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.

Interconnected

"I take it something has gone wrong?" She began the moment we were both seated, even as I brought an illusion around us and made sure we wouldn't be overheard.

"Doesn't something always?" I answered with a smile, making her close her eyes and smirk for a moment.

"I suppose that's true," She admitted. "But what, specifically, has gone wrong this time?"

"It would seem this friend of ours is more dangerous than we realized," I said. "Torchwick in Vale, the bombings in Atlas, and her ties here to the White Fang…she has a lot of influence in at least three of the Kingdoms and the power needed to transport thousands of stolen weapons between at least two of them—and I would bet that she has friends in Vacuo, as well. She had an ally within our own organization that we didn't know about until now and likely has similar plants in other places. Whatever she's planning, all signs point to it being something big. She's powerful."

"Yes," Raven whispered before tilting her head slowly, voice growing just a touch annoyed at my words. "There is a reason I have handled this alliance with care, Jian."

I inclined my head to her in an apology.

"I was not trying to imply anything," I told her. "I merely wished to lay down the facts before making a request. Will you allow me to handle things from here?"

She watched me, face as expressionless as her mask, though that did nothing to hide what she felt from me.

"Why ask me?" She wondered after a moment.

"Because I respect you," I replied at once. "And I respect your abilities, which are invaluable. But the circumstances have changed again."

"Again," She repeated before pausing momentarily. "You're thinking about what happened to Summer and Ruby?"

"In a way, yes," I nodded. "This friend of ours is a problem that needs to be handled carefully and monitored closely. But the difference between Ruby and this friend of ours is that we can keep an eye on the former, even from a great distance, and she hasn't acted up yet, while the latter has proven herself able to evade notice should the situation call for it and has most certainly been acting up."

"Because of the illusionist," She stated.

"Yes," I agreed anyway. "Because of the illusionist. She has changed the entire game and we need to change with it. Like Ruby, this is a problem we cannot leave unwatched. Should the situation change, we need to be made aware of it as quickly as possible, which means we must be able to perceive such changes."

"And I can't," She stated, sounding annoyed but not at me. The fact that the illusionist had pulled one over on her seemed to irritate her on a personal level, simply because of how bad it could make this already tenuous situation. Slowly, however, her eyes fell to her reflection in the table—or rather, the reflection of her illusory disguise. "But I take it you can?"

"At the risk of sounding arrogant, very few things escape my notice," I nodded. "But in order to be sure, I'll need to be relatively close by. Your abilities allow you to keep an eye on people like Ruby from a great distance, but I'm afraid my eyes don't reach quite that far. If I am to watch her, I will have to remain in Mistral while I do so."

"Ah," She said at last, seeming to understand. "And you wish for me to handle things elsewhere, in your absence."

I nodded once.

"Information still reaches me, thankfully," I answered. "And I managed to handle most things satisfactorily before my arrival here. But there are still a number of duties I will have to delegate if I am to remain here, the most important of which is our Rider problem."

"Do you think she's part of it?" Raven asked, sounding at once curious and serious. "Do you think she's a Rider?"

"I don't think anything yet, I'm afraid," I stated with a sigh, having considered the possibility myself. There wasn't anything pointing to it, but I'd have been a fool not to at least check for it. "I began researching her as soon as I returned, but I cannot scan her directly without knowing where she is. Do you, by any chance…?"

Raven grit her teeth slightly, shaking her head.

"I admit, I was going to ask for your assistance in this matter myself," She told me. "She's become rather skilled at evading my notice. In light of her recent actions, I find that a bit concerning."

"Understandably so," I replied, wondering how she'd felt about my abilities in that field. "Does her illusionist remain here in Mistral?"

Raven was silent for a long moment.

"Perhaps," She said, pursing her lips. "It would be a lie to say I've seen her."

"I see," I nodded in understanding. "No matter—I know where at least one of them shall be."

"Oh?" She asked.

"As said, Emerald and Mercury will be joining their Mistress at Haven," I smiled. "Therefore, either their Mistress will be there or an illusion of her will be. Either way, I'll find them and keep a very close eye on them. Whatever they do, I'll know."

"On the condition that you're close enough to do so," She mused. "How close does that need to be?"

I sighed again.

"It seems you've uncovered the source of Adam's pain," I replied, nodding my head towards my friend. "Close. Within a few kilometers of it, preferably, and for a mission that may last weeks or months…well, closer is better. I'll need to be able to react quickly to anything I find and pick up whatever they're doing, so…ideally, I would be within the building itself."

Raven arched an eyebrow.

"For weeks or months," She repeated and I could practically hear her putting the pieces together. She looked slowly from me to Adam, who was constructing a pyramid out of shot glasses. I saw her ponder the illusion on Adam's face for a moment and then nod. "I begin to understand."

I nodded tired.

"It's not what I would prefer, I admit, but…" I shook my head. "It may be necessary. I'll need to see both her and the illusionist to be certain of anything, but if they're as big a threat as they seem to be, it would be foolish to leave them unattended."

"And you're the only person who can keep track of them," She nodded. "Yes. You have a plan, I assume?"

I met her eyes for a long moment, checked my math again, and told her the truth.

More or less.

"My reincarnation will go," I paused to shake my head. "Or our reincarnation, if you prefer."

"Our?" She asked, eyebrows rising.

"You've probably realized by now that Jian Bing was not the first name I went by," I said. "This soul of mine was first born when Babel still stood tall."

"Then what was it?"

I shut my eyes and shook my head.

"I don't remember," I admitted. "He and the Riders took that life and left little behind."

"You mean…?"

"You saw me," I told her and chuckled. "Or an…artistic depiction of me, at least, on the walls of the Red Rider's temple. The beast with eyes and wings. I fought them, in the beginning, and…I lost."

I clicked a nail against the tabletop, sighing without losing my slight smile.

"I tried and failed," I continued. "But all that meant was that I had to keep trying. So I did and I will, until I win. Too much is on the line to do anything else."

She nodded seriously.

"And so this incarnation continues that fight," She said before pausing. "Are you many minds in one body or…?"

"No," I shook my head. "Can you imagine such a thing? It would be curse on the recipient. But…our souls are one, even across different lives, and so are we."

"And who are you now?" She asked.

I gave her a half-smile, tilting my head at her.

"I think you know," I answered. "Or at least suspect. With this, you should be able to put together any pieces that remain."

"Perhaps," She replied. "But will you tell me your name anyway?"

I chuckled again.

"Of course," I said. "My name in this life is Jaune Arc. And it is, as always, a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

A few minutes later, Raven departed. We spent a short while discussing our plans, but now that she knew who I was—and where I likely would be—there was no real rush. If she needed to say something to me, it wouldn't be hard for her to pop into my room or something, which rather simplified things. Though it had preserved a measure of secrecy between us, it had taken far too long to meet one another by passing messages through Tukson and whoever she used as a contact. Even if it was one-sided, being able to get in touch quickly was a necessity when there was so much that could go wrong.

It was part of the reason I'd told her who I was—if the Riders or whoever else acted, we needed to be able to react quickly. With things the way they were now, I'd shorted our response time from days to minutes and that alone might be worth the risk.

But more than that, the truth of the matter was…I didn't think there was much risk in telling her any more. For better or worse, I trusted her. I'd told her enough at the Temple for her to put most of the pieces together and I'd waited to see how she'd act upon them—and she hadn't. From everything I knew of her now, I was certain that she wouldn't bring my family into this if she didn't have to, and that had been the last thing I'd felt worth worrying about. As such, the story I'd given her was all but true, though I'd left a few details out about the specifics of my Semblance and how it was modeled off of a game. Other than that, though…

I tilted my head back and sighed slowly.

With this, almost everything was in place. I was in Mistral, but Raven could still use her powers to keep an eye on more distant things. Even beyond the practicality, it had felt good telling her. Now, she knew most of my secrets now and I knew her well enough that I didn't really care about most of hers. If she didn't want to tell me about any of the specifics, that was fine as long as it didn't cause any problems down the line. And between the two of us—the three of us, with Adam—we held a great deal of power in the White Fang, just as my family held a lot of power in Mistral. If necessary, I could reach out to my sisters, as well, lay down a few roots in the other Kingdoms, but I'd keep those cards in reserve as long as possible. Already, I was getting more and more used to monitoring signals on the airwaves and keeping track of current events. I'd look for patterns, threats, and opportunities for us and with Raven's help…well, even if I did end up in Haven, I could step out for an afternoon and go pretty much anywhere in the world.

Whatever happened now, I could at least be confident that I had eyes and ears everywhere, that I could react quickly to anything that came upon. I'd just have to hope that would be enough, because it was the best I, we, could do right now.

So for now, the most important thing for me to do is follow the plan and continue to get stronger. I couldn't be sure how long I truly had before things got moving, so I'd need to work hard while I still could.

That in mind, I rose from my seat and slipped over to the bar, claiming the empty seat beside Adam. A fair number of people had gathered around him to watch as he constructed a series of impressive shot glass towers, but since they were being designed by a drunk, no one seemed to want to sit right next to him.

Adam turned to me for a moment, his expression passive, even solemn. For a moment, he was silent as he observed me, expression contemplative.

"J—" He began before stopping himself, furrowing his brows. Maybe he wasn't sure what to call my disguise or maybe he was just struggling to remember my name through the alcohol; I had enough faith in his ability to hold his liquor to assume it was the former. He shook his head once, which seemed to make him a bit dizzy, and then frowned. "Jay. You done?"

"Yup," I replied, nodding easily. "Your mom already left."

"Huh?" He asked, looking over his shoulder for her. He slowly scanned the bar for her, looking focused, and the fact that he was still capable of distinguishing faces struck me as somewhat miraculous. Then again, I already knew how functional Adam was as a drunk. "So she is. We leaving, too?"

"Yeah," I nodded. "I was thinking we'd do some more hunting, but I can drop you off somewhere and train alone if you'd rather be drunk for a while."

He looked more than a little tempted but shook his head.

"Nah, training's more important," He said, shutting his eyes and swallowing for a moment. "Sober me up."

I tapped him on the shoulder once and healed him, making him shudder once and crack his neck.

"Ugh," He said after a moment, not opening his eyes. "Yeah, that's sobriety. Every time I do it, I remember why I try to avoid it."

"You already pay?" I asked, lifting my eyes to the bartender as Adam nodded.

"Paid at the start and told him to keep it coming," He answered as the bartender gave me a slight nod, looking impressed. "I know how much I can take."

I eyed at the pyramid which was flanked by a pair of towers with occasional holes for windows. Sitting down, all three structures were over my head.

"Okay," I accepted easily. "Ready to go?"

He grunted an affirmative, nodding to the bartender as he rose. A few people clapped as he walked away on his own power, but we quickly made our way outside.

"You and Raven figure things out?" He asked after giving his eyes a moment to adjust to the sun.

"More or less," I shrugged. "I told her who I was."

He glanced over his shoulder at me.

"Ah," He said after a moment. "Well, that's good then. I assume she took it pretty well?"

"Yeah, it was fine," I answered. "This should make things easier for you, right? I told her just about everything. Everything but the specifics of my Semblance, Autumn, Gou, and…I think that's everything important. There's a few things I need to tell you, too, but they're kind of a pain in the ass to explain."

"There's no short version?" He raised an eyebrow.

I considered that for a moment and shrugged. Raven had given her permission, after all.

"There's a lot of stuff implying that the reason my Semblance is so powerful is because I'm some kind of ancient, reincarnating weapon from the days of Babel," I explained. "And it seems the guys who killed me last time are still around, too. And they're kind of dicks."

"Ah," He replied after a moment, squinting against the light and pondering me. His eyebrows furrowed for a moment and he nodded slowly. "Ah."

"Mm," I agreed.

"These assholes," He said after a moment. "Anyone I know?"

"They're Grimm, mostly," I answered. "One is the sapient virus inside Pandora Shells—he calls himself Conquest. Their leader is the problem though; he's the one who created the Grimm in the first place. I don't know the specifics, but it seems he and I fought before. Since I ended up reincarnating afterwards and he's still around, seems safe to assume I lost that fight."

"Huh," He frowned. "Well, that's…yeah, maybe you should give me the long version later."

I shrugged and smiled as he lifted his mask—still hidden as a pair of sunglasses—to rub his eyes.

"But I think I get the basics," He mused after a minute. "So we have to kick these guys' asses, yeah?"

"That's the idea," I smiled at him at the inclusive 'we,' even if he didn't have the full picture of what we were up against yet. "Actually doing it might take some work."

"Always does," He huffed. "What's the plan?"

"For now? We get stronger," I stated. "Everything I know about what happened makes me think old me was a badass."

"Oh?"

"My sister Bianca can see people's souls or something like them," I shrugged. "She described me as a giant with a lot of eyes and wings and mouths. Raven and I found a temple one of our enemies made and it had a lot of people fighting a creature that looked a lot like that, setting it up as some grand enemy."

He bobbed his head, seeming to accept that.

"Fair enough," He allowed. "Any idea what you need to do to win round two?"

"Not yet, sadly," I sighed. "Still trying to put the pieces together and learn whatever I can. I know there's something there, but…"

I shook my head.

"But I do have one lead," I continued. "Near Jericho Falls, there's a place that…well, everything we know paints it as a deathtrap it's so full of Grimm. But inside of it—adjacent to it, really, in a dimensional barrier similar to the ones I make—there's an empty, Babel city. And inside of that, there's a computer that seems to have survived all these years. I don't know what's in it, but mentioning it pissed off Conquest, so I'm thinking about taking a look inside when I'm strong enough. Raven said she'd probably tag along herself."

"Heh," Adam chuckled before quirking an eyebrow. "A deathtrap and some ancient ruins, huh? How dangerous is it?"

"Last time a few dozen Hunters went in, only one guy walked out—and it was Ozpin." I said. "And he…well, that's another long story, but he didn't win that fight. He just survived it."

Adam whistled slightly at that and smiled.

"Sounds like fun," He replied. "You have room for one more?"

"Only if you get strong enough," I snorted. "I'm not taking anyone in there with me that I don't think will walk back out."

"Then let's go get stronger, then," He answered. "That's why we're going Hunting, right?"

"Yeah," I closed my eyes for a moment, a smile on my lips. "That's right."

"Well, I don't have anywhere better to be," He stretched for a moment. "So I'll ask again—what's the plan?"

"Same as before," I opened my eyes, smile still firmly in place. "We kill a lot of Grimm, we get strong as hell, and then we kick ass."

"I like this plan," Adam snorted. "Let's see if I can't get to level sixty today."

"Fuck level sixty," I replied. "You're fourteen levels away from seventy. I'm five away from eighty. Let's get to work."