𝐈𝐧 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐃𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐬 (English)

Chapter 52

There were next to no details available on Hazel and Gretchen Rainart in Jaune's subtle investigation. It wasn't like he could do a lot to look when they were doing last-minute spars for Vytal Festival, so it was reduced to internet searches and looking up the archives of past students. The publicly available ones, that was. Little more than names, pictures and graduation details.

Neither were on those.

He could have gone to Ozpin but didn't feel he'd get a real answer. Maybe the dream had exaggerated Ozpin's cruelty – it would be easy for the recipient of such terrible news to see the man delivering it as evil – but the man would still be subtly biased. Whether it be guilt or sorrow over a lost student, Ozpin would give half answers. Of course, Hazel was biased too, which was why he had to take what he'd seen with a grain of salt.

Why his dream, though? Did I reach out to Vale again or was he close by? He's not a student or transfer but he could have graduated at another academy and come to the Emerald Forest. He hates Ozpin, after all. Not the career itself.

Though he might blame that and Beacon as well, but if he was in the forest then he had to be strong enough to defend himself. He hadn't been a faunus in the dream, so he couldn't be a part of the White Fang. That didn't necessarily mean he wasn't a threat, though.

But a threat to whom? Would this man blame Beacon and its innocent students for what happened? Jaune wanted to say no, because someone who experienced the loss of a sister wouldn't want to cause that loss for others. Plus, he'd only been trying to expose Ozpin in his memories, not to harm anyone. Qrow had been mentioned in the dream as well, but he didn't dare ask the man either, not when it might mean distracting him from finding Cinder.

In the end, he let it be. Beacon had its security in hand and Vale was on high alert. If Hazel was here, it might honestly just be because he'd heard Ozpin had "retired" and wanted to confirm it with his own eyes. With no "Ozpin" at Beacon now – officially, at least – there shouldn't be any threat. And if there was then he'd go straight to Glynda and Ozpin and tell them.

"Two days until the fights begin," said Ren. "I hope you're not planning to go on any stupid dream adventures and leave yourself too weak to compete."

"Don't jinx me like that. And you don't get to talk of stupid dreams, Mr Hunted-by-Sloths."

Ren sighed. "I blame Nora for that dream. I've never even seen a sloth."

Nora giggled.

"At least it wasn't an emotionally damaging one," said Pyrrha. "Or another one where terrible secrets get spilled."

"This is what a lot of them are like," Jaune said. "Not every dream is an emotional journey. It's just that the ones that are end up being the most memorable." He pulled the sheets up and climbed under. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight," his team echoed.

/-/

Jaune was falling.

It was strange that it was one of the first "falling dreams" he'd ever been in. They were allegedly quite common, though the books saying that might just have been taking guesses. He'd seen very few of the "most common" dream types according to those old texts. Maybe they were just the dreams people felt most comfortable sharing with the researchers, because the average person wasn't going to admit they'd dreamed of something embarrassing or mentally scarring.

"Oh yeah, I... uh... I fell. I totally fell. Please ignore the wet patch on my crotch."

Amused at his own thoughts, Jaune wheeled around so he could face down. Though he couldn't feel the wind whistling against his face (and it was probably a good thing because it'd be bitingly cold and low in oxygen at such an altitude) his hair and clothing whipped and whistled. Far, far below he could make out criss-crossing patterns of hedgerows between fields, and while he was getting closer, they never quite transitioned to being close. He was falling forever.