The Lies We Tell

Preview One

Adam Taurus​

XxXXxX​

Truth be told, I was originally going to post this yesterday, as part of my RWBY snippet cascade to celebrate the coming trailer for Volume 4, but I decided I'd hold this one off for the release itself. Without further ado, a preview of my own, for The Lies We Tell.“Jaune,” I said. “I have a request.”“Hm?” He answered, raising an eyebrow from where he lounged on one of the beds in the back of his scary grandmother’s luxury airship. Egotistical, cast-iron bitch she may be, but she traveled in style.“If I die, I want you to scatter my remains,” I continued before making my voice firm. “But I don’t want to be cremated.”“Oh, dear,” Gou muttered, heaving a massive doggy sigh from where he sat on the other side of the room. And I meant that literally; he occupied pretty much all of it. “This is going to be one of those conversations, isn’t it?”Jaune tilted his head at me, not even glancing at Gou. The guy considered physical reactions more a matter of conversational politeness than actual human interaction; he was probably scanning Gou’s molecules with his special eyes as we spoke, but he was talking to me so I was the one that got attention.He was kind of a freak.“I’m going to need some context for this one,” He said.“If I die, it’s probably gonna be because of that fucking bitch and she’s probably gonna burn the fuck out of me to do it, so I don’t want anymore fire touching my beautiful body,” I said reasonably. “But I’m not the burial kind of guy, either. I don’t want to be melted or disintegrated or anything, though; I want to leavebehind. I figured it would be some kind of epic last stand type of deal, but that’s seeming less likely by the day.”“I see,” Jaune mused. “So instead you want me to…?”“Spread me out over as wide an area as possible,” I answered promptly. “As long as it doesn’t involve the use of fire or acid or anything like that. And don’t just do it anywhere, like in a random forest; do it somewhere high profile. Like the lobby of the SDC’s head office. And make it through; make sure you really get me into the carpets and into the corners. I want something that’ll last and not just in the trauma of whoever discovers it. Get me into the cracks and hard to reach places.”“Mm,” He answered, noncommittally.“Or,” I said. “Somewhere more personally. “Splatter me all over the Schnee’s bedrooms, preferably while they’re in them. Get me on their faces, the sheets, in the closets, whatever. But make sure they wake up covered in it.”“Schnee’s, plural?” He asked. “Which ones?”“As many as I have blood for,” I replied.“I feel like I’ve already done enough to Weiss,” He replied.“Disagree,” I said. “But that’s not the point. The point is causing as much misery as possible. In fact, I would be fine in making an exception for the Schnee’s. Like, you can leave my skeleton there, as long as it’s still covered in enough viscera to be nasty. Maybe even write something cliche on the walls, like you’d get in a movie—’How does it feel to have Faunus blood on your hands’ or something. Make it look like some serial killer snuck in and wrote it.”“Why them?” He asked, sounding more curious than anything. “No offense, Adam, but the SDC’s a pretty minor concern for us at the moment. Why target them specifically?”“Entertainment purposes,” I said. “And because I just don’t trust that bitch Cinder not to enjoy waking up covered in my blood.”“Point,” He admitted. “I’ll keep that in mind. But you’re not going to die, Adam.”“You sound sure, but you’re really not,” I said, sighing. “The fact is, we don’t know what’ll happen. I want to cover my bases.“Please,” He said. “You should know by now that I’m always right about everything.”I could have brought up the long, long list of times when Jaune was catastrophically wrong about things—but I wasn’t in the mood to be drawn into his pace by his usual lack of humility. Instead, I smiled at him challengingly and went for the throat.“Okay then, Jaune,” I said. “Let’s talk about abortion. Pro-Life or Pro-Choice; what’s the right answer?”“And we’ve officially gone places,” Gou said, looking down at Autumn, who watched the conversation with silent interest. “Jaune, if you would?”Jaune didn’t seem to do anything, but I assumed they’d been removed from the conversation as he stroked his chin.“I’m Pro-Life,” He said. “Because I have very strong opinions about murder—namely, you should never kill something that can’t experience pain or the fear of death, or what’s even the point? If you want to kill them, that’s fine, but at least wait awhile. Killing them before they’re born is like sacrificing coma patients to a god.”“Oh?” I asked, despite myself. I knew what he was trying to do, attempting to dismiss the tension in the room with horribly inappropriate jokes. It kind of pissed me off that it was working, to the point that I had to hold back a bark of startled laughter.He leaned forward.“Okay, so this is just my opinion as the closest thing you’ll ever encounter to a god in your pathetic excuse for a life,” He continued. “But I’m not gonna take your leftovers or some shit like that. If I’m asking you to sacrifice people for my amusement, it should go without saying that it needs to be an. I’m not here to assist in suicide, people; I’m here to enjoy the show. Give me someone who’ll be, okay? And actual tears better be involved, damn it! If I didn’t want to rip people’s hearts out, I wouldn’t have asked you to, for fuck’s sake!”He paused for a moment and then coughed.“Hypothetically, of course.”I snorted, unable to keep myself from smiling slightly, and I knew he saw it. Annoyed more by his success than anything, I stubbornly turned away, ignoring him smile.The airship hummed beneath my feet, the subtle trembling almost comfortingly familiar, and if I focused on it, I could almost ignore what was actually going on. Once we reached our destination, the games would begin—but the rules had already changed and no one knew how. Given the horrific death that awaited anyone who fucked up, it was almost enough to make a guy nervous.So Jaune, of course, looked like he was about to fall asleep in the seat next to him. He, because as far as he knew, Jauneslept unless something forced him to—it was too much of a waste of time to tolerate, he said, and he could hardly afford to waste it. He was just doing it to try and set us at ease.The thing about Jaune, you see, was that he was a goddamn freak of nature and he didn’t care who knew it. He didn’t care about a lot of things, really, unless they affected The Plan—and only he and God ever seemed to know what the plan was. Right now, he was Jaune, because we were headed towards Beacon, and being human students helped us stay near the targets, but even stuff like physical form and species were nebulous concepts for the guy, and he’d abandon and change it at the drop of a hat.It was like fucking alphabet soup. A for Arc, B for Bing, C for Conquest, D for Dick; rip away all the masks and you’d be left with an extradimensional alien trying to pretend it was a normal human.And for all of that, he was still my best fucking friend.“You already know what’s happening,” Jaune stated seriously, because he’s under a curse wherein he’ll die horrible if he ever truly explains anything. Or, at least, that what I’ve always assumed; it’s never really been put to the test. He gave me a look and rolled his eyes, though, as if he could read my mind, which...hey. Maybe. “Are you ready, Adam?”I grunted in reply, though, because I really did get it.“Doesn’t really matter now, does it?” I replied, looking out the window at the approaching towers of Vale. “We all have our parts to play.”“Sorry to make you do this,” Jaune said, and for all that he probably had to press some buttons to consciously manipulate his facial expressions to do it, he looked sad. Even guilty.I just shrugged at him though, because like I said; for all that he was kind of an asshole at times, and mostly a weird alien pretending to be human being, he was still my best friend. I’d followed him into battles I knew I had no business surviving. I was probably about to do so again.My gaze tracked from the city to one of the dozens of other airships that was now heading towards Vale, knowing who lay within. Cinder, the being Jaune called Famine, and her lackeys, Emerald and Mercury.The boy and the girl weren’t a problem; barring some particularly unpleasant surprises, I could probably take them both on at the same time, if I had to. And Ihave to.But if it came to that, Cinder would brutally murder us all. Probably would have already, if she and Jaune weren’t playing a game of ‘I know something you don’t know.’ Jaune, in his usual way of understatement, lies, and misinformation, hadn’t been very clear about the specifics or how much they’d changed, but I assumed things still weren’t great.Might have been even worse, now.Things had gotten complicated, recently, when we had a near literal Hell in a Cell match and walked away in one piece, at a price. The long and short of it was that Jaune and the Devil had basically agreed not to throw down and kick off the apocalypseThe good news was, of course, that the world wasn’t ending. The bad news was that, in return for the bad guys not destroying life as we know it with an absurdly large army of Grimm, Jaune’s hands were pretty tied as well. Until it was time for shit to really kick off, he was stuck running support, meaning it was a lot harder to resolve problems by just throwing Jaune at them.The thing is, it was pretty obvious that Malkuth and his legion of giant asshole motherfuckers were going to stab us all in the back the moment it was convenient. As such, we needed to make sure were were ready to turn around and stab them in the back the moment it was convenient, only faster and better.No idea how the fuck that was supposed to work, but okay.“But if something happens—” I began.“Say my name,” He said, shrugging. “I can get anywhere in this school in an instant.”I narrowed my eyes at him. Even without looking at me and through the illusion he’d placed over me, I was sure he could see.“But could you win?” I asked.“I’ll manage somehow,” He said with a relaxed looking shrug.That was the other thing about Jaune, though—everything out of his goddamn mouth is some kind of bullshit. Answers like that could mean damn near anything. The answer might have still been no. It could have changed and become yes. It could mean ‘yes, but’ with some horrible cost, even leaving aside Malkuth’s reaction. Or it could have just mean he had no idea what would happen.He’d never admit when he was in over his head publically, and even as his best friend I’d only seen him do so a few times. A lot of people wouldn’t know how nervous a person Jaune could be, because they hadn’t seen where he’d started or what had happened since, and he had the poker face of a robot. Perceptions were reality, in Jaune’s mind—and seeing as perception was basically the only thing keeping us alive on a day to day basis, it was kind of hard to argue.It made talks like this a pain in the ass, though, so I just stopped talking. What I said didn’t really matter, because even if I told him to just leave me behind if it came to that, he’d either refuse, or say something nebulous and vague and do whatever he felt like when it came time for it.So hell, I’ll just do the same and not call for help. He’d probably notice anyway, but fuck it. I knew how important this shit was.Jaune actually turned to look at me for a moment—but he didn’t say anything and so I didn’t either. For me, that was pretty much all it was, but I assumed he’d x-rayed my bones and stripped bare my soul and all that stuff. He was that kind of guy.When he looked away from me, though, his presence almost seemed to vanish—which was just weird thing #32139 when it came to Jaune, really. Probably the effect of some stat boost or another or some skill he’d forgotten to mention. When he wanted to have presence, he felt it. When he wasn’t trying to, though, it would seem like he was barely there. Jian Bing alwayslike a mythical figure, like you were standing in a room with a tiger the size of a building and could feel it’s body heat. Jaune Arc, meanwhile, barely felt like a hunter.His grandmother’s personal airship was silent as we moved, his entire family fitting neatly in another part of it while we supposedly slept. Hard to believe how quickly it had happened, from ship to battle to ship again, but with everything that had happened, I couldn’t hope to sleep; I’d barely shaken the adrenaline from the fight. I looked at the city carefully, tensely going over entrances and exits and places to avoid, like I would have a year ago, as if everything hadn’t changed.“What about them?” I asked, nodding down at the streets below as we finally reached the city itself. “A whole bunch of people are in town for the Vytal Festival. Anyone worth a damn?”Jaune shrugged.“No one you need to worry about,” He said, which could have meant anything. “Inside the school, just keep an eye on Cinder’s team and team RWBY.”“Blake’s team,” I said quietly. It had been a long time since I’d seen her, since we’d both chosen to go our own ways. It felt like a lifetime ago. Odd that it still hurt like a bitch.“And Yang’s,” He replied, voice teasing. “Isn’t she your sister? You should make sure she doesn’t get into trouble.”“Isn’t she your, you pollinating, inbred hick?” I answered, smiling back.“Just don’t forget to keep an eye on Ruby, too,” He said, laughing quietly. He did that a lot, to the point that he seemed perpetually amused. I’m pretty sure he had a laugh track button installed somewhere. Human Social Interaction Button # 7 or something. “Especially if Cinder approaches her.”“Of course,” I said. “But I was serious when I mentioned the city. What about the White Fang? Cinder will want to meet with with its leaders and...well, as far as she knows, you’re her bestie, right? What do I do if she makes me an offer I cannot refuse?”He gestured and suddenly we weren’t alone. There was a flash of light and power, and then five figures appeared, standing at attention as if they’d always been there. I recognized them all, though they looked different that they had last time we’d met—Ereb, Levant, Suryasta, Xihai, and Vulturnus. Jaune’s spirits of Earth, Wind, Fire, Water, and Lightning.I looked at them for a long minute and then turned back to Jaune, raising an eyebrow.“They’ll be supporting you with the White Fang,” He said, as if that explained everything and only an idiot would need to know more. I glanced back at the Elementals, this time noting some of the changes. The skin on Ereb’s arms looked off, shelled maybe, while Levant had feathers. Suryasta’s hair looked wilder, maybe even horned, and Xihai was scaled as usual. Vulturnus...well, Vulturnus just looked weird, but I spotted what might have been ears of some kind. All of them wore odd clothes, clearly sown with Dust, and their skin was marked with whatlike Dust tattoos but probably weren’t. Probably just a way of explaining their powers or something.“Uh-huh,” I said, slow and skeptical. Yeah, they might have been able to pass for Faunus, but I trusted them to be about as normal as Jaune was. Passing interactions would probably be fine, but the more time passed, the odder they’d probably seem, to say nothing of all the other issues of adding a bunch of unknowns to an insular group on short notice. I’m pretty sure Jaune understood what bureaucracy, but was damn certain he didn’t give a shit. “Am I just supposed to show up with them, or…?”“Don’t be silly,” He said. “Raven’s making arrangements.”Of course she was. And wouldn’t that be a sight to see; the boogeyman recommending some new personnel.“They should be able to handle whatever comes up—and I’ll handle the rest,” He promised. “I’m limited, but notlimited, and I can cheat. I won’t just let them hurt people, Adam.”Jaune had very weird idea when it came to what ‘hurt’ meant, but he was good to his word and I knew he wouldn’t let someone like Cinder run roughshod over the White Fang or the city of Vale. How the fuck we were going to stop her from doing that, I had no fucking idea, but we would.“Okay,” I said and did my best to lie back and seem at ease. Maybe when we landed, I’d get some fucking sleep.“Think you can handle it, then?”“Please,” I said, snorting. “Do you know who you’re talking to?”“Yeah, that’s why I asked,” He said, but I translated it into big boy talk, more or less.“I’ll handle it,” I said, looking out the window at the Kingdom below us. For the millionth or so time, I wondered how I’d gotten here—from a heist gone wrong to an international game of lethal chess. “We’ll figure it out somehow Jaune. I’ve got your back, so you just handle the big stuff, okay?”He didn’t answer and I had to resist the urge to sigh and lean my forehead against the window as I watch Beacon’s slow approach. In a few minutes, we’d be in the thick of it, with everything coming together. Countless innocent people without a goddamn clue, a fuckload of hormonal teenagers with superpowers, a bunch of current and former faunus rights activists/terrorists, several groups of criminals, a handful of eldritch abominations, and whatever the fuck Jaune was, gathered in a place known for being strange and mysterious—and we had to somehow avert the apocalypse, despite it all. Again.Personally, I thought the world would be a lot less likely to blow up if a few of those things were kept further apart, but I’d learned a long, long time ago that no one really cared about how I thought the world should work. So instead, I just closed my eyes, even though it was too late to sleep, and settled back in my seat.Let the good times roll.