The Knights of Grimm - Act 2 - Captured

Chapter 38 - A Suicide Mission

Jaune enters the main hall of the structure and he looks around. Everyone has returned, Qrow is already drinking more alcohol to treat his pounding headache that he is suffering from right now. Fear did ravage with his brain when he continuously sprayed that toxin into his body like that. A lucky moment for Qrow that it did not kill him. Many people are being treated right now in the medical bay. So Jaune decides to check in on them. He has not seen Nora or Ren since they returned after the Battle of the Library. He paces through and then looks through the glass window at the many beds inside where they are all asleep. Yang is asleep still with a steady pulse, her face swollen and badly bruised from her encounter with the Spectre. Kassius has not left her side, holding her hand. His arm has already been repaired, the tools on the desk beside him and the oils to make it work properly. Ren is awake and has some bruises on his face as well. He is talking to Nora who is looking right into his eyes with a smile. Magnhild and Stormflower let against each other in the corner. Jaune smiles and he walks inside, looking at the two friends who have been injured from their endeavours. Kassius looks up at him and he walks over to him. "Did you stop her?" Kassius asks quickly and he looks at him. He then realises something that worries him. They still have no idea about Neo still being alive and in fact being the Onyx Phantom. It is even more likely that Neo was responsible for the deaths of his team months ago. And clearly that is why he is asking him this, in such a sudden way.

"Yeah." Jaune answers, and his protective nature over Pyrrha is making him say things that even he does not know if they are true or not. But his love for Pyrrha is enough to make him say these things.

"We don't know who she is, I think she was another Assassin like the Spectre." Jaune fabricates and Kassius stands there, leaving Jaune the mystery to figure out if Kassius bought the lie or not. Kassius just nods and then he sits down next to Yang, holding her hand again, waiting for her to wake back up. Everything that happened down there has completely amazed them all beyond belief. Jaune can feel it all around him. He walks over to Ren and Nora and he smiles. "Hey, guys!" He says, putting his sword and shield down beside their weapons and he pulls a chair over to Ren and he looks at him. He can see the slash marks through his clothes where it attacked him. He looks at them and then at Nora who is looking...guilty. "What happened over there?" He asks, after hearing about all the things that happened. Nora sighs, closing her eyes sadly. She has never told them about the Lord of the Wood and the curse that it is bound to her through.

"Do you remember that time back at Beacon when we went out into the Emerald Forest for a picnic with Pyrrha on her birthday?" Nora asks, bringing a past memory up. Jaune looks at her and then he nods.

"Yeah, of course. You managed to make her laugh so much that soda came out her nose." He chuckles, remembering hearing Pyrrha snorting with laughter, tears streaming from her eyes as the soda went through her head. She described it as her nose was on fire, and it was the hardest they have ever seen Ren laugh in the months they had known each other at the time. That all happened a month before the Vytal Festival began. Many moments have happened in between that time, or during that time that Team R.W.B.Y had no idea of at the time. Nora begins to twiddle nervously with her fingers, uncertain of how they are going to take this news. But Ren holds her hand gently, calming her and bringing a smile to her face.

"Ever heard of the Guardians of the Timberland?" Nora asks him, getting closer to Ren as she holds him. Jaune thinks through his mind, and he does faintly remember hearing about the tales.

"I think I had a book of it once." He recites, and then he starts to refer to it with ease. "Yeah, the Guards of the trees. Any who would harm their territory would suffer their wrath, and they defend all who respect them." He remembers, seeing the childish scrawls of the Guardians, of what they were once believed to be. "Why?"