Hey everyone! This is my first attempt at writing out a fanfiction, so please review and give tips!

I generally don't like Jaune "superpowered" because I really like the base character's struggle of "OH SHIT EVERYONE IS AWESOME EXCEPT ME" and his struggle to catch up and stand with them. This little plot bunny was rolling around in my head for awhile and I decided to go for it.

Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY or any of the characters. Nor do I own Ajin.

This would be the four thousandth, five hundred and fifty sixth time that Jaune had woken up and seen nothing but darkness. Best he could tell, his face was covered with bandages, and his body was bound similarly and strapped to a cold metal table. This was the start of his daily routine. First he woke up to bandages that were a little too tight, and a table that was a little too cold for his liking. Then came the same voice saying the same words Jaune heard every morning.

"Subject Ajin is prepped, machines are hooked up and vital signs are consistent with previous readings… Preparing daily examination."

Jaune didn't know how things had come to this. He remembered going out with his family to celebrate... something... He wasn't sure of what anymore. He remembered his family. His father and his mother struggling with a squirming blonde girl, ice cream covering her face. He remembered the rest of his sisters laughing, chatting, and offering kind words to the youngest one and her lost frozen treat.

Then a sudden shriek, loud yells, something was happening, someone was… fighting?

Then heat, pain, yelling, and a piercing scream from his mother screaming out his name.

"Jaune!"

And then darkness. That first time waking up was the worst, an intro to this perpetual hell. Every day since then had been the exact same thing.

"Subject Ajin has been displaying decreased reaction to standard procedures, indicating either a loss of sensation to such stimuli."

Stimuli? Is that what they were calling getting stabbed by a scalpel?! Scalpels that were also much colder than Jaune would have liked.

"Beginning daily harvesting."

As was routine, Jaune let out an inward sigh. First was the harvesting of his organs.. The butchers had become skilled with practice, operating with a brutal efficiency. Jaune couldn't tell what they took, Jaune just knew that they always saved his heart for last. By then, there was barely any blood left in his body for his heart to pump anyways.

"Procedure complete. Moving daily harvest to appropriate containers. Make sure not to drop this liver, alright Violet?"

This was the least painful death in his daily routine. They just let him there to just… die. To just bleed out on the table. As Jaune felt himself growing colder and colder, he couldn't help but think that as of late the voice had sounded bored. As if slicing into a living human being had become mundane. Maybe it had?

At least Jaune thought he was still a human. Most humans wouldn't be able to survive what Jaune was being put through. Then again Jaune didn't even know how he was surviving. He didn't know if it was him, or the sick bastards who were cutting him up like a roast turkey, either way Jaune did not die. He could not die. And as such he had to live through this hell every day.

As Jaune once more felt the sweet sweet embrace of death, he thought he felt a low rumble and panicked screaming. Something about a leg?

'Well that's certainly new…'

"AAAGH. MY LEG"

Qrow threw the recently crippled nameless grunt to the floor as he brushed his hands off.

Qrow Branwen had seen a lot of things to make him a drunk. Today he had officially upgraded into pissed-off angry drunk who was about open up a whole can of whoop-ass on the Atlas security bots that guarded this sorry excuse of a place. Apparently Ironwood had let slip something troubling to Ozpin, who let slip something to Qrow, which ended with Qrow trying to sneak into a high-tech military facility. A high-tech military facility considered a blacker than black ops facility whose existence the Atlas government would staunchly deny.

Sneaking into a high-tech military facility had quickly turned into destroying a high-tech military facility with his bare hands. Well his bare hands and a nifty amount of explosives that he had stolen from the supply closet.

Qrow hadn't planned on turning the whole place into a giant fireball, he had just planned to go in then out with none the wiser. Maybe he would have taken a few pictures on his scroll, stolen a few documents, see what the night had in store for him.

Instead he had seen a body covered in bandages and soaked in blood, it's chest cavity torn open and still weakly rising up and down with dying breaths.

Qrow had seen a lot of things in his life. He had also done a lot of horrible things. But the things they had done to that body was… an abomination. That was really the only way Qrow could describe it.

He had seen the first incision and the blood welling up. He saw them tear out its organs with a flippant disregard to the sanctity of life. Qrow could have sworn he even saw one of the lab monkeys carve his initials into the soon-to-be corpse as some sort of sick joke.

It had taken him less than a second to blow his cover, slamming the closest unfortunate soul into the wall. He then proceeded to turn the target of his ire into a bludgeoning instrument, smacking around anyone foolish enough to approach him while he wielded his meaty flail.

Eventually he had to switch over to his sword, which while being large was not compensating for anything despite what one Glynda Goodwitch might claim.

Either way, the lab was soon the home of a lot of broken machinery, a few broken bones, and several newly soiled pants by the scientists passed out in the operating room. In Qrow's defense, he hadn't done anything to them. They had just passed out. Wimps.

He really needed a drink, and Qrow wished he had remembered to refill his flask. He somberly approached the body on the table..

"A… jin?" Qrow wondered as he read out the words printed on the bandages covering the body's face.

Qrow's face scrunched up in concentration. Something was wrong. Shouldn't this body have it's chest cavity ripped open? Had someone switched the body while Qrow was rampaging? Had -

"SWEET BABY MONTY" Qrow yelled as he jumped back, his sword up and ready.

The apparently not dead body had turned its head and looked directly at Qrow.

Jaune realized something was different about today. Or tonight. Truthfully Jaune had no idea in hell what time it was anymore. Dying tended to do that to one's sense of time.

Either way, the smell of burning wires, what appeared to be urine, and the distinct lack of anyone trying to cut Jaune up told him something was different about today. It's either that or his torturers had gotten very creative.

"A… jin?"

Consider Jaune's curiosity piqued. That was a different voice than usual. The same voice yelled out as Jaune turned his head to face the unknown voice.

'Huh… that's also new. Haven't had a screamer in a while.'

Most of the so-called researchers that Jaune 'met' weren't really that easily startled, or were so inclined to screaming. Jaune felt a bare glimmer of hope beginning to well up as he also prepared to squash such feelings. It was after the two thousandth or so "wake up" that Jaune had stopped hoping.

He had hoped his family would find him. That someone had been looking for him and would finally rescue him. That hope had slowly and slowly faded away.

But today? Jaune had a good feeling, This was possibly influenced by how the owner of such a low raspy voice had let out such a high, girly scream. Jaune felt an odd kinship with this unseen stranger.

"Hello? Is anyone there that's not trying to murder me?"

OF course Jaune forgot about the bandages, his voice coming out as, "Mmmm? Mm mmmmm mmmmm mmmmmm?"

Jaune hoped he got the message.

Qrow looked at the body suspiciously. After it had turned it's head to face him, it had started to make a bunch of muffled noises. Qrow noted that it sounded like the body was trying to talk to a cursory glance over the body, Qrow noted that it was male, lanky, and oddly calm about the whole situation.

"I could have sworn it was dead." Qrow whispered to himself as he slowly inched closer.

The muffled noises coming from the body increased in intensity as the body appeared to try and get out of the straps binding it. Maybe Qrow had somehow offended it?

"Wait. Oh god. I hope this isn't one of those stupid zombie movies that the girls like to watch. God help these idiots if they created a zombie apocalypse."

The muffled noises once more increased in intensity. The mummy had definitely taken offense to that. Or was agreeing. Qrow wasn't entirely sure.

Qrow was now in arms-length of the bandaged body. The muffled noises had stopped, as if the body could sense Qrow's trepidation. Overcoming his fear of potentially becoming bitten and turning into a zombie, Qrow grabbed a scalpel from the operating table nearby. He slowly worked the scalpel on the bandages wrapping its head.

Qrow's work was swift, revealing a youthful face and bright blue eyes that stared into Qrow's. His head was recently shaved, but Qrow noted the blonde stubble already growing on his head.

'He can't be any older than Yang…'

Qrow's fist tightened on the haft of his sword. The… Ajin barely noticed the tension running in Qrow's body, either through ignorance or confidence.

While the person in front of him didn't look the least bit dangerous, Qrow had been in enough situations to know never to let your guard down. Especially to possibly experimental military weapons that would necessitate all the secrecy and guards.

The man, really more a boy seeing he was probably still in his teens, experimentally moved his mouth around, as if checking to see if it still worked. Apparently satisfied that everything was more or less still intact, the boy looked around a little bit, taking in the sight of destruction around him.

Finally his eyes settled on Qrow, who had stayed silent while the boy took a second to adjust to his surroundings. Qrow tensed up even more as he matched eyes with the boy, dark red staring back into a bright blue.

Jaune didn't know what to expect when he finally saw something aside from bandages. He was pretty sure it would never be fire and destruction. He would have been lying though if it wasn't extreeeeeeemely satisfying.

He quickly noticed the man standing next to him, standing at the ready with a sword that definitely wasn't overcompensating for something.

'Dangerous' was the only thing that came to Jaune's mind as he looked at the man in front of him up and down.

Dark hair, stubble on his chin, and standing tall and confidently, the man in front of him cut an imposing figure. Especially considering the scene of destruction behind him.

'Although I guess "savior" would also be appropriate.' Jaune thought as he realized that the man had also cut him free from his bindings. It was around then that Jaune realized how long the silence had gone.

'Oh god. It's gotten awkward. Dammit Jaune! This is going to be your first conversation in who knows how long that wasn't with yourself!

Okay. You can do this. Just. Act. Naturally'

" Hi there! The name's Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue. Ladies love it. "

'SHIT'

"Do they?" Qrow asked as Jaune effectively "lamed" his way out of any tension Qrow had about being in front of "Subject Ajin".

'Just roll with it'

"I uh… Don't know. I don't think I've seen a lady in… What day is it?"

"Tuesday"

"Two years, thirteen weeks, and 5 days."

"Oh... " Qrow gaped as the boy slid his legs off the table and moved to stand up.

"Yeah, it's been awhile. I could be off by a few - WHOA" Jaune yelped as his legs buckled underneath him the moment that he tried to stand. Luckily Qrow was close enough and fast enough to grab Jaune before he completely fell to the floor.

"Oh geeze! I've forgotten how to walk! Wait no… give me a second." Jaune's legs felt like jelly as he slowly tried to put weight back on them. The shaking quickly stopped though as Jaune soon found his equilibrium.

"Huh, I would have thought your legs had atrophied if you were here for two years." Qrow said as he slowly let Jaune go before moving back once he was satisfied Jaune wouldn't collapse again.

Jaune was fairly certain they should have too, but for now he was just glad that he was walking around. He took a few tentative steps, before he nodded to himself and began to walk a bit more confidently. He walked in a few circles, noting the bemused glances his companion was sending his way.

He turned back to look at Qrow.

"So Mr…"

"Oh sorry. Forgot. The name's Qrow Branwen. No idea whether ladies like my name but I'd like to think so."

Jaune threw his best impression of a winning smile at Qrow. "You know that's the first joke that I've heard in ages?"

Jaune could already tell that he liked Qrow. Then again Qrow was the first person that he had actually seen and interacted with in over 2 years. Well the first person that hadn't tried to cut him up. Yet.

"Anyways… I don't suppose you know how to get out of here do you?"

Qrow found himself returning Jaune's smile for a brief second before a frown found its way back onto his face.

"Not so fast kid. I'm all for getting out of creepy places as much as the next guy, but I'm not letting you step a foot aside this place until you tell me what the hell you were doing here."

Qrow didn't like that he had to suspect the kid, but if you were in the business as long as he was you learned to always be cautious with the unknown.

"Well… I guess it'd be easier to show you." Jaune said as he adopted a thoughtful expression on his face. He began to look around for something.

"Uhm, I guess if that helps…" Qrow leaned back on the metal table that Jaune had just vacated. He kept a firm grip on his sword, eyes never leaving Jaune's body as the boy continued looking around.

Finally Jaune's eyes lit up, finding some unknown answer in the surrounding wreckage.. His wanderings had finally led him to some sort of pile of robots. Jaune had a hunch that Qrow was responsible for this disorganized pile. Jaune rifled through the rubble before his hand finally pulled away a pistol in relatively good condition.

"Okay this should do i-" Jaune's mouth clicked shut as he turned around, Qrow's blade hovering over his throat.

"Put. the gun. DOWN" Qrow said tersely, as Jaune stared impassively at Qrow.

Jaune reached up a finger and ran a finger along the edge. Jaune whistled appreciatively as even with such a light touch the blade easily drew blood.

"Wow. Nice sword. Thanks for the assist, but bleeding to death would probably take too long . This way's faster."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Qrow said as he kept a wary eye on the pistol Jaune was slowly raising up. The muzzle wasn't pointed towards Qrow just yet but the moment it did he would cut Jaune down.

It wasn't anything personal, Qrow just preferred not to be shot.

Qrow's eyes slowly widened as he saw the gun's final destination.

"You wanted to know why they were keeping me here." Jaune said with a shrug, as the cold metal rested against his temple.

"Wai-" Qrow tried to reach forward and grab the gun but Jaune's finger had already squeezed the trigger.

*BANG*

Qrow jerked back as a mist of blood burst from Jaune's head. Brain matter and blood covering the ground as Jaune's body fell limply to the ground.

Qrow lowered his sword letting out a sigh, his mouth closed in a grimace. It looked like today was a bust. He hated to see someone so young just off themselves like that.

"Gah!"

His sword quickly came back up, as he darted backwards, slack jawed as he watched what was happening in front of him.

Jaune stood back up from his prone position on the ground, no trace of a hole in his shaved head but blood and brain matter still covered the ground next to him, but other then that there was no evidence of Jaune's suicide.

Jaune's azure eyes stared back into Qrow's, as Qrow faced the unknown.

"That is why they were keeping me here… Can we go now?"

…

…

"And do you have any pants?"

This story was kind of inspired by the Ajin manga, would recommend if you haven't read it yet. Any ways, I'll try and update soon. Soonish. Probably.

See y'all next time!