Just add a Y

Chapter 34

Jaune sat down on the windowsill of the apartment room provided to him. The room wasn't too big, only a small single bed and a small table in one corner just across from the bathroom. He could only assume he was granted a single room on a recommendation by the mayor, though he doubted it had anything to do with their meeting. He turned to look around the room to see the table was seated with Coco and Jasmin, the senior grumbling angrily about the mayor. Jasmin was the complete opposite with her hands crossed before her face, a frown plastered on her lips. The boy could understand what the two were feeling as he looked out the window. The meeting with the mayor had been a surprise, to say the least. He hadn't expected to meet someone so anti-man. While he's met more than a few women who dislike men, he has never actually met someone like the mayor. He kind of wish he never met her, to begin with. He could've gone his whole life without encountering such a cruel person.

He didn't have time to dwell on the mayor. He had far more important things to think about, specifically the odd secretary he saw. If he had more info on the mayor and the village that'd be great, but the discrepancies in the mission were more concerning. The mission had mentioned missing people, but the mayor knew nothing about it. He took a deep breath and rubbed his eyes as people walked about outside as the sun was setting. As he watched the people passing by he wondered if anyone would be willing to talk about the missing people. Hopefully, the citizens would tell him that no one was missing, and the report had been wrong.

He really hoped that was the case, as did his team when he told them what happened with the mayor and her claims about no one missing. He made no effort to mention the secretary seeing as all he had was a gut feeling which wouldn't be enough worry his team or the others. Jaune shook his head, deciding he should just leave those thoughts for tomorrow when he had time to think about them. He dropped his hand from his face ready to kick Jasmin and Coco out of his room, so he could get ready to grab his dinner and go to bed. But just as he was about to turn from the window he noticed some of the town guard walking through the streets. He watched for a minute as the guards waved people off the street and into the buildings before the street become completely empty save for the guards.

He turned back to his fellow leaders to ask them to look at the sight only for a knock to come from the door. He looked at the girls who were staring at the door before glancing his way.

"You want one of us to get it?" Coco asked only for Jaune to wave her remark off.

"No, I got it. It's probably Pyrrha or Rin anyways." The senior an opportunity and joked about him having a secret rendezvous with one of his teammates. He ignored her and opened the door. He really did expect to see Pyrrha or Rin, not one of the towns guard's woman. "Um, hello."

He greeted awkwardly as the guard looked around his room to see Jasmin and Coco before looking back to him

"Good evening, I was told to come to tell you and the huntresses that the town is still following its Grimm alert protocol. Which means all patrons of the Inn's or villagers are to be kept indoors after sundown. If you are caught outside after sundown, you will be punished." The guard gave Jaune a pointed stare as she explained the curfew. He just huffed and nodded.

"Thank you for telling us. But if people are to stay in, does that mean the bar downstairs is closed?" The guard shakes her head in response.

"No, the bar is still open. If that is all I will inform the rest of your party." With that, the guard made her way down the hall to the other rooms. Jaune turned back to other confused occupants.

"Why would they still be on alert after we took care of the Grimm?"

"Just because we killed the Grimm doesn't mean the villagers will feel any less concerned. They could doubt that we cleared the forest in full or if we missed a few. The Mayor could keep the alert up for several days after the Grimm have been eliminated just to keep an eye out." Coco seemed to understand what Jasmin was saying but Jaune couldn't help the odd feeling.

"Wouldn't that just make the people more worried and attract Grimm again?" Jasmin to sigh tiredly at his question.

"Not really. If you think about it, people would feel safer if they think people will continue to be on alert even after the threat is gone. The people would also be grateful if the guards are on alert and can act quickly for a second threat that might appear." Coco explained the situation as she took her beret off and slapping it on the table. "Still, I've done plenty of missions for Beacon now and this is the first time any town has thought it was a good idea to stay on alert. It feels like they're trying to tell us that they don't trust that we got the job done!"

Jasmin hummed in agreement. The Huntsman in training could kind of understand what she was saying, but he still couldn't shake the uneasy feeling he had with the situation. He didn't really know what to do, but he felt it would be best not to voice his concerns just yet. It'd cause senseless concern to Coco and Jasmin if he mentioned his stupid gut feeling, especially if he was wrong.

"For now, we should just abide by their rules. No reason to get on their bad side any more than we already have." Jaune leaned against the door. "It'd be best to treat this as a vacation with restrictions."

Coco huffed at him as she walked by into the hallway.

"Fine, but I'm gonna complain about everything. So, get ready." Jaune just shrugged her remark off not really caring if she complained. He looks to Jasmin who had moved to the window of his room.

"What are you looking at?"

She turned to look at him before nodding to the street below as the town guards move from house to house locking them up. He had to admit the action seemed extreme and judging from the look on the girl's face she thought the same.

"I understand being careful, but this is extreme. I have never heard a town doing something so extreme as to lock its citizens inside. Especially when there's a threat of Grimm." The Atlesian student crossed her arms over her chest as she continued to watch the guards. Jaune watched the scene over her shoulder. There was just way too much to make him feel uneasy about what was happening, but no matter what if he started throwing random theories around it'd do nothing but causing unneeded worry. "Tell me what you think about the situation. I know something's been on your mind since we left the mayor."

Jaune flinched in surprise at Jasmin's words before turning away. He didn't want to respond to her question. It didn't help with how observant she was. He huffed and ran a hand through his hair.

"Sorry to say, but the only thing I'm concerned about was how the mayor acted and her dismissal of our efforts. That and her blatant sexism. That was the first time I ever met someone like that." Jaune said hoping he sounded believable because even he didn't believe himself. Even if what he was saying was true it wasn't the full truth. He tried not to look at Jasmin hoping she didn't notice his blatantly obvious nervous look. But after a second of silence, she spoke.

"I understand that the dismissal of us wasn't good, but that isn't the answer I wanted." Jaune frowned and lowered his head. "I won't push for an answer right now, but I want you to share your thoughts on this whole situation tomorrow. We can't have secrets, especially when things are like they are."

She said making Jaune nod before walking out of the room. He just sighed and rubbed a hand down his face with an exasperated groan. 'My luck sucks! If I can't make up something by tomorrow I will have to tell Jasmin about my crackpot theory!' He thought tiredly before falling onto the bed. He didn't feel like getting dinner now. He just wanted to call it a night and be done with the mess that was his day.

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Jaune groaned as he turned over in his bed, his stomach growling. He lifted his face from his pillow and snatched his scroll from the floor. He clicked it on and instantly regretted it as he blinded himself. With a hiss, he forced himself to look at the time on his scroll to see it was half past midnight. He dropped his scroll and sat up. 'Well this suck. I shouldn't have skipped dinner.' He thought sadly getting up out of his bed and moving to the window of his room. He couldn't go back to sleep just yet after that rude awakening his scroll gave him. He should really turn the things brightness down. He just shook his head and leaned on the window ceil as he stared out at the shattered moon as it rose through the night sky.

He couldn't help forgetting how bad his day had been when seeing how peaceful the village was at night, painted in a white glow from the moon. It looked so calm he could almost forget about the town guard locking people inside their own homes and the crazy mayor. He realized where his thoughts were taking him as he brought a hand to his face and pinched the bridge of his nose. 'Great, even when I am trying to have a peaceful night, I ruin it with stupid thoughts.' He thought as he closed his eyes and took a deep breath trying to think of something different. He slowly let the breath out, as he looked back up at the shattered moon. He needed to focus on something, so he would focus on the night sky and the sound of the wind outside.

But once he began to focus on the sounds around him, he heard something odd. Over the sound of wind and crickets, he could make out a soft humming sound. It wasn't humming per say, more that distant sound of singing that could only be called a hum. 'Wait, is someone singing.' He thought as he looked out to the walls of the village to see if he could make out any guards on watch. He obviously was too far away to really make out anything, but he was just looking for any lights to see any sign of the guards. But there was nothing. He was about to strain his ears to hear more, only for the singing to get louder. It wasn't the hum anymore, but a soft singing. It was serene in sound almost like a lullaby in sound. Jaune couldn't help being enthralled by the song. He wanted to know where it was coming from. He found himself moving before he could even think about acting.

He found himself steadily walking out of his room and down to the dinner part of the Inn about to reach the door only to stumble as he stubbed his toe on one of the chairs. He yelped in pain and fell over before glaring at the offending piece of furniture. He huffed and lifted himself to his feet before a thought hit him. 'Why am I trying to find the person singing.' He cupped his chin in thought as he raised his head and listened to the singing some more. He couldn't deny how enthralling it was, but he didn't need to find the singer right that moment. It was late, and he could just ask one of the townsfolks about it in the morning. They had to know who the singer was, except when he thought about going back to bed, he felt a piercing pain in his head. He gripped it as the piercing got worse when he took a step towards the stairs.

He didn't know what was going on before the pain got so bad he couldn't stand. He fell to his hands and knees as the singing got louder before he noticed something odd. He looked around the dinner and found a thick black fog had formed inside. He felt like this had happened to him before like he had been in a situation like this only for the feeling to fade as the singing slowly stopped. He watched the fog subside and the pain in his head left him. But he didn't move stuck on all fours panting as he tried to figure out what just happened. After a minute he finally pushed himself to his feet and went back up to his room. When he did, he caught ear of something thumping against the floor. He looked down the hallway, to where the sound came from. He was certain it came from Jasmin's room, but when nothing else happened he went into his room.

He sat on the end of his bed and tried to figure out what just happened. First, there was the song, which he couldn't get out of his head. It had been beautiful but why he wanted to find the singer so bad was odd. Stranger yet was the black fog and pain he was in. he knows something like that has happened to him before, but he couldn't place just why he believed that. 'That fog was way to familiar for me to not know about it. I am certain I have been in a fog like that before. But why can't I remember anything about it.' He thought as he brought a hand to his face staring between his fingers at the floor. The more he thought about the strange singing and his odd reaction to it, the more he started wondering if it was something to do with the town. He was really going to half to talk with the mayor's secretary now.

When morning came he was going to have to leave right away. Granted that meant he would have to leave before Jasmin got up. He didn't want her to catch him, so she could question him. He just sighed and realized just what he was thinking. He couldn't just leave like that. It would be rude, and he didn't want to be mean to Jasmin. But he didn't have much choice in the mater now. If he ended up having Jasmin tagging along with him to talk with that secretary she might scare him off, if the way the mayor acted was anything to go from. The poor secretary might not want to talk with a woman considering how his boss was. It sounded stupid, but Jaune knew plenty of guys who didn't like dealing with any type of woman if they happen to of had bad experiences with another. Jaune just shook his head and fell back onto his bed with a tired sigh. 'Well shit, there I go thinking stupid things again. I need to focus on what's important. I need to ask the secretary about the missing people in the request, and the strange singing just now. Great, I am going to have one heck of a day tomorrow aren't I.' He thought before turning onto his side to try and fall asleep. He was going to have a long day ahead of him.

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Jaune's morning turned into a pretty hectic one as he woke up and went through his routine in super speed. Granted he didn't get to Ruby levels of speed he was certain had anyone seen him running around his room in such a frenzy they would have thought him crazy. He had to slow down a little when he went to the diner below grabbing a quick breakfast, before sprinting out of the dinner throwing lien onto the table when he saw Jasmin and her team coming down the stairs. He thanks a waitress he passed before sprinting out towards the town hall to try and meet the secretary. As he ran down the road he realized he made a bit of a mistake running off like that, but he had more pressing matters. He Just felt bad for trying to keep his friends from worrying about his crazy theories. Also, he didn't want to share the weird experience he went through that night.

Still, it didn't matter right now, he had to talk with the secretary. So, when he got to the double doors of the town hall he had to take a minute to compose himself. 'Alright, I don't want to run into the mayor. I am here for the secretary and him alone.' He thought taking a deep breath before pushing his way in. just like his last time entering the town hall, he couldn't help feeling that the oak interior was odd. Luckily for him, the secretary's desk was right in front of him, so he had no need to look for the man. He just needed to ask him about the request and be done with it. With each step closer to the front desk, Jaune couldn't help feeling uneasy. He doubted if his gut feeling was right. Because if he was wrong he was bothering the poor old man for no other reason than to satiate his curiosity. But he kept on as he stopped in front of the desk.

The secretary raised his head from the paperwork he was signing a small smile on his face.

"Can I help you, young man?" Jaune couldn't help the smile that came to his face at the pleasant greeting.

"Yes, I was wondering if I could spare a minute of your time and talk about the Grimm extermination request that was sent to Beacon," Jaune said feeling bad when he saw the smile leave the old mans face and scared look he made towards the mayor's office. Jaune was glad the door was closed. He leaned forward getting closer to the old man to whisper. "I won't take much of your time, but I need to know something about the request. Please, can you help?"

The old man began to fidget as he seemed to try the grab anything on his desk, obviously looking for some sort of excuse to refuse. Jaune felt bad for what he was doing, he was very much worried the old man would have a heart attack.

"S-sir, I-I-I…" The old man tried to speak but Jaune just raised a hand stopping him.

"I, don't want to be a bother. Please though, tell me why the request mentioned missing people. And why the mayor said that was wrong." Jaune said as the old man just lowered his head and brought his hands together gripping them tightly. Jaune could tell that the man still trying to hold back so he did the only other thing he could. "If you can't tell me about the request, then tell me who was singing last night."

The moment the word singing left Jaune's mouth the old man jumped. It was a startling sight, to see a man who had to be in his early 60's jumping straight to his feet in a split second. What was even more startling being the way the man grabbed at Jaune's collar pulling him into his face. The old man looked like he saw a ghost as his voice quivered out.

"Y-you, heard the song. You remember, the song." Jaune couldn't understand what was happening, and he was about to ask what the old man meant by him remembering the song, but he couldn't as the old man grabbed his face a grip so tight he shouldn't have been able to have with his frail-looking hands. "The song calls for us. It is so enthralling that all who hear it seek to find the songstress. If you remember the song, then you fought the call. You must fight the call again, and take the songstress' voice. If you do, we will be free."

The old man said letting Jaune go as he stumbled back shocked by his reaction. He had no idea what he was going on about, he wanted to ask more, but he couldn't as the mayor's office door swung open and the mayor stepped out a pack of paper in hand.

"Bert, these papers were filed wrong! You ne…" The mayor began only to stop when she saw Jaune and the haggard looking secretary Bert. She glanced between the two before glaring at Jaune. "Why are you back here you pig?!"

Jaune wanted to glare at the woman for calling him a pig, but he couldn't bring himself to do that as he was more focused on thinking about the secretary, Bert's, words. He figured giving a complacent response would be best, so he could get out of the building quickly.

"I wanted to apologize for yesterday. I spoke out of turn, and I reacted badly. I wanted to ask for your forgiveness." He said about to lower his head only for the mayor to stomped up to him and shove him back towards the door.

"Forgiveness?! Please, a pig isn't deserving of forgiveness!" She snapped before pointing to the door. "Get out of here! You don't deserve forgiveness; just be glad I don't have you arrested simply for bothering me!"

Jaune really had no idea what was with the woman's insane reactions to him, but he wasn't going to push his luck. The Mayor was kicking him out, so he didn't have to ask to leave. So, with a quick turn, he ran out of the building, even if he wanted to punch the woman in the face for how she was acting. Really, he felt like she was overacting. Her reactions were so explosive they didn't really match with how he heard sexist people act. He didn't know if the mayor truly hated men, or if she was overacting to hide something. Especially with how she reacted when she saw how he was talking to Bert. Something was up, and Bert's own ravings about the song left Jaune with more questions than answers. But Jaune learned one thing from this event. He was certain that now people were missing, and they were missing because they answered the call that is the song. Now all Jaune had to do was figure out what the hell that meant.

End

An/Well this took forever to come out and I guess I should say sorry but meh. The chapter is out and your reading needs can be satisfied! Well, something can happen and you little reader people can feel whatever you want for this. Either way here is the chapter and always.

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