By the time the timer finally screamed its end, the bakery was a disaster.
Sticky virtual syrup puddled across the massive tiles, and pancakes lay skewered on oversized forks like fallen shields, and one of the flying scissors had embedded itself blade first into a pink frosted wall where Yang had thrown Weiss a second too late. The traps had long since been triggered, reset, and triggered again. The environment hummed softly as the simulation stabilized, slowly de escalating the hazards.
And scattered across the floor, in various states of exhaustion and laughter, sat seven very familiar figures.
Ruby was flat on her back, arms splayed out, hood crooked over one eye. Nora was half sunk into what used to be solid floor, now re solidifying around her boots with a petulant scowl. Yang leaned against a countertop the size of a building, rubbing her shoulder while laughing through the ache. Weiss sat cross legged nearby, hair slightly frazzled and dignity visibly dented. Pyrrha rested with her back against a giant rolling pin, calm as ever, while Blake sat quietly beside Ren.
Ren stood.
He was the only one still upright.
In his hand were several headbands.
He grinned down at them, then at the others. "I believe," he said politely, "that I won."
There was a beat of silence.
Then Ruby bolted upright. "Yeah... fair"
Nora flailed an arm, complaining. "Ugh... Renny."
Yang barked out a laugh. "Kid ninja strikes again."
Weiss stared at Ren as if personally betrayed by the concept of physics. "You barely even ran for any of the headbands"
Ren tilted his head slightly. "Well... Blake was giving a little bit of trouble at the end, so I figured that the high ground was the best bet against all of you. That was intentional."
Jaune lay on his back beside Pyrrha, staring up at the pink ceiling with a tired grin. "I should have known you had already reached comprehension in your Trajectory rune." he said. " How long were you planning on hiding it, huh, Ren? I literally handed the bands to you."
Ren offered him a small smile. "Well... I never needed to show off the comprehension ability before now. And besides, you've also reached comprehension in your rune. Don't think I didn't notice."
"Eh guilty as charged—but seriously? Straight out of my hands? C'mon man."
Ren shrugged at that. "You were distracted."
Jaune snorted. "By the sound of Ruby screaming?"
Ruby pointed at Pyrrha from across the floor. "I would like to formally lodge a complaint."
Pyrrha turned her head. "About what?"
"You," Ruby said flatly. "You are not allowed to be that unfair."
Pyrrha blinked innocently. "I followed the rules."
"You controlled my footing," Ruby protested. "I was mid dash."
"You were... still touching the environment," Pyrrha replied gently. "Barely. Sort of."
Yang groaned and flopped down beside Ruby. "She did the same thing to me. I went in for a grab and suddenly my body felt like it was being tugged in five directions."
Weiss crossed her arms. "She pinned both of us at the same time. Should have made a rule for being able to use comprehension level abilities."
Pyrrha offered a small apologetic smile. "I may have gotten carried away."
Jaune laughed softly. "You think?"
Nora suddenly wrenched herself free of the floor with a loud crack, stomping toward Jaune with murder in her eyes. "YOU."
Jaune raised his hands defensively. "In my defense, you were glowing with electricity and summoning Storm."
"That does not justify turning the ground into quicksand," Nora said indignantly.
"I weakened the molecular bonds," Jaune corrected. "It was very precise."
Nora pointed at him harder. "I was winning."
"Nuh-uh," Jaune said. "That was a tackle."
"Yuh-uh. It was also an affectionate tackle!"
Ruby snickered. "You were absolutely going to flatten him."
"WITH LOVE!"
Jaune grinned. "Regardless, I got your headband."
"And then teleported away," Yang added. "Which was... personal."
Jaune shrugged. "I needed distance."
Weiss eyed him sharply. "You joined Pyrrha against us. That was unnecessary."
Jaune winced. "In hindsight, yes."
Pyrrha laughed quietly. "I did appreciate the help. Briefly."
"Briefly," Jaune echoed. "Until you tried to take mine."
Pyrrha tilted her head. "I needed to even the field."
"You already had the field," Yang said. "And the air. And my dignity."
Blake finally spoke up, voice dry. "You all forgot one thing."
They turned to her.
"Ren, obviously."
Ren inclined his head slightly. "Well, after I left you on the ground, I simply stayed near the periphery."
Ruby groaned. "Classic Ren."
Nora marched over and plopped down beside him, leaning her head against his shoulder. "Ugh... my spa pancakes. You should have helped me against Jaune."
"You looked happy," Ren replied calmly.
She huffed. "Maybe I was..."
Weiss sighed and leaned back on her hands. "I cannot believe I lost to tag."
Yang laughed. "You lost to tag in a giant pink bakery full of flying scissors."
Weiss pinched the bridge of her nose. "That sentence alone is upsetting."
Ruby rolled onto her side and looked at Jaune. "You did really well," she said.
Jaune smirked. "I know."
"Oookay Mr. confidence," Yang mocked. "Well... I supposed since you did steal from Pyrrha. It kinda counts."
"Briefly," Jaune said again.
Ruby smiled softly. "Still counts."
Jaune felt something in his chest loosen just a little.
He looked around at them. At the laughter. The complaints. The ridiculous environment. For a moment, his worries felt far away.
Ren cleared his throat. "So," he said, holding up the headbands. "The prize."
Nora's eyes lit up, but it dimmed a little as she remembered that she hadn't won. Ruby pumped a fist.
Weiss blinked. "That was an actual thing?"
Ruby nodded enthusiastically. "Full spa. Plus pancakes."
Yang grinned. "Sounds relaxing."
Ren paused. "I am… unsure if I require a spa day. Nora, you want the prize instead?"
Nora hugged him. "Yes! I REQUIRE PANCAKES!"
Jaune laughed quietly, pushing himself up to sit. "I think I can live with losing."
Pyrrha glanced at him. "Even after going through all that effort?"
Jaune nodded. "Yeah."
He looked around again, at the mess they had made together.
"Worth it."
The laughter lingered for a while after the match ended.
It softened, thinned out, turned into small chuckles and tired sighs as everyone settled more comfortably on the oversized tiles of the bakery floor. Someone triggered a reset and the environment dimmed slightly, the flying hazards and drifting obstacles disappearing from the space, leaving nothing except a blank and featureless scape.
For a moment, it felt almost normal.
Blake was the first to break the quiet.
She exhaled slowly, a deeper sigh than the others had given, and turned where she sat to look directly at Jaune, Ruby, and Yang. Her mouth twitched once, betraying her tension before her expression settled into something calm but serious.
"Alright," Blake said. "I'm just going to ask."
Blake didn't rush her words.
"I know it's sensitive," she continued. "And I know Ozpin hasn't released an official statement yet. But… everyone knows something happened in Belmont."
Jaune felt it instantly how the air seemed to shift to an imperceptible degree. Ruby's shoulders stiffened beside him and even Yang's easy posture locked up, her grin fading as if someone had flipped a switch.
Yet, no one interrupted Blake.
"The only confirmed information is that the entire LUCID branch stationed there is dead," Blake said carefully. "Every operative and support staff member. All of them."
The word deadlanded heavier than if she had shouted it.
"And," Blake added quietly, "the only names that seems to keep coming up as survivors are yours."
Her gaze drifted over to her two teammates and lingered on Jaune last.
Silence followed.
Jaune felt his chest tighten, memories flickering like broken film. The smell of blood and flesh in the Dream Realm. The way the city screamed as the world seemed to crater. The weight of blood that wasn't his on his hands.
He glanced to his left.
Ruby met his eyes first. Her expression was steady, but there was a tightness there that had not been present during the game. Yang looked at him next and gave a small nod.
It was Ruby who spoke.
She drew in a breath, then let it out slowly. "Okay," she said. "I guess... I'll explain."
She shifted her position so she could see everyone at once. Weiss and Nora had gone quiet. Ren watched her closely, his calm demeanor hiding the focus in his eyes. Pyrrha and Blake leaned in just slightly.
"It started with my Uncle Qrow," Ruby said. "You remember my Uncle Qrow."
Weiss nodded faintly. "He's hard to forget."
Ruby gave a brief, wry smile before continuing. "Yeah, well... he received a mission directly from Ozpin. It involved something extremely sensitive," Ruby went on. "Permanent rune imbuement. Not temporary enhancement or borrowed energy like how our facilities are run, but... something that stays."
Weiss inhaled sharply. "That's… possible?"
"It was," Ruby said. "The Belmont branch was the one that... made a breakthrough... of sorts. Well, no that wouldn't really be the truth. In any case, they had access to the... permanent imbuement method. They were studying it. Then, they stopped responding."
Her hands curled into fists in her lap. "Complete radio silence. No emergency recall. Nothing."
"So Ozpin sent you?" Blake asked quietly.
"He sent uncle Qrow and Raven," Ruby corrected. "And Qrow took Yang, Jaune, and me along. He said it was for experience."
Yang scoffed softly. "Yeah. Experience."
Ruby nodded. "Except once we arrived at Belmont, things were already wrong."
Ruby summarized what followed in careful strokes, describing how the everyone with a connection to the dream realm in Belmont had somehow been dragged into it and couldn't escape.
She spoke of the Flesh-Monster/person without dwelling on it, only what it did and the devastation it left behind. She explained Dragon Gang's involvement and the way they had fought against them. She mentioned Arias and his displacement rune and the reason why all of this mess had occurred in the first place. His daughter who held the Perpetuity meta rune and Evergreen.
She then finally spoke of Sleepless and that dreadful entity they worshipped.
The Sleeper.
Ruby's explanation was measured and restrained. She left out nothing, but she did not sensationalize it. When she finished, the room felt smaller somehow.
Jaune swallowed.
"That's where I take over," he said.
All eyes turned to him.
He stared at the floor for a second before lifting his gaze. "The Sleeper isn't just a person," he began. "It's… a god. And it has another name... Salem."
Blake and Pyrrha stiffened slightly. They already understood. They had felt it before. That crushing presence that seemed to sit behind reality itself.
"Sleepless is an organization," Jaune continued. "But it's more accurate to say it's a cult. Their goal is to awaken the Salem/Sleeper permanently. And in doing so, end all life."
Weiss's face had gone pale.
"My father," Jaune said quietly, "is involved."
The words hit harder than anything else.
He explained then. Every detail that he knew. He spoke of the history of the Dream Realm and how it tied to the Sleeper. He spoke of the horrifying invocation that would summon the being, but not the actual words. He told them everything that his father had told him. Some of this knowledge included things which he hadn't had enough time to tell Ruby and Yang. Knowledge of how his father had become entangled with something far beyond him.
He told them about the ultimatum.
"Two years," Jaune said. "Now a year and a half. That's how long I have to reach Rank Two and fight him."
Nora whispered, "Fight him?"
Jaune nodded. "To stop him from... destroying my family and force the rest of truth out of him."
He clenched his hands. "Dad... took my family. All of them and put them into stasis somewhere I can't find."
The room felt cold.
"He was also the reason that I'm an awakened in the first place. Im… artificial," Jaune went on. "The same way Mocha was awakened. Not naturally or safely."
Pyrrha closed her eyes briefly.
"I didn't understand what that meant at first," Jaune said. "Not until I felt the Sleeper myself. That… dread. That pressure. It doesn't go away."
He looked at Blake and Pyrrha. "You both know what it feels like."
They nodded in confirmation.
"My father's runes are powerful," Jaune said. "Foresight, Insight and Time. I don't know the full scope of them. But I know he came into contact with the Rune of Knowledge and... because of it, he gained some type of knowledge of the far future. Knowledge which apparently makes him believe that I'm the key," Jaune said. "That I can change something fundamental."
Silence followed.
Jaune's voice hardened. "I don't care what he believes or how much is true, but what I know is that I need to beat him. I need to make him talk. And I need to get my family back before he forces them into becoming artificial awakened. Before they're forced into fighting grimm on a nightly basis like what we are doing as members of LUCID."
No one spoke for a long moment.
Then Yang moved closer and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"I'm sorry Jaune. I didn't know that... this was what you had been going through over the past couple of months. And here I was, angry that you were keeping secrets."
"It's fine Yang. Ozpin ordered me not to tell anybody about these circumstances, anyhow. So I couldn't exactly come out and say it."
"Well... now that we know, you're not going to go through this all alone," she said quietly.
Ruby nodded fiercely. "Yeah. Not a chance."
Blake's voice was calm but resolute. "Whatever this turns into, we're already involved."
Ren inclined his head. "Truthfully, a lot of this is hard to believe. But... on the off chance that it is true... we need to prepare and get a lot stronger."
Nora cracked her knuckles. "And... maybe punch a cult."
Jaune let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding.
For the first time since Belmont, the weight shifted. It didn't vanish, but it was shared. And a burden shared was a burden that was lighter.
The moment lingered.
Not in silence exactly, but in the fragile space where no one quite knew what to say next. The weight still pressed on the room, heavier now that it had a shape and names and consequences. Jaune leaned back on his hands, staring at the virtual room's ceiling as if it might crack and show him a different sky.
Then the speakers crackled.
A low hum rolled through the training complex, the ambient noise dimming automatically as the announcement system took priority.
Ozpin's voice followed.
"Attention, all operatives and trainees."
Jaune felt his stomach tighten. Ruby straightened immediately. Yang's hand slipped off his shoulder, her posture shifting from comfort to readiness without any conscious thought.
"This is Director Ozpin," the voice continued. "Please proceed to the central mess hall in five minutes."
The pause that followed was deliberate.
"There will be a brief gathering to address the events concerning the recent situation in Belmont. We will begin shortly," Ozpin concluded. "Attendance is mandatory."
The speakers clicked off.
No one spoke for several seconds.
"Well," Nora said finally, breaking the tension with a forced brightness. "That's… ominous."
Weiss pushed herself to her feet, smoothing her skirt with more force than necessary. "An official statement," she murmured. "About time."
Whatever Ozpin was about to say, it was no longer something they could avoid.
"Guess that's our cue," Ruby said, trying and failing to sound casual.
They began to move, filing out with the rest of the trainees as doors slid open and the corridors filled with low murmurs. Conversations buzzed around them, fragmented and uncertain. Belmont. Survivors. LUCID.
.
.
AN: Tomorrow is the last chapter for this volume, before I go on a short break from writing.
Advanced chapters up to 10 are available on patreon.