All quiet on Remnant

Chapter 18

A couple of hours passed since the events at Shionne. The group wasn't in the mood to chat after what happened. They just walked in silence only accompanied by the sound of Paul's gas mask hitting its container, and maybe an occasional question regarding the map and where to go. Everyone was doing their best to keep what happened out of their minds. This was done not only to keep them sane, but also to not attract any Grimm from the surge of negative emotions radiating from the group.

The sun was starting to set so the group finally came to a stop. They found a spot where they felt comfortable and started setting up their tents. Paul volunteered to go collect firewood. He wasn't quite fond of this task, but right now he just wanted to be alone for a moment. Like everyone else in team JNPRR he was thinking a lot about what happened at Shionne. He didn't feel any remorse for shooting the injured huntsman, it was what he wanted, but he did feel awful for snapping at his friends like that. At the end of the day, they were just kids following their training. It wasn't their fault they couldn't comprehend everything he'd gone through and everything he'd seen. They were just trying to help a fellow huntsmen in any way they could, as unrealistic as it was.

The tents were fully set up by the time he arrived with the firewood. Everyone was gathered around the empty fire pit waiting for the German to drop the wood.

With a fire now lit everyone began to warm up their dinner. This was Paul's favorite time of the day. A time where everyone got together around the fire and bonded with one another other, shared stories of their past, and reminisce about their time at Beacon. But now it felt dead. No one was talking, just eating in silence with their heads to the ground. Paul tried striking a conversation, but it quickly died out. Eventually things got awkward...too awkward. Paul excused himself to his tent, which he shared with no one, and tried to get some shut eye.

One of the many consequences that PTSD had on Paul, was making his sleep very fragile. Any noise could wake him up. That's why he often used earplugs when sleeping. It just so happened that he ran out of them that very night. He was planning on re stocking them when they got to Shionne but for obvious reasons, that couldn't happen. He already knew something would wake him up at some point in the night, so it wasn't a surprise when he heard one of the tents being unzipped and someone stepping out.

He ignored it at first, and tried going back asleep but he couldn't. He tried for a couple of minutes before finally giving up. He could hear a faint sound in the distance, it sounded like someone talking. The German could barely make out that the voice was female. Curiosity was eating him up. What if bandits had taken someone from his group? What if there were Grimm nearby? All of these questions lingered around his mind before he ultimately decided to investigate. But not before taking his brand new Kukri knife with him.

He headed where he thought the sound was coming from. It was a short walk from camp. The voice was getting louder, and Paul began hearing a new sound tho he couldn't tell what it was. The noises began growing louder and louder until Paul finally saw it. He hid behind some bushes and observed.

It was Jaune. He was practicing his attacks with his brand new gear. Next to him was a tree stump, where he placed his scroll which was about to die. The scroll was playing a video of Pyrrha from when they were back at Beacon. It was a little training exercise she made for him, and he was following it to the dot. The German continued watching him illuminated by both the scroll and the moonlight. He was doing everything Pyrrha said in the video, even tho he was exhausted. If she said strikeg, he would strike with his sword, if she said dodge he'd dodge to the side. At the end of the video she congratulated Jaune on his training and playfully warned him to not cut corners, because she'd know the next time they would train together.