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.

Landing Party

"Come on, Gou," I cheered as the panting dog ran beside me. We dashed through the woods, leaping over roots and dodging out of the way of trees, moving with no more difficulty then had we been running across an open plain. I reached out with my sense to find what I was looking for and we turned on a dime, Gou following me without me needing to say a word. He understood what I intended on such an instinctive level that, really, I didn't need to speak with him at all, but that didn't mean his actions weren't worthy of praise.

We bound up and off a tree, leapt over some bushes, and saw the Ursa. It turned towards us as we did, but by the time it faced us fully, it was already far, far too late. We closed the distance in a second, Gou sinking his teeth into a leg as I grabbed an arm, and then he went one way while I went the other tearing the limbs off with a disgusting ripping sound. We dropped our prizes as the Ursa collapsed with a screaming roar, lunging at the prone target, and Gou ripped out its throat as I tore out its spine. We each danced a step back to be sure it was dead, waiting until the smoke began to rise from the corpse.

The I smiled and stepped over it, reaching down to scratch his ears.

"Who's a good boy?" I cooed. "Who's a good hunting dog?"

Gou gave me a panting grin as he looked up at me with eyes that could have been pondering what constituted as being good or which could have been attached to a brain that was currently flat-lining. After a moment, though, he sneezed and barked, lowering his nose to the ground as he began to sniff for something.

"Hey, Dad," I said, looking over my shoulder. "Finished already?"

My father watched, standing on one of Autumn's branches—or rather, on a tree that was swiftly becoming a part of Autumn, shape twisting as colors exploded across its leaves and trunk as it was assimilated. Since I'd been letting my parent's look after her while Gou and I trained, I'd explained the concepts of 'grandparents' to her, which had taken some time as she'd lacked any context and was unable to communicate with them in anything but the most basic sense. Well, that wasn't quite true; she'd connected with her great-grandmother, who'd taught her how to eat meat in a series of events I still wasn't sure I wanted to know about, but explaining the true value of family was a bit harder. In the end, it was easier to just show her what family meant then explain it.

Which, in the case of my father, apparently meant 'someone who would feed her trees like they were popcorn.' Needless to say, they'd bonded, which had led to the sudden disappearance of at least a hundred trees in the last week or so alone. I was a bit worried about that, if mainly because it feared she might draw unwanted attention that way, but…well, I guess we all spoiled Autumn rotten.

"Just about," He said. "We'll leave before too long, I think; a few of the others need to get some things in order. But you and Gou have started fighting pretty well together, huh?"

"We've been working hard," I said proudly. "He still has a ways to go, but he's strong enough to beat these guys now, even without me. And if I use my skills, well…"

Gou's ears perked up as he looked at me and I chuckled, shaking my head.

"Not right now, boy." I said. "Let's take a break while Dad and I talk, though. You want to go play with Autumn?"

He panted harder and bounce on his front paws in excitement before prancing over to his friend, placing his paws on her bark to communicate whatever doggy thoughts he had to her. A semifluid-looking branch in the process of becoming some type of limb reached down and scooped Gou up casually, placing him amidst the changing canopy. Flowers began to sprout around him, giving him something to sniff, and it was almost enough to distract from the mouths and body parts growing from the tree just a short ways away. Some of them looked almost human. The vast majority did not. I'll leave it at that.

Mystic Dog

LV 24

Tiangou

Who Would Inhabit This Bleak World Alone?

LV 27

Autumn Rose

My father leapt down to me absently, unbothered or just used to Autumn's transformations, and looked me over absently.

"You still remember how to use that, Jaune?" He asked, looking down at the blade at my side.

"Of course," I said, putting a hand on it absently. "My skills don't degrade from lack of use, nor does my body. I can use it as well as ever."

"Just wondering," He drawled. "It's been a while since you used it seriously, hasn't it? You even played with Gou using your bare hands."

He nodded to the Ursa slightly to emphasize his point and I just shrugged.

"Just showing Gou how it's done," I said. "Besides, there's no point dirtying Crocea Mors on Grimm like this. My bare hands are enough for a hundred of these guys."

"If you say so," He chuckled. "Just wanted to make sure there's not gonna be any problems because you're out of practice."

"Nah," I drew my blade and tossed it absently from hand to hand. At some point, I'd gotten strong enough to make the blade feel almost weightless and it was as easy to swing as the imaginary swords my sister's and I had pretended to fight with all those years ago. "Haven't really gotten a chance to make any sword specific stuff lately, but that's mainly because pretty much everything I have can be used regardless of what weapon I'm using. I lose a few passive bonuses here and there, but just a few small ones because I haven't practiced as much with my sword lately. Nothing to be too worried about given that just about everything else stays."

"Oh?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. "Even the White Tiger stuff?"

I shrugged again.

"Bai Hu's techniques aren't designed around a specific style or weapon," I said. "The fact that it was used unarmed is more because they didn't have access to weapons than anything else. I mean, several of the skills were built around specific actions, but it's not the motions themselves that have power—it's all about how you use your Aura to move faster or how you sharpen it to do more damage or that type of thing. That's why the INT and WIS requirements were higher than the ones for my physical stats. It's more about controlling ones Aura and guiding it properly to bring out one's full power then just being able to hit really hard…even if the end result is that you hit really hard. The physical prerequisites are more about not getting instantly torn apart by the forces involved then they are about actually using the technique."

"So you can use it even with Crocea Mors?" My dad asked.

"Sure," I said, activating Five Hundred Years absently and swinging the blade absently. "Or anything else that would benefit from greater strength and speed. Different styles, different weapons, it doesn't matter; it's not like your soul will stop working because you're not using a specific attack, right? Well, some things are more effective than others, of course, but as long as it's applicable, I can use my skills however I want."

I paused for a moment, considering.

"The White Tiger of the West is the best example of that, really," I mused. "It's about understanding, refining, and controlling ones Aura to such an extent that one can project their very soul into the world. I don't know exactly how Bai Hu did it, but…I think it was basically a form of enlightenment, reached through endless, relentless practice…"

"Like the guy who practices one kick a thousand times or whatever?" My dad asked.

"Pretty much," I agreed. "But yeah, I can use all the skills with a blade just fine," I said. "The only down side is that I can't use the Jaws of the White Tiger with something in my hands, but even that's not an issue with White Tiger of the West, since then I have four hands and two tails. I just can't use that one in public, because the giant, glowing white tiger-man would probably give me away. Still…Five Hundred Years should be enough for most emergencies, I think, and I always have Naraka if I really need to run away. I do need to work on some new stuff for when I'm, well, me—but most of my subtle stuff works regardless, and that's still enough to put me pretty damn up there for someone my age, right? I don't have a replacement for the White Tiger of the West, but if I find myself really needing one, I'll just hide behind you, I guess."

Dad snorted and ruffled my hair.

"You do that, kid," He said. "You done here, then?"

"I think so," I nodded. "Just wanted to get in a little more training with Gou before we left, since I played with Autumn earlier. Mom will take care of them, but…well, you know?"

"Of course," He bumped his shoulder against my own. "Ready now, though?"

"Yeah, let's take them home and we'll head out," I smiled. "We get the mission you wanted?"

"Pretty much, I suppose," He shrugged. "A village has been having some problems recently; we're going to go out and nip the problem in the bud. You'll stay back to heal the townsfolk and serve as an extra line of protection for them."

"Will do," I nodded. "What do you think the odds are of something going wrong?"

He laughed.

"Something always goes wrong, Jaune," He said. "It's just a question of how badly."

"That's been my experience, too," I nodded again. "But when things go wrong around me, they tend to go pretty damn wrong."

"You get that from every Hunter you've ever met," He ruffled my hair. "Downside of living on a world that hates us, I suppose. But hey, we have some pretty good support along for the ride this time, at least. Do me a favor and make sure nothing happens to my beautiful face, okay?"

I stopped him with a hand and looked him over carefully before shaking my head.

"I don't know what happened, Dad," I said grimly. "But it's too late for your face."

"Hah," He replied, rolling his eyes. "Remind me to throw you out of the airship, wise guy. Hurry up so I can introduce you to the rest of our team."

I chuckled and nodded.

"Gou, tell Autumn we're about to leave," I said, receiving a bark in reply as the ground rumbled slightly. I frowned slightly as I looked down to see…nothing. Then I reached out my senses and felt Autumn's roots growing, spreading out to tangle with—and flow into—the roots of other, nearby trees.

I sighed slightly and walked over to her truck, knocking on the wood.

"Autumn, you can't eat the forest," I said firmly. "We still need that."

The tree's branches shook slightly, and I looked to my dad as I sighed again.

He chuckled and nodded.

"One more tree, then," I said. "Then I need to take you back to grandma, okay?"

I shook my head as her for began to shift, mass flowing down into her root network.

"Were my sisters like this?" I asked my father.

"Uh, not really, no," He snickered, clapping me on the back. "But children are all different, son, and that's fine. You just have to raise them right."

"So you're our medic, huh?" A greying man named Onyx asked me when we were on the airship, fiddling idly with something on his belt. I didn't recognize him which wasn't necessarily surprising—after graduation, Hunters didn't necessarily stay together on the same team. Most did, of course; after years in school they tended to be close and skilled at working together. But even then, it wasn't uncommon for individual members to go their separate ways after a while, pursuing a specific field, settling down, or even going into teaching, so teams tended to shift periodically out of necessity or simply to address a specific mission. Of course, there was another reason why teams changed so often, one that everyone knew.

Hunters died.

A lot.

Looking around, I recognized Keppel and Carmine, a couple about my dad's age who wore blue and red respectively. Keppel was tanned enough that I'd always wondered if he might have come from Vacuo, but he'd cut off his black hair since I'd last seen him—or had it cut off for him, maybe, given the scar across his scalp. Carmine looked older then I remembered, but it had been over a year since we'd really seen one another. I didn't see Slate anywhere.

It was possible he was just in the hospital. Hunters got injured a lot, too, though they rarely stayed that way long thanks to their Aura. When necessary, Healers would also be called in to help as well, because keeping Hunters in fighting shape was something of a priority. My dad hadn't mentioned anything, but…

I held back a sigh, blinking my eyes closed for a moment. A bit morbidly, I wondered if there'd been a funeral, maybe while Mom and I were away. I also wondered if it had been open casket or if there'd even been a body—the Grimm weren't known for their respect for the dead. The fact that he'd probably been torn apart and devoured left me feeling a bit sad; Slate had been the oldest member of my father's most recent team and though I'd never been close to him, he'd been kind to my sisters and I when we'd seen him. Not really an uncle figure, but…I remembered him. That was more than I could say for some of my father's past teammates, sadly.

"That's me," I said to Onyx's question, looking up at him. He was a large man, maybe four inches taller than me and half again as broad along the shoulders.

The Seventh Spire

LV73

Onyx Athelstan

"You're pretty young for a healer," He noted. "It must have been pretty hard to get this far."

"Maybe a little?" I mused. "But I don't mind working hard if it means I can help people."

Onyx smiled and clapped my shoulder.

"That's the spirit," He said. "Always good to have a healer along to keep us in one piece, too."

I tilted my head at those last words, keeping the frown off my face. The way he said that…well, if he had been brought in to replace a member of my father's team, that didn't bode well for his own. He had several faded scars across his face, particularly around his eyes and lips—on someone else, I'd have thought them something from years ago, but…

"I'll do my best, sir," I replied. "If you need any help, I'll be in the village, healing the civilians; just stop by and I'll do whatever I can."

"If I get used as a chew toy again, I'll take you up on that," He nodded, rubbing his chin as he looked at me. "Really though, you're what? Seventeen?"

"Sixteen, sir," I corrected, making him whistle.

"Sixteen years old and a good enough healer that Ozpin's letting you go into the field?" He shook his head, smiling at me. "Jack must be very proud."

"Thank you, sir," I accepted. "I like to think so, too."

"If anything happens, don't worry, okay?" He jerked his head at Mr. and Mrs. Cordelia. "Standard procedure is to do everything we possibly can to protect the medic. Moment something happens, you'll have four Hunters at your back—should be enough to keep you safe, right?"

"Yes, sir," I replied. "Unless something goes very, very wrong."

He laughed deeply, smile widening as he nodded.

"Unless that," He agreed, touching his face. "You'll be a good Hunter one day, Jaune. Is it okay if I call you Jaune?"

"Yes, sir," I nodded, glancing out the window before leaning forward. "We're almost there, Dad."

Sitting to my right, my father opened his eyes and nodded, turning his face to watch the window as well. I'd rarely seen him this quiet, but we were on a mission—even if it was hopefully routine, it was a matter of life and death for the people we were going to save.

"Time to go, then," He said after a moment, rising to grasp one of the bars above him. As one, the rest of his team rose as well and I followed just a moment after. There was a slow change as the Bullhead began its vertical landing, but the doors opened and we leapt out before it was halfway down, landing in the middle of the town. As was becoming second nature to me, I reached out with my enhanced senses and made sure I knew where everything around me was. Houses, stores, inventories—and there were the wounded. I glanced towards the unassuming building that either served as a hospital or had been adapted to that purpose because of the amount of wounded. I could hear them breathing, sense them even across the street and through the walls, but though I moved to my father's side, I didn't leave until he could dismiss me.

Naturally, people took notice quickly and whispered murmurs began to spread through the town square. An elderly looking man, maybe in his sixties or seventies, quickly stepped from the gathering crowd of observers, drawing my attention swiftly for the words above his head.

What Falls, What Scatters

LV57

Lie Hui

"Are you Mr. Jacques Arc?" He asked with an accent I didn't recognize. His demeanor gave the impression that he was used to Hunters, but also seemed respectful.

"I am," My father replied. "And you're Lie Hui, right? I understand you knew Layla well."

Hui tilted his head slightly, seeming surprised by the name, but nodded.

"I did indeed," He said. "She protected this village for many years after she came here. I take it that you knew her when she was a Huntress, then?"

My father chuckled a bit sadly and nodded.

"A long time ago," He said before clapping me on the back. "But we have work to do, eh? This is my son, Jaune; he's a healer who volunteered to come along, with Professor Ozpin's permission. If you could have someone escort him to your wounded while you tell us more about what's happening, he should be able to help."

Immediately, Hui's eyes focused on me, almost to the dismissal of my father. He looked me up and down for a moment, and then bowed his head in thanks.

"I thank you, then," He said and sounded like he truly meant it. "It has been quite some time since a village such as ours has been able to afford a Healer and we would be grateful for whatever help you could provide."

"I will do everything I can, sir," I replied, bowing my head in turn as I stepped past my father. "Just show me where you need me."

Elder Hui turned his head and lifted his voice.

"Ren?" He called. "If you would?"

"Of course, Grandfather," A voice replied as a boy about my age moved through the crowd. His hair was black but for a pinkish looking streak on the left side. Wearing a green and black tailcoat, he gave me a nod and I moved to his side.

The Flowers Blossom, the Fallen Wither

LV38

Lie Ren

"This way, please," He said, gesturing in the direction I already knew to go. "Your father said your name was Jaune, right?"

"Yeah," I answered, Observing him for a moment. "And you're Ren? One sec."

I put a hand on his shoulder and quickly healed the minor damage I saw in his profile. He glanced at me sharply before flexing his fully healed arm.

"Impressive," He said. "I've never seen a healer before. My mother used to speak of them, but…"

He trailed off and fell silent, but I chose not to pry.

"Did you get hurt in the fighting?" I asked, changing the topic.

"Yes," He said. "It was just a glancing blow, but I was still careless to get hit."

"Are you training to become a Hunter as well, then?" I continued. "My mother and father have been training me."

"Yes," He answered, going silent for a moment before elaborating. "I used to train with my parents, too. These days, Grandfather does what he can."

"Ah…" I trailed off as we reached our destination. Ren opened the door for me and I gave him a nod as I passed, flicking my gaze over the wounded, measuring their health bars quickly before going to the most wounded and kneeling beside them.

Ren followed.

"As I said, I've never seen a healer before," He said as I rose and moved to the next patient. "About how long does something like this take?"

I glanced around at the people in the room. Most of them were asleep though some just looked glassy-eyed. Painkillers of some kind? I'd check when I got to them. Still, there only seemed to be about sixty, seventy people here. About…

"Five minutes, maybe?" I mused. "I'll need to make sure I fixed everything."

"That's all?" He sounded surprised, following my gaze to the many injured. "That's…that's amazing."

"I suppose it is," I said a bit distractedly, focused on how my Aura flowed through the patient's body and what areas it marked. "If you don't need them for anything urgent, you may want to let them finish sleeping, though. They should be fine physically, but considering what happened…what did happen, anyway?"

"The Grimm," He answered, giving a true yet useless answer. When I paused in my work to shoot him a look, he smiled briefly before looking down at the person I was healing. "We really don't know beyond that, they just suddenly attacked. As far as I could tell, nothing major happened to provoke them; I just suddenly heard shouting and found about thirty or forty Grimm inside the city. I found a larger gathering of them about ten kilometers west of here that they might have broken off from, but…"

"But that doesn't explain how they got inside," I finished and moved on.

"No, it doesn't," He said quietly.

"You were the one that called in the Hunters, then?" I asked absently. A compound fracture in the left leg, broken ribs, shredded…

"I told my grandfather when I returned. He said he called one of my mother's old friends for help," Ren replied, watching my work carefully, as if trying to memorize it. Unless he could see Aura, though, I wasn't sure what that would accomplish; all I was doing physically was laying my hands on people. "She told him to, if something like this ever happened."

I wondered if that had anything to do with why this was the mission I was sent along on—if Ozpin, who I was guessing was the friend in question, had wanted a healer to fix things.

It didn't really matter, I suppose. I was here, so I'd help.

"My father and his team are very strong," I said. "They're all Hunters, after all. It should be…"

I shrugged, not sure what to say. My ability to honestly assure people that nothing would go wrong had taken something of a hit recently.

"I know," Ren sighed quietly. "I just…have a bad feeling."

I frowned slightly as I looked up at him and then nodded. Who was I to dismiss feelings of impending doom?

"Let me finish here," I said. "Then I'll look around and see what I can find?"

He lifted an eyebrow and I chuckled.

"Hey, I said I was training to be a Hunter, didn't I?" I asked. "I've got a few more tricks up my sleeve."

He nodded and fell back to let me work. I finished faster than I expected, healing them all in about three and a half minutes, and then rose to face Ren.

"Where'd they attack?" I asked.

"This way," He gestured and walked out with one last glance behind. I followed a step behind and he led me quickly through the small town to a part that was in an obvious state of disrepair—one house had even been demolished. Since we'd finished so quickly, I guess my dad wasn't done talking to Elder Hui yet, or else he'd probably be here as well.

I looked around and let my senses roll out again. Currents of air, patterns of energy, the touch of water and very presence of life—I felt them and I felt through them as my perceptions expanded. And with them, I felt…nothing, really.

And yet, something felt…off.

"They just appeared, you said?" I asked, crouching slightly. My vision flickered through different forms of sight, picking up traces old and new. Separating out the signs of the Grimm from the years of life people had worn into the town was hard, but…

Well, I could follow the bloodstains. That made things easier.

"Yes," Ren knelt beside me, looking as well. "None of the perimeter guards saw anything, they were just suddenly inside."

I frown at a particular stain, as if someone bleeding heavily had been dragged away. It cut off abruptly, fading into smatterings of droplets, but the direction…if the Grimm was taking a snack home with them, why head further into the village?

Assuming that was what happened, of course.

"Was everyone accounted for?" I asked. "After the attack, I mean?"

"No," Ren bowed his head. "Five missing. Mr. Marrowy, his wife and daughter, and Orchid's twins. They were gone by the time I arrived."

I turned towards the demolished house, towards with the streaks pointed.

"And that was…?"

"The Marrowy house," Ren supplied, closing his eyes for a moment. "It…it was destroyed in the fighting. There hasn't been enough time to sort through everything yet."

"I see," I murmured, frown deepening. "Give me just a second."

I closed my eyes and fell immediately into my meditative state. My perceptions expanded even further, the fabric of creation spreading out in marvelous color as the power of the world around me became visible. I saw the majesty of the storm gathering on the horizon, the energy cascading down from the Sun, the constant motions of the planet we clung to—but to pursue my suspicions, I had to go deeper in a literal sense, parting the curtain of veiling light beneath my feet to feel—

"Are you done already, Jaune?" My dad drew me from my thoughts, sounding impressed. "That didn't take long at all. If you want—"

"Dad," I interrupted, opening my eyes but not limiting my head. Now that I knew they were there, I focused my senses, reaching further and further down. "We have a problem. They're underground."

He was silent for a moment, as was Ren and the other people I dimly sensed nearby as I pushed my reach to its limits. They were deep, deep beneath the surface, hidden below a…kilometer of dirt? More? How did they even…the Cruach, maybe? But they shouldn't be this far east, they were…

"How many?" My father finally asked and I switched tracks to try and count.

Then I just gave up.

"A lot," I said, finally looking up at him. The rest of his team was nearby, as was Ren's grandfather, all of them frowning at the ground. "Thousands, tens of thousands, maybe more. There's a network of tunnels that…I can't feel the whole thing, but it's at least as big as this town."

"Well," My father said, sighing. "Fuck."