Just a quick drabble I've made that came to me. This is completely different from all my other stories, since there's literally no humor in it.
Jaune always believed that death would be different. After years of living his life and hearing about different cultures and how they perceived death, he believed it wouldn't be like what be was currently seeing.
He was currently in a room, which looked like it was for interrogations. He was sitting on a metal chair with a table in front of him. Jaune looked around confused, questioning what just happened to him. He knew he was dead, he felt his heart stop after the grimm punctured his lunges with its giant fist. He expected a white light right now, not a depressing, creepy room that sent alarms up his spine.
He suddenly heard a door opening behind him, he turned to see a man in a suit holding a file with him.
"Jaune Arc, I presume?" The man questioned, raising his eyebrow at the boy. Jaune slowly nodded at the man, making him continue. "Ok, first things first, do you know what happened to you?" He asked, sitting down at the unoccupied seat on the other side of the table.
"...I'm dead, right?" Jaune asked, not actually knowing for certain now. Where the hell was he and why was he here? Shouldn't he be in heaven, or was this heaven? Many more questions swarmed in his head, prodding at his brain, giving him a slight headache.
"Ah, good. That makes my job much easier." He then opened the file. "Let's see……..you died from sacrificing your life to a Grimm so your friends could escape. Pretty noble of you." The man told him, nodding his head.
Jaune stared at the man, his confusion only increasing as this guy spoke. "Thanks……….where am I? Is this the afterlife?" He really hoped not, an eternity in this place would drive Jaune insane.
The man laughed at his words. "What? Heavens no. You're honestly quite lucky, young man. Not many people get a choice like this."
This stumped Jaune. How the hell was he lucky? He just died, painfully that is. Who in the living hell would call this lucky? "How is that?" He asked the man.
"Because." The older gentleman said, closing the file. "You have a chance to go back and change something from the past." Jaune's eyes widened from this, not fully believing his ears. The guy continued. "Although, it's something only I can choose for you and it's controversial." The man finished, pressing his hands together.
"W-why me?" Jaune asked him, confused that he was being chosen for this. What makes him so special? He wasn't entirely sure he was actually dead now, he might be in a coma.
"Life fucked you over a lot. Lost the love of your life, some of your sisters and even father died during the war. You were the weakest one amongst your peers and yet, you still fought on, trying to fight the good fight. That's quite admirable young man, and you should be rewarded for this."
Jaune was lost for words, especially by him mentioning the love of his life. Pyrrha Nikos died fours years ago, after giving him his first and also last kiss. He could still feel her lips on his, the happy memories of her were stabbing into him like knives, knowing he would never have those back. "I still don't quite understand sir, what do you mean by changing something in the past?"
"I'm going to personally pick a certain time in the past for you to visit, I will then give you a task to do." The man told him, standing up to walk around the table. "This task will help you for the better, improving not only your life but would also bring back a certain love interest of yours."
Jaune's eyes widened. He could actually go back in time and prevent the fall? He could save Pyrrha from her death? Jaune quickly stood up, knocking the chair away from him. "I'll do it."
"You say that, but the thing I'm going to ask you to do is controversial." The man leaned against the table, looking Jaune dead in the eyes. "So you might not be able to stomach it."
Jaune angrily shook his head. "No, I'll do it. I'll do anything to save her. Please, just let me try." He desperately asked, willing to sacrifice anything for Pyrrha.
The suited man was quiet for a moment, before he finally replied. "So be it. Grab my hand, and I'll take you to the past." Jaune did what he was told and he saw the room changed. This made him dizzy and nearly puked from it but he kept his bile down. He was now in another room, a child's room to be exact.
The wall had drawings on it, colored with crayons. There were toys scattered on the ground, he nearly tripped on one of them. In the corner was a small bed with a little girl in it, probably around four years old. She was sound asleep, holding onto a teddy bear.
"Where did you take me?" He asked in a whisper, not wanting to disturb the young kid. The man just gestured towards the girl.
"Tell me, do you recognize this lass?" He asked him, making Jaune approached her. She had black hair.
"I…..no, who is she?" He asked him, turning back to the man.
"This young girl sleeping peacefully on the bed, is the notorious criminal that killed your only love, Cinder Fall."
Jaune rapidly turned back to the girl, now actually recognizing her. She looked so young and peaceful here, unlike her future self. Why the hell was he here?
Jaune turned back to the man to see him now holding a blade. The Blonde was confused from where he got the sword from. Jaune stared at him, until he finally realized what the suited gentleman was about to asked him to do. The man spoke up when he saw Jaune's shocked face. "I told you it would be controversial."
"B-but she's just a girl." Jaune angrily whispered to him. "how do you expect me to kill her?"
The man unsheathed the blade, inspecting the silver work. "You know how many kids she's going to kill to gain power? At least three, each one being just as young as she is now." The man then sheathed the blade again, looking at Jaune. "Imagine being the reason your partner is alive. Imagine being the hero of Beacon. Imagine all the lives you would save from this act of sin. Would it be worth it? Killing a currently innocent child to save several?"
Jaune was lost for words, not being able to even think properly. "I-I…..this isn't right. I don't understand why you're doing this to me. I thought I'm being awarded for all of my suffering I've endured. Why? Why are you making me to make this choice? Who the hell are you?"
The man was silent for a moment before replying. "It doesn't matter who I am, the only thing that matters right now is your choice. I can't make this an easy option for you, life is harder than that. Every positive thing has negative impact to someone else in some way, rather it being small, like a stubbed toe." He gestured to the girl again. "Or big, like the life of a young girl." The man walked up to Jaune, handing him the blade. "You have five minutes to decide. If you don't do this, then you'll will go to heaven and you'll enjoy your after life." He then raised his finger. "If you do this though, there will be no redos. You will wake up on the first day of Beacon, as if nothing happened between all these years. But Cinder will be gone, dead, murdered by you. The choice is one hundred percent yours, but remember it will impact your life greatly, rather it being your afterlife or your past. Good luck." The man then shimmered away out of existence, leaving Jaune and Cinder by themselves.
Jaune looked at the blade, it felt heavy in his hands despite it's size. He then at the girl, who was still sleeping. She didn't look evil at the time, she actually looked peaceful. She had a content smile on as she hugged her teddy bear in her sleep. Jaune couldn't believe he was actually debating this. This is fucked up, he shouldn't even be considering it. She wasn't evil yet, she's just a young girl at the moment.
But if he does this, he'll save so many people from an untimely death, including his partner.
Jaune shook his head, those people had their chances to live and who the hell does he think he is to change the past? Things were meant to happen for a reason right? Right? If that was true then why the hell did life took Pyrrha away from him, why the fuck should he care about what life wants when it selfishly took her away.
He then thought of what Pyrrha would do. She wouldn't even considered this option, she would never kill a young girl like Cinder. So Jaune calmed down, his rage dying.
Until he thought of how Pyrrha never had a chance to live her life and was taken away from him so early on. How he never saw her smile or heard her laugh again. This made his rage skyrocketed, consuming him.
Four year old Cinder woke up to the sound of a sword unsheathing, a hand cover her mouth, and a blade diving into her chest.
LineBreak
Jaune woke up in his dorm. He looked around to see Pyrrha getting dressed for the first day of class. She looked at him, her smile dazzling.
"Hello, Jaune." She chirped.
Here's the darkest thing I've written. Hope you enjoyed.