Remnant Invicta

Chapter 13

It was perhaps wrong to refer to a day back at Beacon training from sun-up to mid-afternoon as a "day off" but that was how it felt. They woke early, hung-over and tired and grouchy in his and Ruby's cases, while everyone else looked far too bloody satisfied with themselves. They attended morning exercises, breakfast, then more training and weapons practice throughout the day with no mention of Project Terminus or the spore outbreak at the bar. It wasn't a case of them being forgotten either because the XO was there to conduct their training as usual, so she wasn't busy either. He assumed it was a case of PT being forced to halt for the day while all their members were tested for any lingering traces of rot that might have gone unnoticed before.

Their own tests were a little harrowing when the doctor drew blood, saw his drug and alcohol levels and raised an eyebrow. The faunus woman clicked her tongue, whispered a joke to her colleague and told him he was clear. The others tested clear as well, not that they'd expected anyone not to but it didn't hurt to be safe, especially with those at ground zero.

"I told you the doctors don't care," said Ruby. "We only get in trouble if we're caught or too wasted to train."

"I can't believe the XO let us off last night to be honest."

"Yeah, me neither." Ruby laughed embarrassedly. "I mean, she had us dead to rights but I guess even someone like her can feel sorry for us after all the shit we've been through."

"I was always under the impression huntsmen were super professional."

"Really? Is that what infantry thinks?"

To be fair, infantry rarely saw huntsmen or huntress other than on television, parades, and the occasional show they held to wow the civilians and military alike and restore morale. Those often ran in tandem with air shows and army marches where everyone wore their fine regalia and military dress uniforms. Jaune could remember sitting on his sister's shoulders and crying out in joy when he spotted mom and dad among the marching soldiers. Saphron had to hold him back from rushing out to hug them. That had been three years before Saphron was declared MIA with her whole squad on a metal reclamation mission near the great wall.

In the parades, the huntsmen and huntresses had been marching in formation and dancing about gracefully as they sparred for the audience. He supposed it was the same as the military in that they were putting on their best faces, but while the allure and splendour of infantry life had faded somewhat once he'd experienced it, the mystery of the huntsmen hadn't. He imagined it would have if he'd come across them torn in half like Sun had been.

"We saw them as superhuman," said Jaune, rubbing his hair awkwardly. It was a little embarrassing to say this to a huntress, but then he was a huntsman. Technically, anyway. "I guess it was an image we held up to convince ourselves everything would be all right. There was always this superstition that if a squad got in trouble, a huntsman or huntress might swoop in to save them. It never happened of course. If your squad was hit by Grimm then you had seconds to live and it's not like Vale could respond that quickly. It was just something to keep us going."

"What do you think now?" asked Ruby.

"Now? I guess I think they're as human as anyone else – and put under more pressure. The worst part is, I still haven't seen any proper huntsmen. Other than the instructors, I mean. And they're different. They aren't out there fighting and dying."

"Hmmm." Ruby hummed in agreement. It wasn't that he didn't doubt Lieutenant-General Goodwitch couldn't kick all their asses, but she was also sticking to that professional image as an instructor and officer, so they all knew they weren't seeing the real her. "I kind of doubt we'll see all that many now if a lot of them died trying to reclaim PT material from the fall of Atlas. I heard even Qrow Branwen was killed in action. Yang always wanted to meet him."