Sorry about a lack of activity on this site, but I blame starting college again in the summer. I've been swamped with work every day and if it's not schoolwork than its actual work. I've learned quite a bit just this summer alone and plan to learn even more in the fall. Now with that said I am making this for the sheer fun of it. Any inconsistencies you see take a back seat; this is me having fun from my addled brain.
This will have Bleach elements.
Enjoy.
Soulbound
Prologue: What is a man?
What is a man's word worth? What is the value in such a concept? Why is such a thing important in a day and age where such notions are so easily said, but are rarely kept? For what reason should it exist? Is it simply there to give comfort and false hope to the weak and downtrodden?
Nay.
Sure, one could say that was the purpose for giving one's word, but to a rare few people left in the world nothing was more sacred. To these individuals such promises should always be honored and kept; to say them so frivolously without any actual weight and go on to not keep true to your word. It was, basically, a dishonor on you, your family, your ancestors, and a dark mark to follow generations to come.
Nothing can forge a man better than his resolve and tenacity; however, one that stays true to his honor, and keeps his promises makes for one unbreakable soul.
To these rare individuals such things were important, but none were more focused, dogmatic even, in how they kept their word than one family on the outskirts of Anima. A small family of seemingly well-kept pioneers with a history of Heroes and Warriors at their back. Yet in this day, in this age, they live their lives like their fellow frontiersmen. Where every day was fraught with danger and death around every corner. It was this family that considered the concept of keeping your word more than just of a matter of honor.
They considered it an act of the soul itself.
For what is purer in intent than that of the soul? All was revealed when your soul reacted. Because when your soul acts it shows the truth of who you are, and no amount of hiding will conceal that. That was what this family knew for certain; they were raised to always know the intention of others. To read them, to know their soul from only a glance; before anything else that was what they were taught when each member in the family came into the world.
We are not a family that decides who should live and who should die. We do not condemn anyone that chooses to do something we do not agree with; nor do we partake in the act of hating those different from ourselves. Such notions are for the weak of mind and soul. We are a family that holds true to our values, our foundations are strong and what we build up from that will be stronger still. As long as we hold steadfast to our roots, nothing shall break us.
That family was not as well known as many would like to believe. Although they carried a history of Warriors on their backs. Even though the blood of Heroes flowed through their veins. They have almost always chosen to remain simple folk that help their fellow man than to chase after glory or fame. Call it however you want, but the fact remains that this family despite their lineage have always lived simple lives despite their very nature was against the contrary. Now one may wonder why this family lives in such a way and those that knew of them would have inklings and suspicions as to why. Some consider it to be cowardice for them to not embrace who they were while others simply thought they were tired of fighting and wanted to settle down. Away from the chaos that never seemed to end on Remnant.
Yet they would all be correct for their assumptions were all a culmination of the truth as to why they chose to live out in the frontier.
After all, an Arc was one to never run away from hardship, the whole family itself more so. So, what reason would be needed for them to live as they did? It was simple really, and no one could have said it better than the former head of the family.
Our family is one born into tragedy, my son. For generations the Arcs have always died as they have lived. Dying on the battlefield, fighting for a cause righteous only to them, any Arc worth their salt would be left with wanting nothing more. For us there was nothing better than the thrill of the fight and those that we could save. Yet for us, we Arc men are cursed to be different from everyone else due to what we are. You know this to be true, after all, we Arcs are the closest thing to monsters in human skin.
However, times have changed, and battles now are fought not for preservation of the innocent, but for power plain and simple. There is no honor in what these Kingdoms are fighting over. To fight for them would only equate to a meaningless death and to an Arc such a death would be too grave of a dishonor. No, I would rather see my family hearty and whole than to participate in the squabbles of these of nobles.
Those words have been with the current head of the Arc family since then, and for every moment that passed he was left acknowledging what his father told him to be truer than he had ever realized. Ever since he graduated Beacon Academy, he was bombarded with the cruel reality of the world he lived in. It was stuck in a perpetual cycle of self-mutilation by its very own. A false sense of security due to the walls built around the various Kingdoms had left its populaces with a sense of hope from the dangers of the Grimm and more; yet it was more fragile and hollower than anything he'd ever known. That only made them more amenable to manipulation of those with power and money. Instigating their sense of security with the pretense of it being threatened by things they couldn't understand like the faunus or criminal organizations. Machinations of their own design to feed upon the fear and desperation of the people.
It was all too much for him to simply accept and thus Adrian Arc renounced his ties to Vale, took his wife and moved away from all the corruption. Deciding the frontier lands of Anima was the best place to raise his family, especially from prying eyes; since than Adrian had been living how he wanted. Like his father before him wanted; to live, to love, and to raise a new generation of Arcs. Free from all the chaos happening in the Kingdoms.
And yet somehow Adrian couldn't escape the fate of the Arcs no matter how much he ran.
He only had to look at his newborn son for that to be confirmed.
Adrian was a man with a strong muscular physique that clearly built for battle. Standing 6,8 with a broad shoulders and arms rippling with clearly defined muscle. The calluses on his hands and the scars on his body were tantamount that Adrian was not a man who shied away from a challenge, even when hurt. His complexion was a healthy tan with blonde hair falling wildly around his head akin to a bird's nest. His faced was angular with a stubble darkened from inaction due to a night of total mayhem. He wore a light beige shirt with a brown leather jerkin while on his legs were a pair of simple worn beige pants with leather boots over his feet.
Overall, he was a large man who had seen his fair share of battle in his day. However, it was his eyes that made him stand out the most. All Arcs were born with a trademark blue that they were known for; and Adrian was no exception. His eyes were electric in their brilliance; it was like staring into the heart of a thunderstorm that never ceased to end. These very same eyes that were normally warm and loving to his wife and 7 daughters was now filled with apprehension as he beheld the scene before him.
It was a scene that tore him in twine as it filled him with a sense of both pride and anguish. What lay before him was the rest of his family all gathered around his beautiful wife with a miracle wrapped in her arms. All his daughters couldn't stop looking at their baby brother that lay sleeping against his mothers' bosom. It was a scene that would have brought tears to his eyes if not for the matter that concerned his newly born son. It all replayed like a horror movie in his eyes, from the moment he came into the world and his first cry was made. That he could handle; it was what became of his son that terrified him and the words of his father to echo within his mind.
We Arc men are cursed to be different from everyone else. To be honest the only thing that separates us from the Grimm is the fact we still have a soul; if not for that. Then I have no doubt we would be the true monsters.
Why? Why couldn't the curse just have died with him? Adrian was all the willing to let the curse of the Arc men die him. Yet it seemed the Gods wouldn't even grant him that mercy. Then when he looked to his wife and saw her; truly saw her he felt his worries ease if only for a little bit. Her white body gown was a mess with a blanket covering the rest of her modesty. Yet the glistening of her skin, sweat matting her long crimson locks, did not sway his view of her in the slightest. It only reinforced the notion that his wife was oh so incredibly strong to once again bring new life into the world. The bags around her eyes were clear, but the light in her caramel brown eyes were as strong and vibrant as the first day he met her.
In that moment his love for her could only grow. Yet the moment she motioned for him to come with those very same eyes; he felt as if he was frozen in place. Held down by some invisible force that refused to let go of him. It was almost suffocating, but the strength he found when looking at his family was enough to help him shrug off the oppressive hold on him. Taking a tentative step forward, Adrian felt as if some of his strength returned with each step he took; and before he knew it, he was at his wife's bedside. Surrounded by his daughters he finally looked down at his wife and he practically fell apart with only his spirit keeping him stable.
What he saw only ushered forth even more of his insecurities to the forefront when he saw them. His wife, his beautiful queen lay nearly comatose, but held in her arms was his son. The sole child to inherit the haunted legacy of the Arcs; and when he looked at him his wife ushered him close.
"Hold him, Adrian, hold our son." she said as she slowly handed the sleeping bundle into his arms. He knelt to her and gently took his boy into his strong arms; glancing her way he finally looked down at his son. And what he saw at first was nothing out of the ordinary as he previously feared. The child was completely wrapped up in his blanket with only his face shown. Just by looking at his face he could tell from a glance his boy would be more like his grandfather. Sharp features with angular touch that was just enough to show his potential growth into a very nimble young man.
However, it all changed when Adrian felt something shuffle when the boy squirmed into his blanket. When he moved, his head tilted to the side and his hair parted to the side to show something that struck Adrian on the spot. It was a small little nub on the boy's head nearly covered by his messy blonde hair, but it was there all the same. It was a bone white like horn of sort that seemed to come directly out from his skull. It was eerily similar to that of the bone white masks of the Grimm, but from just rubbing his thumb on it he knew distinctly that it was something entirely different.
After all being who he was, Adrian had a far better grasp of his family's techniques than anyone else as he'd yet to letter any of his daughters learn anything beyond the scope of the basic soul scrying. And what he was doing was far more than that; as he looked down at his son, he saw the child's eyes begin to creak open. From that moment Adrian took the sight of his sons' eyes for the first time and what he saw was truly amazing. The boy had inherited the Arcs blue eyes, but like everyone his were his own unique shade. It was like staring into two orbs of the sky itself, bright as they were. Unlike his father's cloudy thunderous blue, the boy's eyes were a crystal-clear blue sky that seemed to shine even in the dark.
Yet the moment Adrian channel his power into his eyes and his thunderous orbs he saw something that truly shook him to the core.
It was the boy's soul….
It was malformed, damaged…. broken.
"What should we name him?" his wife's voice broke him from his thoughts, and he cancelled his power before looking to her. Then he looked back down at the boy, his son, in his arms and finally gained enough strength to finally speak.
"…. Let's call him…. Jaune, Jaune Arc."
Little did Adrian realize just how chaotic his life was going to become with the years that followed the birth of his son. For forces beyond his recognition were weaving a tapestry around the abnormality that was his son. A boy whose birth broke the concept of the Laws set forth before the coming of the second era. An existence that should not be but did exist thus setting forth a change that will irrevocably change the world.
And it would all start with one boys adventure into the unknown.
That ends the prologue to this story. Make of this what you will I got to get back to schoolwork.
Sayonara! ~
