Ch 7: A Spark of Hope (3)

*glug glug glug clink* "So, have you finally calmed down." Ray asked the brooding blond sitting across from him, clouded blue eyes staring into his now empty coffee cup. After he had finished with the thugs, he had guided a shell-shocked Jaune to a nearby cafe to discuss the information they had acquired and calm down over a warm beverage and cheery atmosphere.

Jaune glared up at his friend without raising his face, "You killed them. You killed and tortured helpless civilians." he growled indignantly.

"No, I didn't." Ray refuted casually before taking a small sip from his drink.

*BANG* "I saw you!" Jaune screamed as he slammed his fist on the table and surged to his feet in self-righteous fury. Jaune's angry glare bounced harmlessly off Ray's slightly amused look for a couple of seconds before he self-consciously reigned himself back in and rightened his seat, aware of all the strange looks his outburst was attracting.

"You saw what I wanted you to see. What I wanted them to see." Ray softly explained as Jaune retook his seat. "I needed the illusion of the threat of death and suffering to get what we needed from them. In truth, I didn't harm a hair on their head."

Jaune looked at Ray skeptically, but a faint spark of hope shone in his eyes. He wanted to believe his friend. However, the scenes of those men silently screaming as they lost control of their bowels and the single line of smoke rising from the forehead of their motionless bodies after Ray delivered the coup de graces were still fresh in his memory.

"Only amateurs brutes unleash their lightning to rampage wildly, and I am no brute." Ray continued to explain with a hint of pride in his voice. "I am a surgical fighter applying exactly the desired amount of force, exactly where I want it. Those men certainly felt pain, but that was it. I target their pain receptors to inflict maximum agony upon them without inflicting any injury. And when I was done with them, I knocked them out while leaving a harmless burn mark on their forehead for dramatic flair."

"So they're fine. They're not even a little hurt." Jaune tried to confirm, leaning forward hopefully.

"Besides a layer of burned skin that will probably flake off before they wake up without leaving a trace? Not a scratch on them." Ray affirmed with a gentle smile. [Though the nerve damage they suffered beneath the surface on the other hand… baby steps.] Ray thought silently to himself as he watched Jaune visually relax. Eventually, he would have to get used to this sort of stuff, but a good instructor doesn't throw their pupil into the deep end from the start, expecting them to swim.

*Haaa* Jaune let out a sigh of relief, closing his eyes as he slumped in his seat slightly as if a great weight had just been lifted from his shoulders. When he opened his eyes again, the despair that had been clouding his bright blue eyes was gone, replaced by guilt. "Sorry for doubting you."

Ray just shook his head at his friend's apology. "Don't. I'm sorry for putting you through that. I could have warned you, but I didn't because the truth is there are people out there who are perfectly willing, or even eager, to do exactly what you believed I had done. You needed to see a piece of that darkness. To accept that it exists, not just as an abstract fact or part of a story that happens to 'other people' but as something you personally experienced and never want to go through again."

Jaune nodded solemnly to himself. Resolving to be prepared so that he and his team never had to experience, or worse suffer, something like that in the future.

[And what depths of darkness have you experienced, Ray, for you to be able to go through with such a cruel deception so easily.] Jaune looked up in sympathy and concern as the stray thought crossed his mind but kept his worries for his friend to himself for now.

"So, what now? They made a lot of claims and accusations, but it was so varied I got the sense they didn't actually know anything about what was causing all…" Jaune paused to wave his hand about at the merry people going about their day around them, "...this."

"True. But I didn't really expect them to know anything concrete. This isn't the sort of information that would be permitted to wander around freely. The strange rumors and happening they mentioned were far more interesting." Ray said with a conspiratorial smile, "Specifically their mention of the increased security around the water purification plant on the mayor's orders and the rumors of regular delivery of unknown supplies in the dead of night."

"You think they're slipping something in the water?" Jaune asked as he glanced down at his empty cup warily. Thankfully they hadn't drunk anything that would have water in it since arriving in this city.

Besides the coffee that they were drinking…

Right now…

Hopefully, their barista had thoroughly boiled the water they used before being filtered through the coffee grounds.

"Probably." Ray acknowledged and opened his mouth like he was going to continue, but the words died in his throat as a sweet lilting voice suddenly spoke up next to them.

"Is that so bad?" the cute little girl that had appeared next to their table without either of them noticing asked with an adorable tilt of her head, causing her long rabbit ears to flop to the side, "So what if it's caused by a chemical. As long as everyone is happy, isn't it fine?."

Jaune leapt to his feet, turning to face the interloper, hand darting to his sword as Ray's eyes narrowed in surprise. Neither of them had detected her presence until she spoke and were naturally on guard against the seemingly 10-12 year old girl. Neither of them believed for a moment that she was as harmless as she appeared.

[[She's!]] Jaune and Ray thought, their eyes widening slightly, at the same time for distinctly different reasons. Jaune, because he recognized the stark contrast between her pale white skin and jet black hair as the Faunus girl that had drawn his attention only a couple of hours ago. Though now that he was closer, Jaune could see she also had a small rack of bone-white antlers raising from her temples that almost appeared to circle around her head like a princess's tiara. Ray, because as he stared into her large, bright red eyes, he recognized her for what she was.

[Interesting.] Ray relaxed back in his seat, signaling for Jaune to do the same as his smile grew, and a flame of curiosity began to dance within his eyes. He fully intended to make the most of this rare opportunity to observe this unusual girl peacefully from up close.

"Happiness is an inside job." Ray quoted as he rose to offer the girl his seat and pull over a new one for himself from a nearby table. "It can't be found in external sources."

"Really? I know a number of girls who would beg to differ. They find plenty of happiness in the attention of others and the joys of shopping. And that's just one common example of 'acceptable' external stimuli bringing people happiness." The girl countered as she took the seat with an appreciative nod, making air quotes around the word 'acceptable' to make it clear her opinion of that term.

"Happiness is more than a temporary state of being. True, lasting happiness is something we earn for ourselves through our hard work and healthy relationships, which require their own effort to maintain. Fake happiness found in material and fleeting things will always be little more than a fading dream." Ray responded.

"Better to enjoy a happy dream than suffer in sadness, fear, and pain." She said to Ray, though her sparkling ruby eyes were locked on Jaune's deep sapphires.

"What's wrong with feeling sadness, fear, and pain? Without them, how would we improve and grow? How would we even know what happiness is without its opposites to compare it to? Negative emotions aren't bad. They are an important and vital part of life."

"Except you can't 'earn' happiness. My mom used to say; Happiness is a choice you make, not a result you achieve. Nothing will make you happy until you choose to be happy. No person will make you happy unless you decide to be happy. Your happiness will not come to you. It can only come from you." Jaune interjected.

*Pfff hehe* Ray couldn't help but chuckle to himself when he heard Jaune's quote drawing a confused and insulted look from the brunette and blond next to him.

"Sorry." Ray apologized. "I wasn't laughing at you. It's just, our differing positions reminded me of a parable I once heard." He explained as the weird looks he was receiving changed to curiosity.

"One day, three men fell into different holes." Ray began. "The holes were too deep to climb out of and too far away to call for help. Luckily, a cave was at the bottom of the hole with a stream flowing through the back and mushrooms growing from the wall. With shelter, food, and drink secured, at least they had the bare necessities to live.

The first man looked at all he had and decided to be content with what he had. He lived a simple life at the bottom of that hole with the bare necessities. He had chosen to be happy, and therefore he was happy.

The second man grew bored with his simple life and experimented with the shrooms. Soon he found that when certain shrooms were dried and mixed, they created a narcotic that brought colors and joy back to his dreary life. So with his drugs, he spent the rest of his life laying at the bottom of his hole high as a kite. His drugs had brought him happiness, and therefore he was happy.

The third man saw the unscalable walls of his hole and refused to accept defeat. For years he struggled and trained alone in his hole till one day he succeeded and climbed out. Euphoric in his accomplishment, he set out to spend his life finding new challenges and trials to overcome. His hard work brought him happiness, and therefore he was happy.

So tell me, dear listener, who had found true happiness. The first man who decided to be happy and found happiness in himself? The second man who found happiness in an external stimulus? Or the third man who found happiness in his achievements?" Ray finished. Both Jaune and the girl nodding absentmindedly as they now understood Ray's earlier amusement while thinking about the final question.

"Well… All of them were happy. It says so right there in the parable." Jaune answered, brows furrowed deep in thought but only seeing the obvious answer as possible.

"Exactly the lesson is that happiness comes in many forms, but we can take an additional lesson from this. Choice. All of them were happy because they chose their own form of happiness. No one here is being given a choice." Ray nodded sagely with his eyes closed and arms crossed.

"We choose our own happiness? Alright, I can get behind that. But what about the Grimm?" the girl refused to admit defeat in the face of Ray's infuriating smugness. "Keeping everyone happy and content, regardless if it is fake or not, keeps the Grimm away and them alive. And, as you've pointed out, many people wouldn't have agreed to be drugged willingly. And drugging only a few or even a majority would have had little to no effect. So wasn't hiding it and disregarding their choice for the greater good the correct option? Isn't preserving life worth bending the rules a bit?"

"Alright, let's move away from the morality of the matter. If we disregard right and wrong, then we still have to consider the feasibility and practicality of continuing these actions." Ray decided to attack from another angle since she chose to bring his least favorite phrase into the argument. 'For the greater good' a term that always seemed to be followed by some atrocity or another. It made him sick.

"Sustainability is a major issue. It's fine now because it's new, but people adapt. The longer they are addicted, the higher the required dose to maintain their high. On the other hand, new arrivals will be unable to cope with such a high dosage. In either situation, there is the threat of death from overdose or withdrawals. That's not going to make anyone happy and is definitely going to draw the Grimm in droves. And if their distribution method is through the water supply, everyone is receiving the same dosage." Ray reasoned.

"Then couldn't the mayor starts offering 'treatment' to citizens to ensure they get the required dosage while the water supply can be kept low and used to pacify newcomers and passers-by." The girl countered.

"For a time, perhaps." Ray admitted, "But where would they get the real estate and funds to facilitate such an expenditure? If they just give it away, then that's a bottomless hole in the budget that is only going to keep getting bigger. Suppose they charge people based on their required dosage. In that case, that's going to cause an ever-increasing expenditure for the citizens that will slowly drag the economy to a crashing halt as they are forced to pay more and more for the drug that they HAVE to have until all their funds are tied up in the drug trade with little or nothing left for food, room and board, entertainment, services, or the luxury goods that stimulate a healthy, thriving economy."

*Ugh* The exhausted girl threw up her hands and slammed her forehead into the table in exasperation, rocking the glass of water the waitress had brought over for her while they were talking, admitting defeat. She wasn't entirely convinced yet, but she had had enough of arguing with this smart-aleck that always seemed to have an answer for everything.

His relentless assaults had battered down the little girl leaving her exhausted and unable to resist. She had just come over here because of the tasty blonde snack. She'd interjected herself in their conversation on a whim to get closer to him, not to have a theoretical debate over the nature of happiness, freedom of choice, and the economics of drug trafficking.

Ray smiled in silent satisfaction at her frustration. But, honestly, if some people wanted to spend their lives baked out of their minds, he didn't mind. It simply wasn't his problem until it started negatively affecting his people and plans.

Then it became a problem that needed to be stopped. The question of morality, feasibility, or whether it could prevent civilian deaths was little more than an amusing brain game for him and a way to mess with this presumptuous little girl that had invaded their conversation. He may not care, but he was smart enough not to say so outright and knew how to weave his words together to convince others to side with him or that it was too much trouble to get involved with.

"By the way." Jaune took the lull in the conversation to ask a question that had been bothering him for a while, "Why did you approach us?" The question of how was also bugging him, but a stranger asking about trade secrets that someone who was most likely a Huntress relied on to keep herself alive wasn't a question that anyone with a brain expected to be answered.

"You smelled good." She answered offhandedly, still lost in her thoughts.

*!!!* But quickly realized what she had just inadvertently blurted out and snapped her head up to look at them both, gauging their reactions. The blond was looking at her confused while the redhead continued to stare at her with an analytical gaze.

"My semblance is Empathy. I can read people's emotions like a scent. Yours are unusually pure. That's what I meant by you smelled good." She quickly explained.

"Ok?" Jaune still looked confused but accepted her explanation.

Ray wasn't as willing to take her words at face value as he understood it wasn't a semblance that allowed her to sense people's emotions. [Does she mean the purity of his anger from earlier? What even makes emotions pure?]

"What do you mean by pure?" Ray decided just to ask her straight up while she was still flustered over her earlier slip to see if he could press her for an answer.

"I mean, they smell pure." She answered, wrinkling her cute button nose in frustration as if he had just asked her to explain why a rose smelled like a rose and why she liked it. "It's like. Earlier. When he was angry. He was just, angry. And when he calmed down, he was just guilty, then worried, then determined. His emotions don't have hidden currents to them. They were just, pure."

[Ah, he's simple-minded.] Ray concluded to himself, nodding in understanding as he reflected on his friend's low EQ.

"Then what do you plan to do about the doping?" The girl asked to change the subject away from herself.

"Jaune?" Ray accepted the diversion and threw the ball in his friend's court. This was supposed to be a part of his training mission, after all.

"There should be another delivery tonight. If the information we got was reliable." Jaune said with care as his brows furrowed in concentration. "We should try and gather some evidence tonight so that we can call in the authorities once we take them down. There's going to be mayhem once the drugs are no longer flowing through the system and everyone starts to crash at the same time. They'll need to be on hand and prepared to deal with that immediately and to protect the town from the inevitable Grimm attacks their frenzied emotions will bring." Jaune fell silent as he stared off into nothingness, trying to think of anything else they needed to do or he might have missed.

But not everyone was willing to wait for him, "Alrighty!" the girl cheerfully slapped her hands on the table as she bounced to her feet. "Then I'll meet both of you out in front of this cafe at sundown, and we can go to the water treatment plant together."

"Huh?" Jaune dumbly remarked, not understanding when it was decided she would be coming along while Ray just raised an eyebrow, finding her more and more interesting.

"Oh, right, my name's Annabell! See you both tonight!" The energetic jackalope Faunus girl finally introduced herself before turning around and merrily skipping away, not waiting to hear their names.

Jaune stated, mouth agape, after the bouncing bunny girl along with Ray, who was deep in thought, carefully keeping his musings to himself as he pondered over what he had just witnessed and wondered how the heat of battle would change things.

"Is it a good idea just to let her tag along?" Jaune asked Ray when he spotted his guarded expression.

"I guess we'll find out tonight." Ray said with a shrug to both Jaune and himself. The flame of curiosity dancing in his silver eyes igniting a spark of anticipation or perhaps hope within as he watched the swaying black bunny ears disappear into the crowd.