyway on with the show...errr read.

News Report

My meeting with Raven so arranged, I caught up to my sister at the store as promised. I didn't spend much time shopping since I generally didn't need a lot, but I figured out where everything in the store was in a second or two and methodically went about getting exactly what we needed. My sister browsed with a bit more whimsy, but we weren't in a hurry so I didn't say anything about it. I offered to pay for it, she stepped in and insisted on footing the bill, and then we left.

The downside of shopping with other people, however, was that I couldn't simply store everything in my Inventory. Between the two of us, we didn't have any particular trouble with the weight, but there were still several dozen bags for us to carry. Even if it felt light as could be, actually needing to carry stuff was a bit annoying. As Hunters, neither of us had much use for a car in day to day life, either, so we did it all the old fashioned way. It would be a lot easier if I'd had a chance to talk to her about my power, but I was still trying to decided what I should and shouldn't tell my family. I didn't really care about them knowing about the fact that I was the Gamer or even that I was Jian Bing, so I planned to tell them just to avoid needing to keep it a secret or having to reveal it at a less convenient time.

Even so, I was a bit concerned because once I brought them in on those secrets, it was going to raise a lot of questions about what had happened to me recently—it wouldn't take a genius to connect that stuff to the fact that I'd been involved in the fight that killed Dad, even if I hadn't told Bianca I'd been along. The thing is, what did I tell them? I couldn't get them involved in this Rider business; even if they were, as far as I could tell, clean, they wouldn't be able to tell if the people around them were and the paranoia of that whole mess was enough to get to anyone. But on the other hand, with what had happened to Dad…I could leave out Conquest and just mention a Pandora Shell, but…

Should I tell them I'd been the one to kill him? I wasn't concerned with them being upset with me or anything, because I was pretty sure they'd understand why I'd had to do it even if I was forced to edit out everything about Grimm-possessed humans, evil monster makers, and battles in the soul. But…did I want to force them to live with the knowledge that I'd been forced to kill him? Even knowing that I'd done everything I could to free his soul, that still hurt me; for them…

There were other things, too; stuff I couldn't tell them, mixed in with stuff I needed to. The stuff with the White Fang blended with secrets, the explanations for some of the things I'd done…I needed to tell them, but I also needed to figure out what not to say. There were things that would bring them nothing but pain and fear, secrets that would put them in danger, and flat-out awful truths. I need to choose my words wisely and maybe speak to Ozpin or my grandmother about it.

Beyond that, though, it just wasn't something I felt like talking about in public, even if I could shut down the sound around us. If nothing else, I had a feeling what I had to say would get some type of visible reaction, something other people might see. And then they'd wonder and ask for proof and examples, on and on—best to wait a bit until we were surrounded by people. And, well, to be honest…I just didn't want to have to explain it multiple times. It was going to be a long story as is.

It can't be helped, I thought at last, biting down a sigh as I balanced two cases of water on my forearms as my fingers hooked through the loops of many of the bags. Several more were stacked on top of the waters, partially obscuring my view, not that it really mattered. I followed my sister back in the general direction of the Residential District before swinging into a restaurant I'd never been in, but which the girls had apparently agreed on silently. That didn't matter to me much either, since I didn't need to eat, but I ordered something large enough to keep either of my sisters from complaining and set stuff down around the table. I thought someone might, you know, say something about that, but apparently my sisters left lasting impressions. The staff continued to work with a general air of 'Same shit as always.'

"Hey, I saw this while I was shopping," Shani said the moment I'd taken a seat. She held up a newspaper that I blinked at before glancing over it and reading the front page. It was me and how I'd healed the hospital, but the photograph on the front was at least a year out of date. I hadn't really waited around for a photo-shoot, though, so that was fine. "I didn't know you were a healer!"

"He mentioned it to me while we were walking," Bianca said, reaching over the take the page from Shani's hand. "Why? Is something wrong?"

"Not wrong, really," Shani replied. "Just…well, I was pretty surprised when I saw your name all over the front page. Is this the first time you got in the news, Jay?"

Hell no. Although usually, it was as a wanted terrorist.

"Maybe," I said aloud, shaking my head. "I did that thing in Mistral, remember? I might have gotten in the news over that—to be honest, I didn't really check."

Shani snapped her fingers and pointed at me.

"Oh, that's right," She replied. "That thing with the girl. I heard that was all over Mistral for a while, too. Grandmother's work?"

"Yeah."

"She does that, now and then," Bianca murmured, reading the paper. "Likes to show off the superbabies, but…wow, Jaune; I think this is more impressive. 'Hospital emptied by healing prodigy Jaune Arc,' it says. Is that true?"

"Uh," I shrugged. "Sort of? Not literally, because there were a few people too hurt for me to heal yet, but I fixed up most of the people there—and it'll be a while yet, but I hope to get good enough to fix the others, too. I can't regrow limbs yet and there are still a few things beyond me, but…I'll figure it out, I think."

"Wow," Shani said as Bianca continued reading. "That's amazing! Is stuff like that hard?"

"Saying no makes me feel kind of arrogant," I frowned slightly before shrugging. "But…no. Stuff like that comes pretty easily to me, to be honest."

"A talking dog, a sapient flower, and now this?" She wondered, shaking her head. "Do you have some type of Biological Semblance?"

"Not…really," I hedged. "My Semblance is responsible for it, though. It's not something I really want to talk about in public, honestly."

"Ah," She drew the sound out. "Keep your tricks a secret. I gotcha."

"Well, there's that," I nodded. "But really, it's just going to be a pain in the ass to explain and I'd rather not do it here. Do you mind if I tell you later? Or maybe…wait, no, never mind. I thought about asking Grandmother to tell you, but if she hasn't already, it's probably because she's feeling lazy too and wants to shove the task on me."

"Oh," Shani tilted her head. "Is it something like Indigo's thing, then?"

I thought about second youngest sister and her weird Semblance, nodding slightly.

"Something like that," I said. "I think mine is still stranger, though."

"Huh," Shani said after a moment, furrowing her eyebrows before shrugging. "Well, I guess you'd know. You two get everything?"

"Doubtful," Bianca said, finally putting the paper down with an odd expression. She appeared contemplative as she clicked a manicured nail against the surface of the table, pausing a moment before seeming to remember she was talking. "I'm sure one of you is going to have forgotten something you can't live without and well end up making a dozen more trips. But we got everything you actually can't live without."

"Speaking of the others," I interrupted before Shani could reply. "Do you know when they're expected to arrive?"

"Sienna might be a bit late," Bianca said, looking at me. "She's been rising through the ranks quickly, but that comes with a lot of responsibilities attached to it. Given that it's a family emergency, she shouldn't have any problems getting time off, but she'll still need to make arrangements before she comes down from Atlas. Since they live near each other and work together, odds are Azure will come down with her, even if she has an easier time getting leave. Violet and Indigo will arrive quickly once they get the message, but if they're on a mission, they might not receive it until they're within range of the towers again. Still, last I checked, they were working somewhere in Mistral, so I wouldn't be surprised if they arrive with Grandmother and Olivia definitely will."

"Olivia's in Mistral now?" I asked, a bit surprised. "I didn't see her while I was there."

"You must have missed her by a few weeks," Bianca said. "She was actually up in Atlas with Azure until recently, but a good position opened up and convinced her move. I think she's going to start working at Haven when the semester starts."

"Wow," I blinked. "Haven already? She's been out of school for less than a year, right? Is that a record?"

"I think it might be for Haven," Shani said. "Since she graduated early after switching up to Atlas. That place attracts its fair share of geniuses, though, so it wouldn't surprise me if there was some ten year old running around somewhere. Olivia was really excited about it, though. They don't let just anyone teach the next generation of Hunters, you know?"

"Yeah," I nodded. "Good for her. I'll congratulate her when I see her. Oh, I've got a scroll now, too, so we can stay in touch that way, now. I didn't know your numbers or I'd have given you a call."

"I'll give you everyone's numbers," Bianca promised before moving a hand over the paper. She looked down at it and then back up to me, concern written clearly upon her face. "But Jaune…about this…are you going to be okay?"

It wasn't hard to figure out what she meant. I'd have been concerned too, if I hadn't long since seen it coming. I looked back at her before glancing Shani's way, seeing the same thoughts on her face, if a touch more subdued.

It was understandable. Bianca was worried about the news report—not about the fact that I'd healed all those people, of course, but of the fact that now everyone knew about it. It wouldn't just be in the papers, either; for something as big as healing an entire hospital, I'm sure I'd made the news in all sorts of ways. She was worried because suddenly, I was famous. That if I wasn't already, I was soon to be the big new thing.

But with that came complications. I knew full well that the healing abilities I could all but take for granted were the things other people dreamt of. How many people saw their friends get injured, their families and loved ones left lying on a table, and dreamed of being able to just reach other and make it all go away? How many hundreds, thousands, or even millions of people had wanted that at some point in their lives?

And now, they'd want me. Not just me, of course—healers in general were in enormous demand—but with what I'd done so casually, it went without saying that I could expect a fair bit of attention and interest, not all of it good. From the desperate to the greedy, people all over the world would be interested in me now, and that changed a lot of things.

I could see the concern in her eyes as she worried about it. About what I might be getting into so soon after Dad's death, about the people that would probably approach me, about the people who might be driven to extremes, about how I'd be able to handle facing tragedies and injuries every day or being on the receiving end of misguided anger and hurtful words.

In fairness, I couldn't deny that in many ways, dealing with this would be annoying. I'd figured this would happen and I was sure Ozpin had too, but that didn't change the fact that there was much to be done in the face of it all. But in the end, being famous wasn't all bad—especially for a famous healer. Whatever the cons were, there were also a number of opportunities; if there weren't, this wouldn't be happening to begin with. If he'd wanted to, Ozpin likely could have…perhaps not silence it, but certainly make it quieter. Hell, he could have just forbidden me from healing everyone in the hospital so blatantly. I might have felt a bit guilty about it, but I would have restrained myself and just touched up some of the people near the edge. Training in Naraka was far more effective then healing even an entire hospital full of people, so it wouldn't have even slowed me down that much.

But instead, he'd prepared the paperwork, pulled the strings, and all but commanded me to go forth and mend. And even if I had reasons to be suspicious, I could be sure of one thing—Rider or Headmaster, he wanted me to succeed, to, at least, grow stronger. I still didn't know why, but everything pointed in that direction, even now, so there must have been a reason for what he'd done.

In truth, there were several. If he believed me when I said that I'd learn how to heal my mother—and, after everything he'd seen me do, why wouldn't he?—then the use of such a…commodity was obvious, especially if made public. If I could regrow limbs, heal the blind, cure the sick, and rejuvenate even the horrifically wounded, I'd be a bargaining chip almost without compare. He could leverage it in negotiations, bargain with it or earn concessions, for what could be as little as a few minutes of healing. I could do all of that subtly, of course, but if people knew about it, if it was an established fact that we could use, I'm sure it could go a long ways.

Somewhat more subtly, there was the simple fact that it would be known. I knew as well as anyone how much reputations mattered and this reputation…if need be, I could use it as an excuse to go just about anywhere, in a broad sense. I could invite myself to any city in the world without drawing suspicion—hell, with some well-chosen words, I could probably make them invite me. It gave me freedom in a number of senses, to say nothing of the chances it provided to make connections and reach other to people. Few professions were as well equipped to getting friends in high places as a healer. With some proper planning, I could leave abruptly to handle medical emergencies, especially if Ozpin was the one making the call, or go along on operations that might otherwise be considered beyond someone, if needed.

And, of course, it served as an explanation. It would answer why my mother, missing three limbs and liable to remain that way for days or weeks yet, would abruptly be able to walk again and live her life normally. Why Onyx would regain his leg and Ren his hand, injuries that were already on record and which weren't known for spontaneously healing.

Yes, this was the path that let me heal my mother and save lives. This was the choice that might let me go where I needed to be, unquestioned. I could use this the same way I used Jian Bing—whatever else came up, I'd deal with it, or Ozpin would. It's not like I couldn't handle the burden or that I wouldn't be able to just leave if I felt like it; once my mother was healed up, I doubted I'd need to worry much about indirect threats, either. I still needed to speak to Ozpin about it, arrange some things, but—

"Yeah," I told her smiling. "I'll be okay. I've spoken to Grandmother and Headmaster Ozpin about it, so it's not like I'm in this alone—and if something comes up, I'll just make one of you handle it."

Shani snorted at that, rolling her eyes.

"And there's the catch," She said. "All these years and you're still gonna make us fight your battles for you? What's the point of all that stuff you showed off in Mistral, then?"

"Well," I replied demurely. "If possible, I'd like to avoid fights that would make me feel bad about myself afterwards. So how about I handle anything big that comes up and you just deal with everything else? You can be my bouncer!"

"Oh," Shani drew out the word. "Mr. Big Shot Healer's feeling full of himself, is he? I'll have you know, I'm pretty fucking expensive—"

I reached under the table and drew about ten thousand Lien from my Inventory. Lifting up the large stack, I flipped through it with a thumb, letting the sound of paper on paper do the talking for me. I'd have taken out more, but after a certain point, showing off how much money you have is hard to do with your bare hands; even in hundreds, a hundred thousand is…well, a thousand hundred Lien bills. Funny how that works.

Still, even if ten thousand Lien wasn't all that impressive at a table full of Hunters, it was enough to make a point.

"Son of a bitch," Bianca sighed. "I should have known after you told me you were a healer, now. I should have just made you pay for everything."

"Hey, I offered," I defended. "It's not a big deal for me right now, but if I need money, I can make it pretty damn fast in a bunch of ways. You don't need to worry about me on that front."

"Ugh," Shani snorted in disgust as she looked down at the stack of bills. "You whippersnappers and your high-paying part-time jobs. Why in my day—"

I was in the middle of a chuckle when I felt a sudden shift and turned abruptly, prepared for a fight even if I didn't so much as rise from my chair. For a moment, I was staring into an empty corner of the room—but the darkness exploded out of it, crawling from where the walls met. There was a chill as air flowed into the shadows, a flickering of the lights, and the corner was promptly occupied by a woman. She wore a light purple shirt beneath a black vest, pairing it with leather pants. Beneath her hat, her shoulder-length blonde hair was tied back clear of her blue eyes and a set of headphones lay hooked on her neck.

Recognizing her, I relaxed back into my seat.

"I finally found you," She said, taking off her hat and she approached and pushing it down onto my head, pushing down at me as she made my head bow. "The house was empty when we showed up. How have you been doing, Jaune?"

"Better then I think anyone honestly could have expected," I replied, turning my head slightly so I could smile up at her. "We were just talking about you."

"Good things, I hope," She smiled back, letting up to rest her arms on the back of my chair.

"Of course," I promised. "We were just wondering if you'd come over with Grandmother, since you were in Mistral. Did you and Violet just decide to go on ahead?"

"We just made good time," She shook her head as the shadow's in the room stretched to congregate around her own as if drawn by some type of dark gravity. Looking down at it, I gave my sister's shadow a polite nod and watched as it returned the gesture, tracing a clockwise path around her. "The others are waiting by the house."

"We shouldn't keep them waiting, then," I said, rising and reclaiming my money. I hadn't even gotten my food yet, but I guess it didn't much matter. Giving her a one armed hug, I tipped my hat at her. "Welcome back, Indigo."

The Shadows That Hunt the Night

LV 90

Indigo Arc