Chapter Text
Team RWBY followed closely behind Jaune as he weaved easily between the foliage of the Garden Acre. Tossing quick glances to each other, none of them was willing to be the one to interrupt his quiet mumbling to ask where they were headed. When he stopped dead, Weiss thumped into his back, Blake and Yang reaching for their weapons. Before them a bridge stretched out, starting off with a mossy path that abruptly gave way to solid brown rock.
“We’re going to have to cut up through Swan Lake Acre. Don’t let the name fool you, it’s dangerous. You need to do everything I say, okay?”
“Got it.” Yang nodded.
“Good, let’s go.”
The divide between the acres was immediately obvious, as they stepped in they were surrounded by a thin haze and large pillowy clouds cast a dusky shadow across the whole acre. They made it across the bridge and surrounding the brown path was an expanse of powder blue grass. Across the fields were a myriad of ponds and lakes in hues ranging from inky indigo to baby blue connected by rivers and streams.
Around them came the smell of fresh chocolate chip cookies that threatened to pull Ruby straight off the path, alongside an undertone of soothing lavender that smoothed the tension in Weiss’ shoulders. The distant sounds of a slow lullaby made Weiss’ eyelids suddenly feel very heavy. There was a blush coloured willow tree whose leaves sparkled in the low light that she thought would be the perfect place for a nap. From the corner of her eye she could see her teammates begin to droop in the same way.
Jaune’s sharp warning cut through their stupor. “Stay alert, we’ll be out soon. Get ready to plug your ears when I say to, and stay on the path, they can’t leave the water.”
“What can’t leave the water?” Ruby asked.
Just as the words left her mouth, a beautiful voice began to sing along with the lullaby. They all turned to the voice, Ruby beginning to take a step towards it. Grabbing her by the cape, Jaune pulled her back onto the path.
“Now! Cover your ears, don’t listen to them!”
More voices joined the first as the girls clamped their hands over their ears. Jaune nodded in the direction of the path and kept moving, the girls keeping close behind. With her ears tucked and her hands over them, the song was muffled, but her faunus hearing made it impossible for Blake to block it out. Her steps began to careen off towards the source until she was walking on grass, then straying out towards the water entirely. Her hands slipped from her ears entirely, a fuzzy haze filling her head as the song washed over her.
“Blake, don’t-” Yang reached out to stop her, but in doing so uncovered her ear.
Jaune had been soothing Juniper, who was unaffected by the relaxing atmosphere, walking carefully on the path with her ears tucked tight to her head. He glanced back to the girls, only to find he had lost two already. Luckily Yang was easy to spot in her blue and purple surroundings, so he ran to her, Ruby and Weiss close behind him. He grabbed her arm to stop her, but they had already reached the source of the song. A glittering pink lake full of beautiful women.
“Blake…” Yang said, still in a daze.
Jaune wasn’t sure if she was talking about the real Blake who was almost to the edge of the lake, or the Blake that was perched on a stone in the center of it twirling her hair around her finger. It didn’t matter to Jaune, as he quickly handed Yang off to her sister and went to stop Blake before she could reach the Yang basking in the non existent sunlight.
“They’re sirens!” Weiss yelled, to make sure Ruby heard her through her hands.
Ruby wasn’t paying attention, too focused on one of the sirens splashing around in the water. Her ginger hair somehow still fluffy and curled despite being soaked. When she looked over at them, she waved and beckoned them over with a huge smile.
“Penny.”
Bracing for the song, Weiss uncovered her ears. The sirens’ harmonies made her thoughts go staticy, but she did her best to block it out. Each hand gripping tight to one of her teammates. At the same time, Jaune grabbed Blake and jerked her out of the reach of the fake Yang that was calling her over.
“Jaune, we need to get them out of here!” Weiss yelled.
“Don’t leave Jaune, we haven’t seen you in ages”
From below the surface, two more Sirens emerged. Pushing the long curtain of black hair back, one revealed Ren’s face staring up at Jaune with large puppy dog eyes. The other shook the water from her orange hair and beamed at him.
“Aw, you even brought playmates for all our friends too! You’re so thoughtful.”
“Stop it.” Jaune’s grip on Blake tightened but he stopped pulling her away, just holding her still when she tried again to go toward the lake.
“The water is perfect. It’ll be just like a trip to Argus, take a quick dip with us. Pleeease?” The Nora Siren clasped her hands together.
The Ren Siren reached up out of the water, extending its hand for Jaune to take. “We can tell you all the secrets of the tree. You know we know how you get home, all you have to do is take my hand.”
“Like we told you before, it won’t hurt. Wouldn’t you like to just let go, and help your friends at the same time?” Holding out her arms as if waiting for a hug, Nora Siren gave him a pleading look.
“I said stop.” Jaune closed his eyes, but still didn’t try to step away or cover his ears.
Despite having her eyes locked on the Penny Siren who was still excitedly waving her arms, Ruby’s hands hadn’t left her ears. Glancing between her and Jaune, Weiss quickly linked Yang's arm in Ruby's and gestured towards where Juniper was waiting on the path. After finally breaking her line of sight with the siren, Ruby nodded and began to lead her sister away. Weiss recovered her ears as she approached, unable to hear the things the sirens were saying that kept Jaune rooted to his spot just out of their reach.
As she approached, several of the sirens tried to get her attention. A particularly bubbly one with short blue hair and a scar across her shoulder swam alongside her, waving and throwing little winks and smiles that made her face warm. Focusing on her goal, Weiss bit her cheek to keep from looking at her for too long. The closer she got to Jaune the more distance the siren kept between them, trying to draw Weiss into the water. Her steps only faltered once before she forced herself straight once more.
When she reached Jaune, the sirens had given up on using proper arguments to get Jaune to step into arm’s reach. She reached one hand out to grab Blake and heard the Nora Siren pleading for just one kiss before he left them again. The blue haired siren called out to her, giggling as she sang Weiss’ name, but Weiss planted her feet and forced back the urge to go to her. Shaking her head to try and rid it of the siren’s voice echoing in her brain, she grabbed Jaune by the elbow.
“Jaune, the real Ren and Nora are waiting for you in Vacuo. We have to go.”
“No! We’ve been waiting for you for years.” Ren Siren stretched up as far out of the water as he could. “You know you want to kiss me, I’m right here, just do it.”
“You know I can’t.” Shaking his head, Jaune took a step back.
Upon seeing that they’d lost him, Nora Siren lunged out and grabbed at his pant leg. Her fingernails grew into long sharp claws that scratched against the armour on his knee. The illusion of Nora began to crack as he backed away, scales growing where the scars cut across Nora’s skin. Looking down at the scales, she quickly disappeared under the ripples of the lake.
Ren Siren kept up his disguise as he sunk back into the water, a frown on his face. “You won’t be back, will you?”
“No.”
He didn’t respond, simply turning and diving beneath the surface. The rest of the sirens followed, sinking down into the lake deeper than it should go. When the ripples faded Yang and Blake broke from their spell, Blake covering her ears with a groan.
“What is that ringing noise?”
Weiss’s ears were ringing too, the sound resonating into a splitting headache. She cringed, but refused to release her friends’ arms. The sirens may have backed down, but she didn’t know what else may try to draw them from their path.
“It’s the after effects of the siren’s spell. Come on, it’ll go away once we get to Origami Acre.” Marching back to the path, Jaune checked repeatedly over his shoulder that they were still there, “Faunus hearing, how could I be so stupid.”
“Jaune…” Weiss hesitated, not sure she wanted the answer. “They seemed, um, familiar with you.”
He jolted, but didn’t turn around. “Yeah, well, I’ve dealt with them before. They were telling the truth you know, about knowing the tree’s secrets. I don’t know how since they’re pretty much stuck here, but they know about all the acres. I go to them to get information, and they give me just enough to keep me coming back.”
“How did you get away from them the first time?” Blake asked.
“Ador- uh, the one that likes to pretend to be Nora is sloppy. They almost got me the first time, but she forgot about Nora’s scars.” Shaking his head, Jaune looked over his shoulder to them, “It doesn’t matter. We won’t be back here.”
Ahead of them, the suns finally shone again, and after the fog it hurt Weiss’ eyes to look at. As she stepped out, she felt the path change textures under her boot. Looking down, she noticed the ground was one uniform layer of green, dotted with little folded up flowers.
“Is the grass… paper?” She asked.
Jaune nodded. “Welcome to the origami acre.”