I still have no clue what to write on the foreword. Hope you enjoy!
Chapter 2 - Comprehension and Realization
There comes a time in a man's… woman's… person's life in which things don't seem to just quite go their way. And then there was Jaune.
Jaune had spent an amount of time he wasn't so comfortable with disclosing, failing to sleep and waking himself… each other up.
Most would expect Jaune to show caution after the less than pleasant recent experiences he'd gone through, and they would usually be right. But then there was the point that his minds, and he was quite certain it was the both of them, were quite well both fully spent at current and for the foreseeable week.
Thus, despite the questionable choice among many he'd made within the last 24 hours, he'd decided to throw all forms of caution to the wind and take his chances in the dead of night, hoping the cover to be in his favor and the Grimm to be as lacking in night vision as he himself.
While it didn't sound like the soundest of ideas, or even sanest of ones, it felt quite a bit more reassuring of a plan than waiting in waking paranoia and exhausting themselves through the night until any Grimm, be it the initial ones chasing them, if they got over their lightning induced blindness, or just a new, similarly vicious face came to mangle them.
At this point, all he felt he could do was move cautiously, quickly and pray dust they mimicked their wolven counterparts in their sleeping habits as well.
Due to the disorientating dark of night, he wasn't quite able to keep a 360 degree watch of his surroundings even with two bodies and two sets of eyes, but he still had fewer blind spots than a single person and was able to keep his eyes on relatively all of his said surroundings.
The storm had indeed seemingly only passed by, leaving the forest in disarray, muddy as can be with water still dripping from some trees. He wasn't sure if it hit most or possibly even the whole forest, or edged through half of it, but what mattered was that it had gone through the path he was traversing and made it even harder on them.
And now wasn't that lovely? No one likes a relaxing, leisurely, boring easy mode after all. He was wrong when he thought of it as impossible or insane mode; it was hell, outright hell mode!
He... they were each wearing one shoe for crying out loud.
It became obvious that going bear-foot in this kind of mud wouldn't be easy, and somehow, even less fun, and going with socks only wasn't too different, aside from at least making it feel the tinniest bit less dislikable. Thus, he had opted for each one having a sock on one foot and a boot on the other.
At this point, he wasn't sure if it was stupid, ingenious or whatever. It worked well enough and that was all that mattered.
And with that, they had trotted through the forest. It was a bit dark and his watch wasn't exactly one of the more modern ones, so he strained himself to check the time whenever there seemed to be a slightly bright enough dim light which would allow it.
Since last he checked, they'd been at this for only half an hour and he, for all he'd believe, didn't feel like he'd want to be home and curled up terrified in some fetal position.
He was pretty sure he'd gone through more than most would in a mere 24 hours. Maybe there were a few unlucky saps that would match him, but that was getting beside the point, it being that somehow, despite all of this, which he was sure had left him traumatized in quite some ways, possibly even including towards dogs, had not only failed to derail him from his goals, but had also strengthened his resolve.
He wasn't sure how, past the dumb and impossible luck and instincts that yelled, "DON"T DIE!", in his ear, but by all means he had survived, was still alive, wasn't currently dying, was completely unscathed, and hell, even had a second life, so to say. Well, he still didn't know how to consider it, but that was good enough a definition for now.
And just as he was about to jump into his next rant to distract his mind from the recent undesirable deviations he had been going through, he heard it. He heard It!
Both of them quickly ducked into the nearest bush, no longer bothered by the mud, or by the added brambles that were trying to impale them. And there he saw it. A Beowolf.
He hadn't much chance when running, but he had gotten a good look at the first and second ones he fought. He remembered them. Pitch black fur, bloodthirsty eyes, that low snarling and growing.
Right now though, in a night as dark as this, rarely graced by a few rays of moonlight every few minutes while the clouds tired out from blocking out the sky. It was completely different.
Its eyes felt like they were releasing a glow. Like an eerie light that would look at your very soul, devour you from the inside. Its body, as pitch dark as it was, became one with the surroundings. It felt blurred, to the point that if it was silent, you might not even notice it, even from fairly as close as Jaune was, only a few meters away huddled in a bush, using two sets of eyes at that.
Every once in a while, it closed its eyes and rose its head, body moving only the slightest bit, almost to a dead still, nose silently sniffing the air and ears perking up ever so slightly, taking in all sound of the surrounding, currently sleeping world.
For a moment, Jaune felt like both of his hearts stopped, and he was happy with that. That was less of a chance that it would hear them, see them, attack them…
He could feel himself trembling. He could feel both of themselves trembling. He didn't even bother to lie to himself that it was due to the cold. Ever since he woke up in the cave, he had noticed how he seemed slightly stronger than usual. He felt different. It wasn't anything pronounced or profound, but he could feel his body, both of them. They were much better than what he was like the prior night, quite resistant to the cold included, even if he could moderately feel it.
And this feeling; it wasn't the cold. It was the beast, no, the predator before him.
As he felt as though he finally had taken one true look at what a beast of Grimm was, Jaune wondered how he'd managed to beat one. How he'd even managed to escape. At this point, he could see and guess that it didn't sleep. He didn't know if it ate or not, but he started doubting that. He looked at it and saw what it simply amounted to; not a creature, but a weapon.
Even now, he could feel that overbearing presence, a monster that was bent on nothing but hunting, killing. Like a single purpose machine, and it excelled in what it did.
And then and there, he noticed, both of them had already hit the ground, lying as low as possible, stilling themselves as much as possible, calming their erupting hearts as much as possible.
They took slow breaths, nearly to the point of suffocation, as long as they would go the tinniest bit slower.
They were still slightly drenched and halfway covered in mud.
And thus, they watched the predator, nearly blurring out of sight whenever it closed its eyes to take in the world. They weren't ready to fight this. Not yet…
Not sure or caring of how long they waited for it, Jaune watched as the Beowolf disappeared in between the distant leaves, each step to the very last one he could see resembling a motion of careful stalking, hunting, signs that it kept on seeking pray and nothing else.
After its leave, they still waited for a while, not trusting of vision or hearing enough to risk rushing out immediately, though eventually and slowly , they both crawled out of the literal mud and cautiously inspected the surrounding area.
It seemed like it was indeed gone, for now... It still did little to soothe the nerves.
In that uncertain span of time, he took realization of how his body had truly changed, strengthened, and quite uniquely doubled. He also understood how powerless he was despite all of that.
He thought about his parents again, his two huntress sisters, his family line, and hunters as a whole.
He reassessed exactly how brave they were to willingly fight those… things.
Did the Grimm even have a sense of self-preservation? And would they readily forsake it just to kill?
All Jaune knew was that he had to improve. If he ever hoped to not die. To become a hunter. He had to be able to match a creature... no, a weapon that was made and meant for nothing but murder.
And that prospect also gave him a chill, rushing through both their spines. Exactly when had he thought over what exactly the prospect of power meant and warranted? But now wasn't the time. He needed to leave, and leave the questions for when he was within Vale or Beacon's walls.
Jaune wasn't quite able to properly see the map, despite trying every time the slightest ray of moonlight would break through the veil of clouds above. He also lacked anything akin to a photographic memory by a long shot, but he had remembered a few important points.
Namely, the landmarks known as mountains and large hills; much as their existence would imply, they were big, memorable, and really hard to miss, even for him. It wasn't the best of choices for orientation, but it was all he could work with, and seemingly enough to manage, even if only for now.
And thus, what felt like the longest trek of his life, and technically it was; was his current endeavor.
The next couple of hours remained mostly silent, chillingly so, having made decent progress and silently gotten around two more Beowolves.
He was quite sure he was numbed out to the cold at this point, courtesy of hugging the ground every time so much as a leaf rustled in the wind and rolling through the mud to the point it stopped bothering him since It felt like more of it was coming off than on at this point.
Oh, he couldn't wait to get to Vale. He didn't even care if he could or couldn't find much of a decent housing. As long as he could find a nice warm bath or shower, it would be all good. And then he remembered the other person with him.
"Shit! Give me a break! Some deity must be really out to get me...", he quietly hissed, surprised at how his voice was not nearly as hoarse, if at all even, as he'd believed it to be by now.
Some of the clouds parted, releasing the first proper rays of moonlight that night, and Jaune was quick to make use of this minor solace while he could. Opening the map, he did his best to compare and assess his position within the forest, noting that if his at least half decent cartography skills weren't too off, he'd actually managed to get through half of it in between the death race and his night out on a hidden moon.
He still had to traverse both hills, one being seemingly not too further down behind the treetops ahead of him within the forest itself, and the latter being outside of the forest, bordering its edge and somewhat bigger and steeper than the first. After that only having to go on a mostly straight path through open plains until he was close enough to Vale to see it.
He opted if he should go around the second hill, but a quick reassessment assured him that the hill itself was the around, as it was flanked on both sides by the mountain range it divided, towering and dwarfing it, making for a much more intimidating hike than said hill he quickly returned his sights on.
He put away the map back in his pouch and gazed at his watch. It was already 3:30, and his exhaustion had reminded him of that fairly well.
Contrary to what he'd expect, he wished his situation brought about more complicated and controversial choices and dilemmas. It might've been easier then.
Instead, it just gave him a simple and straightforward question; risk sleeping in a dangerous and likely suicidal location, or suicidally keep moving on without sleep, until you give out and pass out, returning to the first answer of being unconscious in a suicidal location.
As it was, he couldn't quite see either as a right answer, nor much of any too good alternatives.
And so he decided to keep on moving, hoping that this new found boost that happened to his body... bodies in the cave would be able to mitigate the exhaustion and keep him on his feet and stable long enough to be able to reach a place where he could finally rest. At least so he hoped as he did his best to ignore the burning in his eyes and how tired he was. Something far more prominent due to the double sensation of both bodies.
He had briefly considered trying his luck with a cave again, but it was something he had as quickly tossed aside. After all, he already saw quite a few, none nearly as small as to keep him safe. He'd need something the size of a rabbit hole, and he was sure they didn't dig those out on cliff or mountain sides.
And thus, both bodies released tired sighs, a practiced endeavor that had become more of a tick by now, carrying on through the exhaustion…
Four hours had passed by the time the first genuine rays of sunlight finally made their attempts to pierce the skies again. It was faint, mostly blocked out by clouds. But the forest had transformed from the haven of darkness it was into simply a gloomy one. Maybe even with a certain charm, if he had the strength left to appreciate it.
It had felt arduous and painful, but they had managed to hike over most of what was the small hill within the forest itself, being more vacant of most to everything, including vegetation, but enough so coupled with the veil of dusk to keep them outside of any Grimm's radius.
And as for said Grimm, they had passed through only several more of them. Something he had begun contemplating on. As he did his best to take notice, he realized that they were acting much like the first one he'd met after the cave; searching, scouting...
They were like sentries. Patrolling sentries that danced around their seeming territories and kept mildly to extremely vigilant of possible pray. He supposed even they might've had some semblance of personality or boredom if they acted differently in that regard.
That all being said, his trip had otherwise gone quite uneventful. Trying to keep as vigilant as they could, trying to distract himself when any one thing just started to feel like it was too much, and trying to block off the thoughts of how much he wanted to rest. At least the hunger still hadn't kicked in, though it was probably best to not press his luck and avoid thinking about that.
The hike down the hill had been, surprisingly, a lot more difficult that he'd have expected. Requiring caution on every step, and not as much due to the danger of him falling as him making too much noise when regaining his footing and kicking down ruble, lest he be surrounded by a pack of Beowolves again.
They had pretty much reached the bottom, seeing the other hill in the distance. Getting to it seemed like it wouldn't be too hard, and rather quick to boot. But the hill itself wasn't quite as covert as the previous one, less so with the now much brighter time of day illuminating them for all Grimm to see.
Steadying themselves, they trudged on. Moving slowly, both in suit of caution and a chance to at least slightly relax his over-strained and tired bodies at least a bit after everything, including a hike, all in preparation for an even bigger one.
"Fuck Meeeee….", they both seethed out in an attempt to alleviate his built up rage, thought doing little with the lack of fire behind it, both due to the lack of energy and to keep it down enough to not attract Grimm and have him literally die due to his bubbling angst.
Oh boy, this was quite a day. Though that's how it's been for the past two days. Would this be one of those days now? Wait! Would this be a thing now? He dreaded to think any further.
Ducking from bush to bush, they covered the small woodland pass in about half an hour, reaching the base of the next hill.
Looking at it, Jaune could already feel the oncoming headaches. It wasn't that much bigger than the other one height-wise, and for all that mattered, he couldn't care less how wide it reached, however, it was much steeper and rocky, without a semblance of the soft grass that covered more than half of the previous one. There were very few trees, and pretty much no jutting roots to use for support.
He would've retorted that it was a nightmare at the sight of it, but he was still moderately sure that he was actually unconscious and bleeding out in the cave, dreaming all this as his impending end came. Yeah. That was probably still the more realistic possibility.
As Jaune climbed, struggling to keep himself from falling, He kept going over the idea he had back in the cave. Namely, to practice having both the ability to climb, which in retrospect, wasn't the most plausible thing in the middle of a cave. Though he did realize that rather than making sure either can climb, the idea of both climbing together might've been a slightly better one.
The last hill wasn't even technically climbing, just more tiring and careful walking. This one though. It was going bad! Very, very bad!
He had stabbed himself on jutting rocks several times, even managing to hit his heads in said occasional rocks three times in between his three bodies... No, wait. Two. Yeah. That squirrel thing was him being sarcastic… right?
Jaune was having a hard time, in between mostly the horrible exhaustion and probably a decent number of pulled muscles, hunger that had steadily started kicking in and what he hoped was not head trauma, which he may have had as he was still bleeding out in that cave, dreaming this. He was actually starting to consider it as possibly preferable.
Despite all that, some solace came in the fact that while the pain lasted, the rocks failed to really do more than graze his body, if even that much. With this kind of durability, either of his bodies could probably take a bite like that Beowolf's and only have some minor bite marks to show. And there he went, going to those oh so happy thoughts again.
Who to think you could turn so morbid in about thirty or so hours. He really needed to get his optimism back up, though he doubted he'd be to blame if he had a hard time doing so, considering everything.
Both his bodies flinched again as one stepped on a particularly sharp rock, of course with the sock covered foot. It had become a reflex, even if only one had the actual damage or pain, it didn't quite stop both bodies from shuddering in it.
Luckily though, with two final huffs, quickly accompanied by what was becoming his... their signature sighs, they got over the last ledge, stepping on rather even ground and seemingly having a straight path from there.
Even luckier was that there were no signs of Grimm around, though with the lack of most to anything within their vicinity, they were quite the open targets as well.
With hurried steps, they moved to the other side, it being only a few hundred feet away, quickly rushing past rocks and boulders that adorned the top of the practically miniature mountain.
Little did he expect that behind one of the larger ones was stood that which he'd been doing his best to avoid oh so long.
Quick to take notice and with a sharp and low growl, the Beowolf lunged at him from its formerly lying position. fortunately enough, its lack of momentum allowed Jaune's female body that was a few feet in tow to jump and tackle him out of the way, saving his head from the jaws that clammed shut no more than two seconds after, and from the pleasure of witnessing his end in a stereo styled visual manner.
For a few fleeting moments, he felt the terror and fear forcing both of them to tremble like in that very first night, but no less instantaneously did it end, replaced by an empty feeling, as if his body had instantly heated and just as quickly been cooled off by a torrent of cold water.
Everything felt calm. For a few moments, he didn't feel anything. His exhaustion, the pain, the hunger, everything had disappeared to the point where he'd wonder if he, if they even existed. He didn't feel fear, nor was there anger, happiness, or anything. Just a somehow fulfilling emptiness.
He felt like he could clearly and calmly see through both bodies. He could tell apart everything. No longer having any difficulty with the hearing and smelling he couldn't hope to grasp but mere moments ago. His former focus that he had exhibited till now, that had felt so tremendous till then, felt like it was nothing to this.
And thus, while somehow feeling as though both an eternity and yet only a mere moment had passed, it had ended in no more than a few seconds. His senses returned to the world, remembering all his aches, all his emotions, and yet now, his mind was clear, he was focused.
He quickly pulled Crocea Mors out of its sheath, tossing one of the two to his other body, unsure and uncaring of which. Both charged the Beowolf. It still wasn't too late. it had yet to howl or truly cause a proper ruckus. If it were to die before the cacophony would start, they would win by never fighting to begin with.
The Beowolf let out a low guttural roar, lowering itself on its hind legs and leaping at them.
Jaune didn't dodge, praying for all it was worth that that resistance his body seemed to have to wounds would indeed be able to last out anything that hit him now as he rushed in, doing what he can to guard his face and throat, aiming Crocea Mors at its mouth.
A quiet whine resounded as the blade pierced deep within the inside of the Beowolf's neck, sheath lodged by his other body in between its jaws, keeping its mouth forced open and preventing it even further from a chance to emit any sounds.
It slashed at them with its claws, trying to free its teeth to gnash them on Jaune's arm or free itself and fall back all together. Jaune wasn't having it, his right hand having grabbed the Beowolf as he was attempting to carve it out from the inside, his female self firmly keeping the sheathe in place with her right hand as she used her left to grab on and keep it still from the other side.
Its claws kept darting in between the two, leaving cuts and scratches on both, some deeper than others, but nothing more as the red in its eyes eventually started taking in dimmer shades before going out completely, pitch black smog breaking off its body as it began disintegrating to what would eventually not even leave ash.
Letting go of the body and retracting t their weapons, both of Jaune's bodies hit the ground with audible grunts, though with racked enough nerves to ignore any of the pain or all else that was currently haunting them as they watched the beast fade away.
"Shit!", was all Jaune said as he looked at what once was both the ultimate predator and ultimate enemy of man dissipate to nothingness.
Several minutes after, the corpse finally melted away in the wind, leaving no trace behind of its existence. And then Jaune's bodies turned towards one another.
"Well… this is still as strange as it gets, but maybe this isn't so bad after all.", he said, feeling pride in his victory, over his fear, over the scenarios and happenings as of recent, and even that maybe, despite all this, there's still a good chance he can be a huntsman.
Hustling back up to their feet, they managed to slowly and difficulty scale down the mini-mountain, avoiding any more encounters and taking to the open plains towards Vale.
Tired, hungry, sore and so much more. Jaune felt quite a few things, at least at double that of what anyone else would in his position.
However, he didn't feel afraid anymore. He was focused on his goal. After all, his Journey had just begun. And by what it was like till now, he'd need all the concentration he could muster.
One day, one chapter I guess. Didn't plan it so and was thinking of releasing it at a further point, but I felt like finishing chapter two and putting it out to celebrate my first actual review. Several even. Thanks ;D
Next chapters on-wards come the character interactions. Yeah, let's hope I can get those right. At least I get a bit of my solace in that some of them can be made intentionally awkward, right?
Hope you enjoyed!