Perilous Arc |AU|

Enemy Lines [Chap. 3]

"Wait, Cardin?"

I narrowed my gaze towards the voice, and sure enough it was the leader of CRDL. He sat at the top of the stairs, slumped against the statue of my great-grandfather with his mace thrown on the ground next to him. He was in rough shape; the skewed bridge of his nose provided a reason for the crusted blood trails that ran down from his nostrils, and his left arm was bent awkwardly against the joint. Despite the pain I'm sure he was in, I only noticed a gobsmacked expression on his face as he looked at me.

"Wha- how the fu-"

"What are you doing here?" I asked, cutting him off as he stumbled over his words. He snapped back to the conversation, shaking his head.

"Just doing my duty as a premier Huntsman, Jauney-boy! After we lost the tournament, we've been staying on campus. I didn't expect it to turn to shit, but I like to think I'm good enough to defend my academy." He explained, smug despite his condition with his chest puffing with pride.

"Premier Huntsmen have broken arms, do they?" He scowled at my jab, which I laughed at. "If you've been fighting, where's the rest of your team?"

His scowl had some heat behind it now.

"Those losers split the second the anima- er, White Fang showed up. If I see them again, I swear I'll beat their wuss asses to the hospital and back!" He growled out the answer, and I just hissed sympathetically at the explanation.

"Bummer. For them, I mean." He snorted. I took the time to clear the stairs while he was amused, careful of stepping on the defeated Fang members. "Also, when did you start censoring yourself?"

"I'd rather you not crash a Nevermore into me if I get on your bad side. Seriously, what's up with that? That's some Bruce Willis shit!" He almost sounded awed, but I didn't think too much about it. I just shrugged at him.

"Need to get to the tower. Not really that big a deal."

He chuckled at me, resting his good arm on a hiked-up knee, and laying his head back against the stone of the statue.

"Looks like you're not the only one, Jauney-boy."

"What do you mean?" I asked, eyeing him curiously.

"I beat a group of these Fang a couple blocks from here, crushed them pretty good. From what they said, they were told to gather at the main tower." He shook his head, looking pensive. "They wanna blow a hole in the supports and send the whole thing crashing."

My blood ran cold.

'Pyrrha's there! If they topple it while she's in there...' Even in thought, I didn't want to finish the sentence.

"You still going?" He asked simply, shaking me out of my worry. Even with my mouth dry, I gulped before answering.

"Pyrrha's there... so yeah."

"HA! Nothing else to say then, lovebird!" He laughed heartily, to which I groaned. He gained his composure quickly though, and reached for something. From behind his slumped back he pulled out a white stained burlap sack, which he then held out to me. "Here, take this."

I grabbed the bag, noticing a collection of wires tied to multiple mismatched rings that hung out of the drawstring mouth.

"Why, what is it?" I loosened the drawstring, eased it open and peered inside. Immediately, my face lost all color and I held the bag at arms-length.

"WHY IS IT FULL OF GRENADES?!"

"DON'T BE A BITCH!" He shouted back, laughing at the panic on my face. "Found those little guys on the Fang I mentioned, decided to take them and rig it up a bit. Good stuff. High-yield Dust mix; those things can send shrapnel through brick walls."