Ruby's voice was thin and small when she finally spoke again, the panic from had drained from her, leaving a lost, aching uncertainty behind, like the ebb of a tide that had pulled too much away with it.
"That invocation... what... was that? That presence. And your father, Jaune? What were you talking about back there?"
Her eyes were unfocused yet searching at the same time, as if she were trying to find footing on ground that simply refused to stop shifting. She looked a little hollow around the edges. Not broken, but shaken down to the marrow. Jaune recognized the expression. It was the look of someone who had just watched the world end for the first time and had not yet decided if it would start again.
He lowered his head slightly. The weight of everything he wished he could shield her from pressed against his ribs.
"Ruby… I…"
He didn't get another word out.
Qrow's voice cut across the space like a sudden wind that pushed all other sounds aside. He stepped between Jaune and the girls and lifted a hand, not to silence them, but to steady the spiraling tension.
"I know that things are... a little confusing right now... but, it's probably best if you don't ask too many questions about this. The details are... well, lets just say that its not something that you should know about. Not now and hopefully not ever. Ozpin has put a gag order on this information. Need to know basis only."
Yang's face shifted into a variety of emotions at his words. All of them negative.
"I understand that you've all just been through an ordeal and a half but... this isn't the time. All of what happened in the Dream is already a problem. Talking about it now, will only make that problem grow two extra heads."
He rubbed his forehead as if trying to knead away a pounding headache. His eyes were sharp, tired, and tired of being sharp. He looked at both sisters with an apology hiding behind his caution.
"I need to inform Ozpin immediately. There are... procedures for things like this, even though I hate that there are. No one walks away from an encounter with something like that without the entire chain of command being notified."
Yang snapped.
It happened fast and violently, not with her fists but her voice. Her anger cracked open like a flare in a silent field.
"No. Screw that gag order garbage. I want answers now! Stop treating me like a damned kid and start treating me like an adult!"
She stood upright, fists clenched, voice trembling with fury and grief. She pointed to the sleeping pods as if she expected them to echo the nightmares.
"I just watched an entire contingent of people die. A lot of people. Good men and good women who were LUCID members just like I am."
She looked Qrow straight in the eye and stared him down.
"Am I supposed to forget all of that? Am I supposed to forget that a bunch of people died, while we just stood there like fucking mannequins and watched everybody get killed?"
Tears slowly built in her eyes, as she spat out the last words.
"I don't know about you, uncleQrow, but this isn't something that I can just accept. I. Want. Answers."
Qrow's face scrunched up into a painful look, like he had just swallowed a lemon. Truth be told, Qrow was never good at comforting someone.
"And that person or thing or flesh beast... whatever the hell he was, absorbed those people as sacrfices? He absorbed their flesh. Sacrifice to what? To who? And why? Into that Coalesce rune? That… that…"
Her voice faltered. Her expression twisted into confusion, the anger slipping for a moment like her mind had hit a wall she had not seen.
"Wait… how did I... know that it was called Coalesce? I can't read runes."
She cupped the side of her head with one hand as if trying to squeeze clarity out of her own skull. Her breathing quickened again. She clutched her hair with both hands, eyes wide and still wet from unshed tears. Jaune flinched. A small, involuntary reaction he could not hide.
Ruby's hand suddenly flew to her temple as well. She inhaled sharply.
"Yang… I think... I can read them too. I can read all of them. Runes in my memory which were only weird squiggly lines before are now... clear? I… I should not be able to do that."
Jaune felt his throat tighten. He tried to hide it and failed.
Yang's gaze turned razor sharp. She looked between Qrow and Jaune with the intensity of a spotlight that refused to blink.
"Stop dodging this. Explain. All of it. Right now!"
Raven patted Qrow on his shoulder and gave him a look. A silent conversation seemed to bloom within their eyes. Finally, Qrow shut his eyes and his shoulders lifted and fell with a long resigned breath.
"Ugh..." he said quietly. "Whatever. Ozpin is going to tear into both of us for this anyway."
Jaune nodded slowly. It wasn't a gesture of triumph or relief, but one of acceptance. He owed Ruby and Yang the truth. He had owed all of his friends the truth for a long time. And now there was no way to hide the consequences.
Raven, who had been lingering near the door with her arms crossed, gave a quiet scoff that might have been approval or annoyance. Hard to tell with her. Without a word, she stepped down the ramp of the bullhead and walked into the open field outside. She climbed onto a slab of rock and sat, staring out toward the distant treeline with an air of someone expecting to be needed again soon.
"What about the people of Belmont? What do we do about the Dragon Gang and Sleepless, now that the LUCID members here have been destroyed?" Jaune couldn't help but ask.
"For now, we can do nothing. And this isn't something you should worry about, let the big boys handle it. For what it's worth... I'm sorry that this turned out to be a big mess. I wasn't expecting the situation to devolve into what it currently is."
Qrow gestured at the exit with two fingers.
"In any case... you should go with Rae. I need to call Ozpin without you all crowding around. He's going to want a detailed report of the situation anyway."
Ruby and Yang hesitated but Jaune did not. He stepped toward the open ramp. He could feel the faint tremor of fresh air. The sky outside was dark, at night.
After a moment, Ruby and Yang followed him. Their footsteps were unsteady but determined. They passed Qrow, who already had his phone out and was muttering something about wishing for one morning that didn't end in a crisis report. Once they stepped outside, the fresh air hit them like a softer version of cold water. The vastness of the open field felt unreal after the claustrophobia of the Nightmare.
Raven glanced back at them from her perch on the rock. Her expression was unreadable, as always, though Jaune suspected she was evaluating their mental states.
Yang dropped onto the grass, elbows on her knees, head bowed. Ruby sat beside her. Quiet. Watchful. Jaune stood for a moment before lowering himself onto the ground across from them. The faint breeze tugged at his hair, brushing past Ruby's cloak and Rust Belt and the stray strands of Yang's golden hair.
Ruby was the first to speak.
"Jaune… please. Explain. I don't want secrets."
Yang nodded sharply.
"I can't handle being treated like a kid who needs to be protected. Not after today and not after what we just experienced."
Jaune inhaled. The breath filled his lungs but did nothing to ease the tightness in his chest. He could feel the weight of their eyes on him, heavy with fear and expectation.
He looked at them both. Two people he cared about more than he had ever intended to. Two people who had been dragged into something far deeper than they realized. Two people who had earned the truth, even if the truth was the last thing he wanted to give them.
"You're both right. There's no point trying to hide this information anymore. Not if Sleepless is moving out in the open like this." he said quietly.
Ruby leaned forward slightly.
"Sleepless, huh? Well... then tell us."
Jaune stared at the ground for a moment as he searched for the right place to begin. The wind moved across the field in long, soft currents. Somewhere behind them, the bullhead engine clicked as it cooled.
When Jaune finally spoke, his voice carried the slow, steady weight of someone preparing to peel back a curtain that could never be put back again.
"There are things about the Dream Realm that no ordinary awakened knows. Things about older beings, ancient struggles, and rules that were never meant for mortals. Things that I learnt the wrong way. Through force, fear and pain. Through my... father."
Jaune lifted his gaze to them at last.
"Your father... that day, after the Amalgamation attacks, when Qrow and I found you passed out in your living room, at your house. It was your father, wasn't it?" Yang analyzed.
"Yes, Yang. That was the handiwork of my dad." Jaune sighed, rubbing his hair. His eyes had a distant look. "All of you had once wondered how I reached Rank 1 so fast. It was... related to him as well."
Silence made itself known amidst their group, to which Jaune continued.
"In any case, that night, my dad invoked the sleeper using that same chant which I did earlier, and dragged the two of us into the dream. He then revealed to me the real history of the dream realm."
"Real history?" Ruby asked. "What does that mean?"
The field held its breath with them. A wide quiet rolled across the grass, stretching so far that it felt like sound itself had chosen to sit down and listen.
Jaune exhaled softly, bracing his elbows on his knees as he looked at the two sisters.
"Before I start… I need to know exactly what you already learned about the history of the Dream Realm. It'll make this easier to explain."
Ruby frowned, sorting through the scraps of information she had been taught. Eventually she spoke with the careful precision of someone assembling a puzzle without knowing what the final picture was supposed to look like.
"Well… the Dream Realm is old, like really old. As far as anyone can tell, it started around the same time humans did. Maybe even earlier. No one's ever been able to catalog its origin because it doesn't follow normal rules. It can only be accessed spiritually, I guess. And Awakened have existed for thousands of years too. That's where stories of monsters, demigods and great heroes of storybooks come from. They were all people who were able to enter the dream realm consciously."
Yang picked up where Ruby left off, though her tone was harsher, like she had little patience for all of this.
"A few centuries ago, groups of Awakened started getting organized. Sharing knowledge and training each other. Eventually they came together and formed LUCID. And now we treat the Dream Realm like… like a dangerous frontier. Something we understand, even if we don't fully get it."
She looked at Jaune pointedly.
"That's all we know. So start talking."
Jaune nodded slowly.
"Everything you said is true," he began, "but only on the surface. It's a good story and even a comforting one. It's based on observations, history and guesswork… the kind of things people stitch together when they don't have the full picture."
He lifted his gaze to the sky. Clouds drifted like slow, pale caravans across a horizon that felt impossibly large after the suffocating dread of minutes before.
"The truth is older. And heavier. And nothing like what LUCID teaches."
Ruby swallowed.
"Jaune… what do you mean?"
He clasped his hands together, knuckles pale against the twilight.
"The Dream Realm isn't ancient because it predates human civilization. It's ancient because it predates the concept of civilization in the first place. It's not exactly a spiritual mirror or a parallel dimension. And it's not exactly a frontier or a natural phenomenon, either."
He looked at both sisters, letting the weight of the next words settle before he spoke them.
"The Dream Realm is... a literal dream. Not metaphorically. It is a dream that is being dreamt right now."
Ruby's breath hitched, barely audible.
Yang frowned, confusion and dread warring across her face.
"A… dream? I don't understand. How does that make sense?"
Jaune's eyes lowered to the grass between them.
"Think of the dream as a massive Nightmare Zone. One so large that it encompasses the entire world. It was born from the oldest being that has ever existed. A god who had once walked the real world and shaped it with every breath. A god that was sealed away long before humanity built its first village. A god whose unconscious mind had never stopped working, even after it was forced into eternal sleep."
His voice quieted into something heavier than sorrow, sharper than fear.
"The Sleeper. The being whose presence you felt in the Dream today."
Ruby shivered. Yang's jaw worked silently. Neither spoke, but both were listening with a focus that felt almost fragile.
Jaune drew another breath.
"Among the terrorist organization of Sleepless, the Sleeper who exists beyond the grave has another revered name."
He raised his eyes. The quiet of the field wrapped tighter around them.
"Salem."
.
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AN: Not much of a reveal, but a reveal nonetheless.
Advanced chapters are available on patreon