#silentknight

“ I owe that horrible woman a debt I can never repay. My sisters and nephew survived because of her sacrifice, but that doesn’t answer the question…”

“I talk to myself too.” Jaune looked up at the old man who had interrupted his train of thought. “Careful, they’ll lock you up if you do it too much.”

“Thanks for the advice,” Jaune said with a smile.

“I like the park too. This your first time seeing it?”

Jaune looked around, realizing he was actually in the park. Then he looked around a little more slowly as he shook his head no.

“The stories are true you know,” the man said as he nodded towards the place Jaune was looking for.

The plaque was still completely legible:

"IN HONOR OF PYRRHA NIKOS, ONE OF MANY STUDENTS WHO FOUGHT VALIANTLY AT THE FALL OF BEACON" 

But the plaque now resided beside an empty platform where a statue once stood. Jaune looked around for signs of damage but found none. While he was sure Pyrrha would have hated the statue, he still felt angry that the Grimm had destroyed it, despite the lack of damage to the surrounding area.

Jaune turned to ask the old man what stories he was referring to but the guy had wondered off. “At least he didn’t disappear into thin air.” His scroll chimed as Neo let him know it was safe.

*****

He had finished seeing to the injured Huntsmen quickly. Honestly, Jaune felt a bit unnecessary as the hospital hadn’t seemed to have ANY damage when the troops had arrived. That had meant the supplies were intact and the medics, healers, and doctors that had traveled with them had been able to provide great care. After his last Aura Boost treatment, to a Huntress about his age that hadn’t stopped staring at him the whole time, Neo helped him to his feet.

“Thanks Ne-ouch!” A painful pinch to his unscarred butt cheek interrupted his faux pax, “I mean thank you Caramel.”

‘Has anyone told you any weird stories since we arrived?’ Neo signed to him as they left the hospital and turned towards his sister’s house.

“No,” he answered before snapping his fingers as he remembered, “an old man I met at the park, the one I told you about, with the statue?” Neo nodded. “He didn’t tell me any stories but he said they were all true.” Jaune indulged in a long stretch, “he wandered off before I could ask. Honestly I was so upset about the Grimm destroying Pyrrha’s statue that I wasn’t really interested in his stories.” After getting back Jaune cooked them a wonderful dinner and Neo made dessert (she scooped the ice cream into the bowls, it counted) before Jaune limped to one of the downstairs bedrooms. “We’re getting up early to fly to Pennycle so I’m gonna crash. G’night Neo. Ouch! We’re alone here, why did you pinch me?”

‘You need to remember operational security at all times, Rusty.’ Jaune rolled his eyes fondly before retreating to bed.

After she heard her partner start snoring lightly Neo pulled out a scroll and started reading the saved contents.

-I’m telling you, The Invincible Girl was here. That Grimm almost got my grandson until she cut it in half with her shield! He got to the shelter and we were able to hold up until y’all arrived!

-It wasn’t Pyrrha Nikos of course. I went to Sanctum with her and she wasn’t that tall or all metal. Nor was she heavy enough to jump on a Beowulf and snap its back.

<These are but two of the dozen or so stories the survivors found in Argus shared with the Huntsmen and Soldiers that entered the city as part of the reclamation efforts.>

An image file was added. It showed an artistic work up made by a local metal worker. The image shows a certain statue. A statue Neo had heard of but hadn’t seen herself. The drawing shows that the mold wasn’t poured and then set upon a stone base. The base was hollowed stone and the metal had been melted into the hollow core so that even gale force winds couldn’t blow it over. A picture of the undamaged base that Neo herself had taken accompanied both files.

To: PunchingBags, BleachedBrat, dropdeadRed, tokenfaunus , thequietone, theoneikindalike

From: Lil_miz_kicked_ur_azz