Everything happened so fast.
What exactly happened?
Jaune wasn't too sure.
Nevertheless, he felt incredibly idiotic for having not seen this coming. He'd known something was off since the first round in the finals, when Yang broke that Mercury guy's leg. Making a mental list of all the inconsistencies in that moment, the entire situation didn't sit right with him.
Next think he knew, the White Fang was attacking the festival a few days later, along with a horde of Grimm. That brings him back to the present, roughly a few hours after the attack began. Jaune deduced from his throbbing headache that after he and his team made it back to Beacon after the attack began, he'd somehow been knocked out cold. How he managed to remain where he was and not become a Beowolf's next meal was beyond him.
Getting to his feet, Jaune felt around his waist to see if Crocea Mors was still with him. When he felt his fingers run across the sheathe, a part of him relaxed at the thought of not being completely defenseless. Taking in his surroundings, he realized that there wasn't a door anywhere in this room. Turning to face where he'd been lying for the past few hours, Jaune's sight was met with a large wall of rubble.
"So I'm practically buried. Fantastic."
Seeing only one possible course of action, Jaune picked a random spot on the makeshift wall and gave it a shove. to his surprise, a good half of the garbage wall gave and an exit was now available to him. Steeling himself with a deep breath, Jaune left to face whatever sight fell before him.
Jaune stepped out into a hallway and went to the nearest window. He saw Beacon Academy's courtyard filled with students, huntsmen, Grimm and White Fang all fighting each other. He didn't stay to take in the scenery for too long, as he had one thing on his mind.
'Where the hell's my team?'
Fortunately for him, the buildings of Beacon were clear. That gave Jaune the clear to make a quick run to the nearest exit. he judged from where he was that this was the building with the cafeteria, and the only exit was on the other side of that. Finally making his way to the cafeteria doors, Jaune made a sprint and knocked the door open…
Only to be frozen in place.
Before him were multiple students lying defeated- possibly dead- at the feet of a man dressed in black and red. From the Grimm mask and the horns on his forehead, Jaune guessed that he was a faunus from the White Fang.
Looking at the students, Jaune realized, he knew these students. From the left, he could make out the forms of Team CRDL, lying defeated but not likely dead. Lying back on an upheaved chunk of floor was Velvet Scarlatina of CFVY, and closest to him was-
Ren. Nora.
...Phyrra. All of them bloodied to the point he could barely tell it was them. His team.
Jaune choked out a sob.
"Is this painful for you, human?"
Jaune looked up through teary, enraged eyes at the faunus who did this to his friends.
"You were a tad too late to do anything for them, and now they're gone. On the verge of death because you were too slow. Does that hurt you, to know you couldn't do anything for them at the very end?"
Every word that poured out of his mouth only fed Jaune's anger.
"Shut the hell up!"
"Now you share our pain."
Jaune stood straighter with a start.
"You humans have only ever oppressed us. You've never known our struggle. You've never lived the constant need for strength, the constant loathing of your weakness. Your very existence. Now, you've felt what I've felt my entire life!"
A pregnant silence hung for a few moments before Jaune stood up, scooped up Phyrra's unmoving form in a bridal style, and set her down peacefully to the side. He proceeded to do the same with Ren and Nora, settling for placing the others in some more comforting positions.
"J...Jaune…?"
It was faint, but it didn't go unnoticed by the blond. As he was tending to Cardin, the brute had come to.
"Settle down, Cardin. Just rest up." Was his reply.
Standing up from his position next to CRDL's leader, Jaune walked over to face the faunus.
"You don't know a damn thing about humans."
At the statement, the faunus seemed to fire up.
"You say you've lived your entire life hating yourself for being weak, wanting to be stronger all the time? That humans have it so well that we don't live like that? Grow the hell up, asshole. Don't think you're anything special for that."
Unsheathing Crocea Mors and unfolding the shield, Jaune rushed at the faunus shield-first. The faunus side-stepped the charge and readied his sword, going for a side strike, only to meet Jaune's blade in a block. Jumping back slightly, the two swordsmen charged towards each other again to truly engage.
Jaune wasn't quite sure what had gotten into him, but he knew in the back of his mind that his new sense of bravado was about to get him killed. He got lucky in the first few attacks, but the blond knew exactly how outclassed he was when the faunus managed to destroy Crocea Mors' shield. In one blow.
Staggering back, Jaune took notice of the blood that dripped from his now empty shield arm. That blow had much more force behind it than it appeared.
The faunus' face broke into a mocking grin. "You challenged me, knowing that you would lose?"
Jaune readied himself again, taking a battle stance with both hands on his sword. "I had to. You get it, right?"
One bout later and Jaune found the left side of his face warm, covered in the blood seeping from a gash on his forehead. He'd done a bit better that time, though, as the faunus had a few gashes on his arms.
"You expect me to understand your motives?"
The faunus charged and metal clashed. Jaune could barely believe what he was feeling. He wasn't thinking about any of these movements, they were just happening. He was acting solely on instinct.
"Well, you were going off about how you've lived your whole life wanting to be strong. I've done the same."
"You expect me to believe that?"
Jaune pushed against the faunus' blade and slid out to his side. His following side strike was easily deflected, and all Jaune could do was bounce backwards to avoid being lobotomized.
"No, not really. But even if you don't believe me, I can at least try to get through to you, right?"
The fighting stopped for a moment, as the two swordsmen stood across from each other.
"Ever since I was a boy, I always looked up to my older sisters. They were always so strong, all aspiring huntresses. And my dad, oh boy, he was outstanding. Knew exactly what to teach them. I wanted to be exactly like them. All of them. But I was too weak."
The faunus was silent as Jaune continued. "No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't measure up to any of the standards my father and sisters set. I was a complete failure. So, I had to fake my way into this academy. Maybe I was in over my head, but what the hell. I was desperate to be strong. Hell, I'm still willing to do anything at all to be strong. For my friends. For my dad, and my sisters."
"So you're willing to fight me. Willing to possibly die?"
Jaune chuckled. "Yeah, I guess so. Will I be remembered as being very strong if I died right here? Who knows. I can't worry about that, though. I have to worry about the situation in front of me, at any given time."
The faunus stood silent in thought. "I see. I can tell you're not lying about this...perhaps we're not too different after all."
Jaune had a bit of a fire light up in him. "We're not so different? Humans and faunus aren't any different, aside from some extra parts! Humans live, so do faunus! Humans die, so do faunus! Humans love and hate for some pretty dumb reasons, so. Do. Faunus!"
The faunus stood in shock, mouth slightly agape before removing his Grimm mask.
"I suppose you're right. Where did our races go wrong?"
"I think they just never...talked."
The faunus gave the blonde a questioning glance.
"I mean, we've never really tried to understand each other, right? It might be a little tough, since some humans don't understand each other, and the same goes for faunus. But, hey, if I can...I want to do anything I can to bridge that gap. I know I'd just be a small piece in someone else's big master plan, but I want to help that person do what needs to be done."
For the first time in their meeting, the blond's eyes met the faunus'.
"What...what is your name, boy?"
"Jaune...Jaune Arc. What about you?"
"Adam. Adam Taurus."
A silence fell again as the two's gazes remained locked on each other.
Adam readied his weapon.
"Jaune Arc. If only we'd met some other way, in some other place...I'd have so many questions to ask you."
Jaune readied his weapon the same.
"Yeah, me too, Adam Taurus."
With that, the two made one last slash at each other. Staying still for a moment, they both coughed up blood, falling to their sides, succumbing to their fresh wounds at their sides.
Adam sat cross-legged in his prison cell. While the attack on the Vytal Festival was a huge blow to Vale, the operation ended up being a failure for the Fang.
Not that he particularly cared anymore. His thoughts remained with the fight he'd had with that boy. He'd wondered, if he, Adam Taurus, had survived that bout, then it was possible…
"Hey."
This vocal cue prompted Adam to glance up. When he found a grinning aryan face looking back at him, he sat in slight surprise.
Jaune sat mirroring Adam on the opposite side of the bars. After a few moments of silence, one finally spoke.
"Why have you come?"
Jaune only continued to grin. "Well, none of those people I found you with are dead, so I can't be too mad at you…"
The blond trailed off and closed his eyes.
"Besides, we, me and you, have a lot of questions to ask."
Adam stared at the boy a moment longer before he, too, cracked a smile.
"I suppose we do."
A/N: Well, well, well. Hello, darkness, my old friend.
So, after months of no updates, I suddenly feel the urge to write at 1 A.M. after watching the new chapter of Volume 3 and listening to Glassy Sky from Tokyo Ghoul. If you're into the whole immersion thing, try listening to it while you read the fight scene. Who knows, it might work out.
Expect an update on Burden soon, if you were following that. Won't be a new chapter, but probably an A/N to lay the damned thing to rest.