The Games We Play

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

Recommendations

I let my senses flow across the city, searching even as I calmly walked with my family. Even though it had only been a short while since I'd last been here, both my power and my senses had grown by leaps and bounds since then and with my new senses…

It was almost like I was seeing the city for the first time. Crocea Mors slipped silently from reflection to reflection, a mercurial figure without a source to be found, hopping between a hundred pieces of steel. Levant found the highest structure in the area and stood at its edge, power expanding through the air currents as they flowed between buildings. Xihai flowed through rivers and pipelines alike even as Vulturnus raced through a glowing web of power lines. Suryasta peered out of fireplaces and candles, furnaces and engines, forming pictures in my mind written in shifting flames, which Ereb walked beneath my feet, matching my stride exactly as he walked on the underside of the street, in the hidden earth.

But even without my Elementals eyes, the city was different now. I felt thousands of emotions bubbling up like air in the sea; ephemeral hopes, seething anger, and hundreds of different flavors of love and fear and despair alike. I felt a sudden shock of a man watching a horror movie, the deep-seated fear of a woman waiting in a hospital, the burning surety of a young man who thought he knew what love was and the quiet certainty of his parents who didn't need any grandiose displays or proclamations to know what they had. There was the pain of the grieving, the fear of a child huddling in the dark as her parents fought—though that was a fear that had the taste of routine, as did her parent's anger, sadness, and guilt. There was exhaustion in the back alleys, joy in a nursery, enough dreams to fill the skies, and celebrations gross and subtle.

Things meant to be kept private, locked behind walls and doors—but no wall, physical or mental, were enough to keep me out. Even without trying, even just standing there, I felt them all. I knew them all, even if I dismissed most of what I sensed with no more than a cursory glance, as my passive Empathy kept we aware of the truth of the city and its many people, things I hadn't even thought about previously.

And then my more physical senses came into play. I picked up every radio signal in the city, every show on the air, and a flood of information from every direction. Though I could focus my Clairvoyance and ESP far better than I could my Empathy, I kept my senses open as I searched for old friends and new enemies alike. I heard everything around me, saw things on levels that most people probably didn't know existed, smelt traces of things that had happened days or weeks ago, and more.

Once again, I had to give thanks to the Gamer's Body and Mind, without which I was sure I'd have long since been driven mad by my own powers. My Empathy alone would likely have driven me far away from any city and just attempting to use my other senses the way I did now would likely have probably driven me to my knees. Instead, it had reduced all of that to little more than an occasional agony that I'd quickly gotten used to healing and even that had faded as the power of my skills increased. Remaining constantly aware of my surroundings had become a simple habit to maintain now and I was able to stay calm and focused despite the scope of my senses.

As such, it didn't take me long to find what I was looking for. It was simply a matter of searched for a person of the right shape, size, and body mass while screening out anyone who didn't fit. Since my target was a rather distinctive person besides, it didn't take me long to find him.

"Adam," I spoke across the distance without moving my mouth, Levant giving form to the words with her own lips as she stood invisibly by my friend.

At the sound of my disembodied voice, he nearly jumped out of his own skin, a hand falling to a weapon as rose and spun around. Seeing nothing, Adam paused for a moment, took a deep breath, and closed his eyes beneath his mask.

"Jaune," He said after a moment to calm himself. "Don't do that. What if I hadn't been alone?"

"Then I'd have waited until you weren't," I said reasonably. "I'm not an idiot, Adam; I checked before I started talking—no one's nearby. Feel free to keep talking at the top of your voice, by the way, because I silenced the room, too."

He looked around as if to see some evidence to support my claim, a frown on his lips.

"Okay," He nodded in acceptance after a moment. "Fine. Jaune, don't do that—because you nearly gave me a fucking heart attack."

"I also improved my healing abilities recently," I informed him helpfully. "Should you have suffered a heart attack, I'd have rushed to help you."

"That's nice," Adam's frown became a scowl. "But you aren't promising not to do that again. Don't think I haven't fucking noticed."

I hummed noncommittally, making the sound come from all around him just to be an ass.

Adam snorted like a bull.

"I heard you might be coming to town," He said after a minute. "Didn't think it would be quite so soon, though I'm not sure why, knowing you."

"I don't like wasting time," I admitted. "I take it Raven told you the important parts?"

"God only knows," He said. "She was obviously keeping stuff to herself, but I wouldn't know if it was important or not. Your names came up, though—both of them, along with several of your family members. Supposedly, you're working for yourself."

"One of the perks of being a self-made man," I answered. "You get to be your own boss."

"Hah," He feigned a laugh. "But are you sure you want to bring them into this, Jaune? It looks like you're playing a pretty dangerous game."

"Well, you know how much I love my games," I replied. "But yes, I'm sure. For better or for worse, I trust Raven."

"You trust her with the lives of your family," Adam wondered. "But not enough to tell her who you really are?"

"In fairness, even I'm not sure who that is anymore."

"What?"

"It's…a long story," I sighed. "I don't know what Raven told you, but…well, a lot of what I told her was true, if perhaps not complete—and part of that is because I don't know the complete truth. I'll tell you the full story when we meet up in person."

Adam stared ponderingly into the air for a long minute before nodding.

"Okay," He said. "As it happens, I trust you, so I'll accept that. I just hope you realize what kind of spot you're putting me in here. I haven't said anything about who you really are, but…"

He shook his head, looking aggrieved.

"I know," I answered after a moment, adding the traces of a sign to the words again. "I know, Adam. If it makes it any better, I honestly intend to tell her the truth, once I know what it is—about me and everything else. If I was the only one involved, I would have told her everything already, but you know there are other factors."

"I do," He nodded. "That's part of why I haven't said anything. But I don't like being stuck between a friend and the woman who raised me. It ends with me feeling like crap no matter what I do."

We were both silent for a moment at that before he brushed a hand through his hair and looked to the side.

"But it's whatever," He said after a moment. "You want my help looking into our new friends, right?"

"Yeah," I replied. "Raven and I are both concerned. She said you would be her representative? Anything you can tell me?"

"Not yet," He shook his head. "For something that seemingly everyone in the White Fang knows about, no one seems to have any actual information. Raven put me in charge of this recently to try and find out more, but I haven't made any progress yet. Seems their boss is out of town."

I wanted to frown, but Adam wouldn't have seen it and it might have drawn my family's attention so I kept it inside. But…

"I was told she was working out of Haven," I wondered. "Has that changed?"

"Not to my knowledge," Adam replied. "But it seems she wanted to make the most of her break. We only found out recently."

"Oh?" I asked, trying to force the impression of an inquisitively quirked eyebrow into my tone. "How'd they get that one passed Raven?"

"Seems they have an illusionist on their side," He answered. "She left, the illusionist took her place, we didn't even realize until yesterday. Raven was pissed, let me tell you, but—"

"But what are you going to do about it?" I interrupted. "Say it's like they don't even trust us, when we only knew about it because we were watching them constantly?"

"Yeah," Adam smiled grimly. "Sort of forfeited the moral high ground there so we decided to just pretend like we didn't notice anything. Knowing that they have an illusionist is help in its own right, besides."

"True," I agreed, having already filed that fact away. Its stuff like this that makes me feel vindicated in my paranoia and reminded me of why I scanned the ever loving shit out of everything I encountered. "Do we know where she went?"

"Apparently…to Vale," He pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Son of a bitch," I said, bemused. "But they'll be back by the time Haven starts?"

"Presumably," He shrugged. "What little I've found seems to point towards that. How do you want to handle this?"

"I've got a few ideas," I answered. "But it'll be easier to just show you. You free tonight?"

"Oh, are you coming down here?" He asked, faking surprise. "I was worried I was the only one getting tired of your stupid Voice of God impression."

I watched him sullenly for a moment, knowing he couldn't see me, and promptly took revenge for that comment.

"But if they have an illusionist on their side," I pretended to muse. "We'll need to be more careful from now on…"

Adam paused, gears turning fast enough that for a moment I thought I could hear them.

"Jaune," He started before hesitate. "Jaune, no. Don't—"

"Don't worry," I said, ignoring his words entirely and speaking over him. "I'll make an entrance so you know it's me."

"Oh my fucking God," Adam swore tiredly, shoulders falling. "Jaune, look, I'll…look, I'll just believe it's you, okay? Just knock on my door like a normal person. Hell, there's a bunch of stuff only you can do; just prove it's you that way. Or use that goddamn barrier of yours."

I didn't reply, effectively hanging up on him.

I crashed through the wall, sending shards of worn stone flying in every direction—a feat made especially impressive by the fact that Adam's room was underground. As I did, Bai Hu rose around me and roared as I discarded the illusion I held over my form, filling the room with the blinding light of my soul and the sound of shattering stone.

Adam, who'd been waiting tensely for the half-hour I'd spent watching him, fell back in his chair and hit the ground rolling. His impromptu somersault wasn't particularly graceful, but to his credit he moved quickly, drawing his sword in an instant at the sudden intrusion, lashing out with the trained instincts of a Hunter.

Letting the edge of his sword scrape roughly against my chest, I withdrew the light that surrounded me, drawing it back into my illusion. As I did, I revealed the scene we'd made of the room. A moment into their flight, the shrapnel from the wall had frozen in place and now hung suspended in the air, parting like a curtain as I walked through them before beginning to move as if in reverse, flowing over and around me in places to fully reconstruct the shattered wall. I paused for a moment to let him see me as my entry way vanished. Then I calmly walked over to his fallen chair, righted it, and claimed it for my own quirking an eyebrow at him as if he were behaving oddly in a public place.

"Adam," I greeted, making my voice sound bemused.

"Son of a bitch," Adam swore from where he'd thrown himself to the ground, the sound of my voice seeming to jar him from his silence. "You motherfucker. I take it back—I fucking hate you, Jaune. I'm gonna go tell everyone everything, you fucking insane, flamboyant…fuck."

"You don't mean that," I informed him, because he didn't. "And now you know it's me, see?"

"Go suck a bowl full of dicks," He snarled, staggering to his feet.

I chuckled, which made him growl, and then lifted my hands placating.

"I'm sorry, Adam," I said. "I was just screwing with you a bit, no harm done."

"I hit my head," He said petulantly.

"Poor baby," I said as I healed him with a glance. "Better?"

"And then I reacted without thinking and tried to cut you in half." He continued as if I hadn't spoken. Then he paused and frowned, seeming to remember who he was talking to. "Wait, never mind. I don't fucking care that I hit you; you fucking deserved it. I just wish it had actually done something so you'd remember not to barge into my room like an asshole."

"Would you like to hit me again?" I offered. "I'll let you take a shot at me if it'll make you feel better."

"It wouldn't do anything and we both know it," He said, but now that the initial surprise had faded, his heart beat was calming down. He took several deep breaths and sat down on his bed, closing his eyes for a moment. He wasn't actually all that upset with me, it's just that the shock of my entrance had left his blood running high and it took him a minute to calm down.

I waited until his emotions and heartbeat both settled before talking.

"You reacted well, though," I continued. "Granted, I gave you a warning to expect something, but you still reacted fast. Now that we know that they have an illusionist on their side, its best that you be able to respond that way if something happens. If you're lucky, your Aura will be able to tank their first attack, but there's no way of knowing if it'll do anything more than that. If you survive their first shot, you may have only a moment to respond—so it's best that you respond with extreme prejudice."

"You, too," He snarled, heartbeat rising again. "You and Raven, I swear—"

I interrupted him with a laugh.

"Oh, I should have figured," I smiled as he fell silent. "Of course Raven would try to get you ready, too. Has she been dropping in unannounced, then?"

"Yes," He nearly spat. "Woke me up at three in the morning by dropping from the ceiling with her sword drawn, so believe me, I get the idea. I can already tell she's gonna make a habit of this, so I don't need you making this even worse, okay?"

"I…might have to disagree," I shook my head. "Raven's power makes her really great at sudden sneak attacks, but that's only part of what you need to worry about with an illusionist running around."

"Whereas I need to worry about people blowing through the walls of my underground room, shining like the sun, and making an ungodly amount of noise?" He asked. "Because I'm pretty sure that you're the only one who'd do that, you crazy bastard."

"That was me being nice," I denied. "I stuck to the basics; I made a lot of light, a lot of noise, tried to disorient you. If you're targeting an opponent who seems ready for an attack from any direction, why not make it seem like an attack is coming from every direction? I just wanted to see how you'd take something like that and you did well against the first attempt."

Adam considered that for a moment before ducking his head in begrudging acceptance.

"Fine," He acknowledged with a sigh. "I forgive you and whatever."

He fell silent for a moment and I waited patiently as he considered what had just happened, pretty sure I knew what he'd say next. Sure enough, after a moment, he tilted his head at me and spoke.

"If that was you being nice, what would you have done if you were trying?" He asked.

"I might have approached you like Raven," I said, my voice changed midsentence to make hers and making him start. Chuckling for a moment, I returned my voice to normal and gave him a half smile. "Or perhaps I'd have done things exactly the same way. See, even if you try and train yourself to be wary of everyone and everything, it's hard to do that all the time, especially with the people you trust. Take right now, for example—even after that entrance I made, you're back to being completely calm."

I closed the distance between us in an instant, hand outstretched. Suddenly, I stood in front of him, the claws of my right hand pressed lightly against the fabric of his shirt. I didn't press down hard, but I made sure he could feel their pointed tips through the cloth, that he realized how quickly I'd approached him. We both knew that if I'd wanted to, I could have continued that motion until my hand was in his chest, my fingers around my heart.

"It occurs to me," I said quietly. "That if someone really wanted to approach you, doing so in the guise of someone you trust would be an obvious way to do it. It also occurs to me that pretending to give a test to keep you on your toes might, ironically, be a good way to put you at ease. Even after that light show, after all that noise, you relaxed the moment I told you it was a test and never saw this coming. And now, here you are, dead to rights."

I pressed down just a tiny bit harder and a muscle in his cheek twitched.

"Your paranoia's showing," He said after a moment, the sound of his heartbeat loud in my ears. "But I get the point."

"Do you?" I asked, using Delusory to create the illusion of spiders on my arms, my face. "Do you really? How do you know I'm not actually the illusionist, here to trick you again?"

"If you weren't Jaune, I'd be dead," He stated.

I shook my head.

"Not necessarily," I said. "Not if I needed you alive for something. Try again."

"You healed me," He said. "Without even touching me. And when I hit you before, I felt it connect but you didn't even flinch."

"Better," I said. "Far better, enough so that it's probably safe to assume I'm me. What are the odds that someone could heal and take that shot like I did and know how to act like me? It's enough to conclude I'm me, but…how can you be sure?"

"I can't," He answered after a moment of silence. "Not just from what I've seen."

"Good," I took a step away, watching as he took a deep breath. "That's right—and in cases like these, it's best to be certain. The enemies we're fighting now…"

I shook my head.

"We can't assume that things are always as they seem," I told him. "We'll need to be careful."

"What do you propose?" He asked.

"Caution," I said. "Just in case, don't assume anything until you're sure it's me. We'll come up with security measures later, but just to be on the safe side, it's probably for the best that you attack me on sight, unless doing so would draw too much attention. We both know I can take it, so watch how I react to the attack and how it feels when it connects. My power will be the real key here, though. We both know there are things only I should be able to do and we'll use that to confirm my identity."

With a thought and a gesture, I invited him to join my party. He glanced at the window carefully for a moment and then drew up his status screen with a word, nodding slowly.

"Got it," He replied. "And I take it you can tell who I am just fine."

I smiled slightly.

"Yes," I said. "And once you're sure of me, I'll clear everyone else. We'll check to make sure, but I think we both know my senses are up to it."

He nodded again, heaving a sigh.

"Okay," He said. "Okay. Now what? I assume you aren't just here to make sure I'm sufficiently paranoid."

"Yeah," I confirmed. "That's just an amusing bonus. Come on, we're going out."

"Out?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. "As in, outside?"

"Obviously."

"Are we going into the city?"

I raised an eyebrow to match his.

"Where else would we go?"

Adam looked at me for a moment.

"In case you haven't noticed, some of us have trouble walking around in public," He stated. "It's an internationally wanted terrorist thing, you see. My union's really strict about these things."

"Hey," I said. "I'm an internationally wanted terrorist, but you don't hear me whining about it, now do you?"

He took a breath and exhaled slowly, refusing to play along.

"You've been cooped up too long," I continued, rolling my eyes. "It shows. I bet you've hardly done anything but jump between missions since your face was revealed and our party got crashed in Vale. Let's hang out for a bit while we sort thing out, okay?"

"If I ask you how, will you tell me?" He asked.

I held out a hand, letting the spiders on it dissipate.

"They aren't the only ones who have an illusionist," I reminded him. "Now let's go already."