A Ride Downtown

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Short AN, since most are probs aware-

Got kicked out and stabbed in the back by the Walkers, who I lived and worked with. It came without warning of any sort, and the reasons were me forgetting where the pasta strainer went and… No, that's it.

Staying with my mother for now. New Supporter page, I have a job, I am alive.

Chapters will slow as I complete Requests and work. I am sorry.

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Oscar Pine had a routine, every morning. He'd wake up.set the coffee running for his parents, then slip outside to open the barn and check the fences while they woke up and his mother cooked proper breakfast. That always took about half an hour, and more if anything needed mending, and then he'd slip back in for breakfast and, depending on the day's jobs, a nice, hot shower and maybe even a book. After that, at about eight, his Pa would call for him and the day's work would start and run on until the sun started to orange the sky.

It was rough, but it was honest.

And Oscar liked his routine, the peace and quiet and watching the fields grow under his efforts. It was rewarding, simple, honest work. And his farm's food was a good chunk of what fed a small village a mile out, all on it's own. Without this farm, without him, would everyone there even have enough to fill their bellies?

"Yes, they will." His tag-along said quietly, voice echoing inside his skull as it always did. "And I have good Lien I'll spend to ensure it, too, if that's what is slowing you down."

"Money isn't the problem."

"Then what is?"

"You know what." Oscar sighed, stabbing his shovel down to punch a little, fist-sized hole into the earth. "The beans are going in. I leave, and Pa and Ma won't have enough hands to till and plant everything. I can't do that to 'em."

"Then I'll hire hands to come and help." The voice inside his head, 'Ozpin' as it had said, promised. "Enough that your mother and father shall need do little but put out a schedule, and all will be done."

"That's charity-"

"There is nothing wrong with charity." Ozpin chided gently, sighing when Oscar shook his head and punched another seed-hole out. Quietly, he argued, "And besides, this isn't charity. Think of it more like… Pay for transporting me to where I need to be."

"I don't think transporters get that kind of pay." Oscar sighed, "Or use their actual bodies for it."

"Well, in Mantle, some take Dust and put it in little baggies and-"

"Is this going to actually matter to this conversation?"

"Tangentially?" Ozpin tried weakly, the lack of surety more than clear in his voice. He could almost see the weak, unsure smile on the man's face, even though he'd never seen it. Which was just great, really. "It establishes that some transporters use their bodies as modes of transit. Which does counter your contention that transporters don't use their actual bodies to transport goods."

"Okay, maybe a bit." He sighed, flicking a gaze over to his father, more than a dozen yards away and with his broad back turned. "Now, how many of them transported strange, disembodied voices claiming to be a professor from some Academy-"

"Beacon is not just 'some academy, Oscar." Ozpin cut in hotly, like he'd kicked his favorite dog. Not just his dog, but his favorite dog. "And I have said enough times, I am Ozpin. The Headmaster of Beacon Academy. And you, Oscar, have already spent enough time walking down memory lane to realize what I have said is true."

"If I'm insane, I'd be dreaming all that up…"

"Insanity wouldn't activate your Aura." Ozpin countered, "I would have, though, Oscar."

Oscar couldn't muster up much of an argument against that point. When he'd first been told it, he'd not believed it. He'd thought that Ozpin was some freak of his mind, making up a convenient lie he could delude himself into believing. All a part of the insanity he'd developed overnight, somehow. But then he'd looked it up… Ozpin's face matched, along with other things he remembered seeing but had never seen.

And that mental breaks, pressure and pain, could pull Aura from a person…

But not mental instability.

"You're a good young man, Oscar." Ozpin said, tugging him gently from his musing and planthing. He hummed and Ozpin said, quietly, "Every single moment we tarry, people are at risk. People die, Oscar. You can help them."

"I can help my Ma and pa, too." Oscar growled, pulverising a mound of dirt for another plant. "And it's… Not like you can make me do what you want."

"I could force myself on you, force myself into control, and go… But I won't." Ozpin said quietly, "I believe you will make the right decision, but I will not force it upon you. You must choose. This quiet, peaceful life can be yours, ours, if you decide so. But you know what it will cost."

"Yeah." Oscar sighed, turning a long, forlorn look on the field while he caught his breath. "Yeah, I do."

"So…?"

"We'll leave in the morning." He promised quietly, returning to his work, "After… After I make my parents their coffee for one last time. I'll grab some preserves, and some water, and load up Pa's old Atlas pack. I'll need directions from you, but we can get goin' and get whatever this is over with."

Perhaps wisely, Ozpin stayed silent after that, leaving him to enjoy his doomed routine.

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Great Vale was one of the most popular, and populated, hospitals in the entire Kingdom-City of Vale. Hundreds of staff saw to hundreds of patients, and catered to the families that came to visit them of course. And with that came a tempest of emotions, from anger, pain and fear to relief, hope and love from a particular wing of the building, that made visiting much like Beacon. Albeit on a much larger scale, because of the sheer amount of people getting the sheer amount of bad news a hospital tended to mete out.

But, just like at Beacon, he could mostly block out the tempestuous waves of emotion roiling around them. But, given why they were headed to the hospital…

"I don't think I can do this, Pyr." He murmured, just loud enough for the woman to hear without the driver catching his words. There was a privacy divider up, of course, but he didn't trust that farther than he could throw the car.

"Why?" She asked, hand instinctively seeking, and finding, his. She squeezed it worriedly and leaned closer, her shoulder pressed against his, to ask, "Are you anxious about it? Worried you can't? Or for Blake-"

"No." He cut her off and then paused. Then, he grimaced, "Okay, yes, on all counts. But what I mean is that there's… Too much noise."

"Too much…" He could see the confusion on her face ebb away as an ambulance rolled past them and then she grimaced, too. "Ah. I see. The Force is… Unquiet, here?"

"Everywhere there's a lot of people, yeah." He nodded, "And, well… There are a lot of upset and hurt people in a hospital, Pyr."

"That's true. Hmm…" After a long few seconds she leaned forward, tapping the glass partition and waiting until the car pulled over. Popping the door open she explained to the driver and Jaune both, "I need to make a call to Weiss and the General."

"As in, Ironwood..?"

"The one and only, yeah." Jaune sighed as she stepped out, her Scroll in her hand and light glinting off her legs. When the driver blinked he sighed and explained, "We're… Doing a job for him. Classified stuff. He said not to make any calls about it inside a car, in case someone planted something."

"What, because I'm a Faunus?"

"Wait, you are?" He blinked, shaking his head and waving the man off before he could say anything, "No, wait, no. Not because of that, we just grabbed a cab. General Ironwood was worried about other people planting bugs."

And, well, he had been, too. The debacle with Ozpin's finding out about him had proven to him he needed practice at the whole 'intrigue' side of things. He had a bad habit of not sensing people, or intent, around him and just assuming he was safe… Whatever the case, though, the cabbie seemed satisfied enough with that not to say anything else and shrugged unsurely.

"Sorry, man." He said, anxiety and shame rolling off him like mists down a mountain's foothills. Thick and obscuring everything else. "Shit's been bad for lotta folks since the Battle."

"Yeah." He nodded, "I know."

A few silent, admittedly at least semi-awkward, minutes passed before Pyrrha tugged open the car door and slipped back into her seat. Jaune gave her a curious, somewhat worried, look and she frowned deeply. Which was a wonderful way to start whatever conversation they were about to have. At a look and a wave of her hand, the cabbie rolled the window up and they were back on their way while the woman sighed tiredly.

"General Ironwood says that Blake doesn't have anywhere else to go." Pyrrha said finally, as they got back on their way. "The hospital has been secured, and even has well-built and defensible rooms for them to use. And aside from sticking her on his flagship there's nowhere else that he has vetted."

"Then why not move her there?"

"Legality and appearances." She sighed, bitterly, and very nearly snarled, "Politics."

"Explain?"

"Faunus just facilitated a wide-scale attack on Atlesian forces and Vale as a whole. The Council of Atlas, and lesser politicians besides, would raise hell over using an Atlesian warship to protect an ex-Fang like her, even with her reported heroics." The woman explained in a matter of fact tone that told him the words weren't quite hers. "And given a… Certain person is being detained aboard that ship, moving her there poses security risks as well."

"Two birds in one nest." Jaune sighed, nodding, "One well-placed shot and…"

"Yeah." She nodded, "So the Vanguard isn't going to work. He said it would take at least a week to find something better, likely out of the Kingdom entirely. For now, he's asked us to at least try and pull it off at Great Vale."

"Well…" It couldn't be helped, he supposed, even if he was not looking forward to opening up his mind to all the noise of the hospital. Smiling, though, he asked, "Did General Ironwood at least say please, Pyr?"

The Mistralian only chuckled, batting his arm playfully as she rolled her eyes.

When they reached the hospital, a squad of Atlesian soldiers were waiting at the door for them. Each of them wore heavy, blocky, off-black armor that covered every inch of their bodies, with purple outlines that played along the edge of each large plate. Heavy helmets enclosed their heads as well, formed by visors wide enough that, had they not been blacked out, he'd have been able to see them from their hairline around to their ears and down to their chin.

Not a single one of them spoke as they approached and their driver pulled away. They simply gestured for him to head in and then fell in behind them, escorting them into the hospital. If they hadn't been different sizes and genders, with one of their heavy helmets even sporting metal slots for Faunus ears, fronted by odd looking insulation, he might have guessed they were machines.

Given the absolute calm radiating from them, even that almost wasn't enough.

"They're delightful…" He murmured as one, the one with the Faunus ears on his helmet, lead them through the hospital.

"Black Guard." His partner answered, holding his hand tightly enough it almost hurt even through his Aura. Watching them, and with stiff shoulders and anxiety rolling off of her in waves, she explained, "Atlas' black knights for over a century. Even the best Hunters in Mistral fear ever having to meet them."

"Why?"

"Rumors and tales." She answered quietly, "From all the way back to the Great War and, if you believe some of them, before it as well."

"A-Ah, well... " Not a single one of the soldiers seemed all that motivated to say anything in their defense, either. Which made Pyrrha, and by extension him, feel so much better about the whole thing… Still, though. "If they're that fearsome, and they're here, that probably means they're part of the protective detail assigned to the hospital."

"It… Does."

"So, at least we know Blake is safe." He said, flailing desperately for a way to make his partner feel even remotely better about them being here.

"Yes, I suppose so…" Pyrrha murmured, fingers curling and uncurling reflexively at her side anxiously. He could almost feel her itch to take Milo and Akuou from her back, even if she had no intent to use them. As they rounded the last corner before they reached the secure ward she murmured, just loudly enough to be heard, "Still, they make me… Anxious."

"I'm incredibly sorry to hear that, Nikos." The familiar, deep voice of the General said as he came to a stop at the corner and smiled warmly. Or, well, as warmly as he could, as tired as he looked. "I wanted the best to protect your friends. That is all. I assure you I didn't mean any offense."

"None was seriously taken, General Ironwood, Sir." She said quickly, bowing her head in as friendly a way as she could manage. "Merely… Old, deeply instilled superstitions and biases. Nothing to fret over."

"Still, I don't want you to feel uncomfortable when I can help it." The great man said simply, turning a look over his shoulder, "Clover, take the Black Guard and see to Specialist Bree's report as quickly as you're able. I want you back on the door with Amin as soon as possible."

"Yes, Sir." The smiling, well-built Atlesian beside him grunted, turning and marching off with the silent sentinels on his heels.

"Trouble, General?" He asked as the man turned to lead them towards the guarded doors. The General hesitated, half-facing away from them, and Jaune explained, "You just sent a whole unit to check out a report. So, trouble?"

"Ah." The man grunted, folding his hands behind his back and shaking his head as he turned to lead them in. "No, no trouble. Just a minor glitch in the programming suite for a unit of our droids. I wanted Clover, Specialist Ebi," he corrected absent-mindedly, "to check it. His Semblance makes tasks like that… Productive, if anything untoward is happening."

"You fear something untoward?"

"After the Battle of Beacon, and everything surrounding that debacle?" He asked, looking over a shoulder while the doors were opened for them. Frowning, he grunted and turned back to face the way they were headed, "Always."

"Fair enough." Jaune muttered, giving Pyrrha a sidelong glance and squeezing her hand reassuringly as they followed him. Turning away from that, and to the matter at hand, he asked, "Did you get everything I asked for, General?"

"I did." He nodded, "Though I don't understand the purpose of an ounce of it, after what I saw, I trust you to know how best to apply your…" He turned a wry look on him over his shoulder, "Semblance."

"I do." Jaune nodded as they reached the door to Blake's room. Quietly, he asked, "What time did you tell her team to be here?"

"An hour from now." The General answered quietly, "A couple of my Ace-Ops are escorting them, but I told them they were free to see the city. And gave them Lien to get some proper food in their stomachs, too. Miss Xiao Long and Miss Rose were more than eager, and believed they had plenty of time to be back in time."

"They'd make too much noise if they were here, General." He said quietly as the waves of irritation hit him, rolling off of the man with every mention of the deception. He shot him a confused look and Jaune turned a look on the Human guard on the door. At a gesture from the General, the man moved away and Jaune explained in brief, "Emotions echo out, into the Force. Having them nearby, knowing I'm doing this, would have a deluge of noise filtering in while I, er, try to connect with Blake."

"Like static on a radio." The man surmised, earning a nod from the young Force warrior. Sighing, Ironwood nodded and thought for a long moment. Then he raised his voice and ordered, "All non-synthetic units, head to the entryway and hold it until further notice."

"Yes, Sir." Echoed around them almost instantly as the soldiers turned and left, leaving behind their autonomous counterparts.

"I'll be waiting. Hopefully for good news." Ironwood said, paying him a nod as he turned to leave.

"Well, that was certainly very kind of him. If a bit… Surprising." Pyrrha murmured quietly as the sounds of footsteps began to fade out, leaving them in a basically silent hallway, aside from their own breathing and the fluorescents overhead. Paying him a look, her smile small and one brow raised, she asked, "That will help, no?"

"It will." He nodded, turning an apologetic look on the woman and adding, hesitantly, "If you, uh, don't mind…"

"Jaune, you know I don't. Whatever aids you, I am willing to do, if I am able." She smiled warmly, shooting a look first at one of the machines and then one of the overhead, protected cameras. Shrugging after a second, she grabbed the front of his robes and tugged him in, pressing a gentle but needy kiss to his lips that he was happy to return. No sooner did his hands find her hips, though, did she push him back and smile, "For luck."

"Yeah." He smiled back, "For luck."

"I, uh…" She frowned and grimaced, leaning against him and exuding anxiety. Pressing another kiss to his lips she pushed off him and turned to leave, smiling warmly, "I shall see you once all is done here, then. Dinner, perhaps?"

"Maybe, yeah." He smiled, waiting until she took a few steps away before calling out almost flippantly, "And love you too, Pyr."

She flushed the brightest red he could possibly imagine and beat a swift retreat, trailing a mix of anxiety, pleasure and exhilaration in her wake that left him giddy and happy. Shaking his head, he set the kiss aside and laid a hand on the handle of the door. Tugging it open he slipped in and took a deep, deep breath through his nose.

The smell of a gentle, familiar off-lavender incense slammed into him in full force, and the anxiety melted away.

"Well," he said as he rolled his shoulders and looked across the dark room to Blake's sleeping form, "let's see how this goes."

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As stated earlier, expect shorter chapters until I figure stuff out. Apologies all around. All that was snipped off this was a description and the start of Jaune's force stuff, and some RWBY stuff, all of which will probably be fitted into the next couple chapters in various forms.

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Sgtitanwolf :

If you look up 'KOTOR sentinel droid' it's basically those.

CT7567Rules :

Answers in order-

The time it's set in is ambivalent, with sprinkles leading people to theories. Jaune, as described elsewhere, has a dual-sided Saber ala Maul. Jaune is a Revanite, and so learns a bit of both, though avoiding dipping too far into either. Anyone that may or may not show up would be spoilers.

Gun Blade 2020 :

Yeah, I'm aiming to keep the characters as 'real' as I can manage, magical space powers and stuff not withstanding.

Smokey Panda :

Yeah! I wanted to give 'em a smattering of good moments, after what I have already put 'em through.

Dasgun :

^-^

Ghostcraft :

It was a mixed bag, but mostly the easy stuff. More Dark Side beginner stuff is easier to teach, and Revan started as a Sith, though, so he started with mostly that. I left the details obtuse for freedom.

Blaze :

Second chance giving isn't weak. Third chances, now… Those are weak.

Steelrain :

Oh I certainly will have the Arc family around! It's just hard fitting them as things are, and I don't want to force 'em.

Argus :

Many good questions!