Cards of Remnant

Chapter 17: Magic & Mysteries - Part 1

"The fish is already on the grill," Taiyang warmly informed her.

A line of drool immediately began trickling down Blake's chin.

"Zwei's watching it personally."

Blake immediately froze stiff as a statue.

Yang clapped her on the back. "Don't worry, partner. Zwei's great at managing cook times."

Astral tilted his head quizzically to the side. "What is a 'Zwei'?"

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Taiyang said nothing, sorting his celery sticks onto his napkin and placing his knife atop the two halves of his broken plate. "On most matters, you should trust your headmaster. But this… not this one."

The hunting duelist rose and bused his broken plate back into the house, obviously unwilling to say any more on the matter.

"Well, that was unhelpful. Ominous, but unhelpful," Nora remarked. She nervously pushed another slab of steak toward Pyrrha. "More meat?"

"Um, sure. Thank you, Nora" Pyrrha said, managing a camera-ready smile to spare her teammate's earnest efforts. She turned towards Yang. "So, Yang, I hear we're both officially our teams' scouts. Congratulations!"

From there, the food and friendly conversation restored the cheerful atmosphere bit by bit, even prompting some joking speculation about much detention Ozpin would give Pyrrha if he found out that she had an over one hundred Number. Which of course then reminded Ruby that Pyrrha had such an unheard-of card and ignited feverish pleas to see Silent Honor ARK, which Weiss ended up joining for her academic interest. In part due to the weaponization of Zwei's literal puppy dog eyes, the Invincible Girl pulled out and showed off her oldest card.

Astral found he could not join in the young duelists' jubilance. Because despite the fact that only two of them knew he existed, the spirit had watched them for the last several months. And while his bond with Jaune was his oldest and deepest, he found that he had grown… fond of them all. And jokes aside, he had a sneaking suspicion that Pyrrha would not receive merely detention if she was discovered to have Number 101. She was in danger because of a card that had a strange connection to him.

He felt… guilt, at that. He did not enjoy it.

He could not have fun with Team JNPR and Team RWBY. He could not eat with them. Aside from helping Jaune study, discussing strategies with Pyrrha, and some theories on magic from his scattershot memories, he could not aid them against the danger he put them in. He had only his strength, and even that was limited.

But perhaps, he could expand it. Perhaps there was a way for him to be some actual help to his new associates, whether he could 'have fun' with them or not. After all, he believed that there had been a small forge in the garage where Yang and her father had towed their duel runners.

"Jaune?" Astral spoke up just as his partner was biting into a candied apple for dessert. "Would it be alright if I borrowed your body after you went to sleep tonight?"

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Ruby tilted her head quizzically, still not really getting it. Sure good food was great and playing with their monsters was fun in its own way, but compared to the awesomeness that was dueling? How would anything help more than expressing their feelings to each other that way? How could anything be more fun than that?