The Haunting Hunter

by Creature of Grimm

Jaune's family were lost when he was young to a Grimm attack that wiped out his entire village, resulting in his Aura and Semblance being unlocked and leaving him the sole survivor. 8 years later Rumours of a Ghost haunting a failed settlement draw the attention of a certain Golden eyed Fire Mistress.

4. Haunted Past

As a treat/apology, here is the next chapter.

So, a lot of mixed feeling about the second paring option here, though about what I expected. I admit my first thought had been Pyrrha, but I also admit it's not my favourite. It is also done too often. I like Pyrrha as a character and yes, sometimes even Arkos, but it really is done way too often, and it gets a little boring after a while.

But I will see how the poll goes, there will be a few more chapters before it gets to the point I need to worry about it for now.

Also someone pointed out I a review that it seemed a little rushed that Cinder found out about Jaune's weakness to Electrical currents. I will admit after reading it I agree it dose seem a little rushed, but it's there now and I don't want to go back and rewrite it just because. However just because she knows about it doesn't mean she had Jaune are going to be going head to head any time soon. Cinder is too cautious for that.

While she might have been prepared to fight him in their first meeting it was more because she assumed that was the only option she had. He is also turning out to be more powerful then she thought he would be, so she will be carful to avoid a fight until she knows she will win. Even if she doesn't admit it to herself.

Enjoy the chapter and let me know what you think. :)

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Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY

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Chapter 4- Haunted Past

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Ironwood

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James Ironwood couldn't stop his lips falling into a slight frown as he walked towards the elevator that would take him to the lower levels of the facility. More specifically, the lowest level. The level where his former superior had been for almost 8 years.

James hated coming here, hated seeing Stone. But it was something he forced himself to do. At least once every three months since he was promoted to General, he came here and looked in at Stone through the little glass window into his paddled cell. He did this to remind himself of what happened that day. To remind himself to never be like Stone, to never forget the village that he had been ordered to leave to the no existent mercy of the Grimm.

To remind himself of the little boy he had seen and the question he had asked.

Why…

Why did Stone order him and his men to hold back? Why did James listen to the order? Why hadn't he ignored it like his conscience told him to at the time? Why hadn't he questioned General tone until after it was too late?

The entire event was hushed up, the reports 'lost' in the bureaucracy and forgotten. A public notice had been issued announcing the Breach at Draco and that there had been no survivors. General Stone had been removed from duty due to 'Stress'.

James hadn't missed the fact that they were trying to cover up what happened but at the time had no way of stopping it and even though he did now know nothing would come from making it public knowledge.

It wasn't until months after the incident that James realised that there was no such thing as ghosts and that what he had seen was more likely a very alive little boy with a strange Semblance. He had let his guilt consume him at the time as his mind had simple jumped to conclusions.

When he realised this James had ordered a search party to return to the Village of Draco, though under the guise of looking for any indication of what had caused the Breach. At the time he had been newly promoted to General following the former general Stones descent into madness and didn't want people to think he was following in the man's spiral.

At the time he had been unable to go to the village himself, still wasn't. James couldn't bring himself to look over the village, or into the eyes of the little boy.

The search had been unsuccessful. The men he sent didn't find the boy. Though James had not missed the flinch and twitch's they gave while delivering their report. He knew from this that they had seen him, and like James had only seen a ghost but didn't dare say anything for fear of being thought insane.

Over the years James had sent other teams, both soldier's and Huntsmen. But none had ever reported finding the boy and were always haunted by what they saw. Then things had changed, and the Ghost of Draco had started killing those that went to the ruins of the village.

He couldn't condone sending people anymore after that and had reluctantly stopped.

James still had nightmares of glowing blue eyes staring at him in accusation.

General James Ironwood would never be like General Stone, and he would never allow the past to repeat itself under his watch.

Letting out a small sigh as he stepped into the elevator when he arrived, Ironwood glanced at the woman that moved to stand next to him.

Winter Schnee was a young, driven woman. He had recently chosen her as his right-hand woman, much like he had once been the right-hand man of General Stone. She was young, skilled, efficient, and willing to learn.

All of these were good qualities that he had been looking for in a second, but there was one more thing that made her stand out from the other candidates he had considered. She did not follow his orders blindly. If she did not like or understand his orders Winter would, while politely, question them and ask for his reasoning. This was something James had never done to General Stone until it was too late, and it was something he wished he had.

That was why he chose her. Learning from past mistakes James wanted someone that, while would follow order's, wound not follow them blindly. It had only been two weeks since she had been promoted and already James wasn't sure how he had survived without her. She made his job a lot easier and while he didn't trust her 100% yet, he was stating to.

That was why he was bringing he with him now. He had told her the true events of what happened all those years ago and now was going to show her why it as so important for her to never blindly follow his orders.

She had not take it well, but Winter was nothing if not professional. She had listened as he told hr how the Atlas Military had purposely allowed a village full of people die. He told her of the 'ghost' that had appeared before him and Stone, and the former General's guilt sending him mad.

They said nothing as the elevator quickly moved down. The lowest floor was the only floor that didn't have guards on the elevator. The people who were kept there, few as they may be, held information too sensitive to risk some passing guard hearing muttered. Even the guard that would usually be stationed in the elevator stayed behind on the top floor.

James felt his right hand shaking at his side but couldn't stop it.

The moment the elevator stopped, and the doors opened, James felt a cold shiver run down his spin and he flinched.

"IT'S WASN'T MY FAULT! I WAS WEAK! I DIDN'T KILL YOU! I DIDN'T KILL ANY OF THEM! IT WASN'T MY FAULT!"

He recognised the hysterical scream. It wasn't the first time he had heard it.

Closing his eyes James shook his head slightly. It wasn't going to be a nice visit if Stone was already screaming before he saw James, not that it would have been anyway. The man always broke down when he saw him.

However, what he heard next made his eyes snap open wide in shock.

"NO! NO! IT WASN'T MY FA-!"

BANG!

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

There was a moment of silence following the sound of gunshots, both James himself and Winter standing like statues.

The moment didn't last.

James leapt from the elevator and sprinted down the corridor, drawing his gun as he ran. Winter was following behind him, but she wasn't as fast as he was and started falling a little behind. He didn't even stop when he reached the room he knew Stone was held and rammed his shoulder into the door, almost taking it off it's hinges in the process.

He took in the sight before him in less then a second even as his gun moved to the grey clad figure before him, standing over what was once General Stone but was now a mutilated corpse full of bullet holes and missing its head entirely.

James heard Winter arriving behind him, but she didn't entre the room and stayed to ensure the door was covered.

He was about to speak when the figure in front of him turned around, seemingly in slow motion, and in that moment, James felt the blood drain from his face and his heat skip a beat. His lower face was covered by a scarf, but his eyes were visible and what terrified the usually composed General.

They were the eyes from his nightmares, blue and glowing, full of accusation as they recognised him. The gun in his had suddenly felt several tines heavier than it should, and his arm started to shake. In the back of his mind James noted that he had grown, no longer the little boy but a man now. Young, probably still a teenager, but a man. A man with a short barrel shotgun in one hand that still had a little smoke escaping from the end as evidence that it had been recently fired multiple time in quick succession.

For 5 seconds neither of them moved, both just staring at the other. James with terrified eyes and pale face, him with eyes quickly being clouded with cold anger.

He hesitated. James hesitated to brake the silent standoff, and that was his undoing.

Before he could react the Ghost, he didn't have any other name to use for the boy, spun while closing the small distance between them. James arm was caught under the boy's as his back hit his chest and jerked the arm away, the suddenness of the action causing him to pull the trigger on instinct and wasteing the bullet as it hit the wall and left a large hole in the roof.

As concreate dust fell over them the boy twisted again and turned James around by his arm, pinning it behind his back as he lost grip of his weapon. The strength the boy had was unreal, he was manhandling James despite the man being several times large like it was nothing. However, the sharp pain in his shoulder when it was twisted knocked James out of his shock.

Ironwood bent forward at the waist, causing Ghost to lose his balance, along with his gib on James' arm. The man then spun around and aimed a high kick with his right foot at the boy's chest. It connected but felt like he had kicked a steel plated door. The boy didn't even move, just took the kick before bringing his arm down on his knee.

Creak!

"AAHHH!" James let out a pained cry as his knee bent the wrong way and he felt the bone snap. His Aura failing to hold against the impossible strength Ghost had.

He felt to the floor at the boy's feet, unable to dodge the kick that followed. It hit him on the right side of his chest with enough force to send the large General straight up into the roof and leave a dent in the concrete before falling back down. Once again, his Aura was unable to stand against the power behind the attack, and James suddenly found it a little harder to breath as his ribs punctured his right lung.

It was then that Winter came in, charging the boy with her rapier-like sword, leaping over him. Her aim looked to be true as through teary eyes James saw the sword running through the Ghost chest, and for a moment he thought it was over. Until Winter's hand followed her swords through his chest, followed by the rest of her body.

It was then that he saw the Ghost's body looked smoky around the edges and where Winter had passed through him. Because of his grey closed it had been almost impossible to tell the difference at first, but now he looked just like the Ghost he had appeared as all those year ago, only older.

Winter, unbalance when she had been met with no resistance and passed through his body, had fallen to the ground behind the ghostly figure and was staring at his back in shock.

Then Ghost Screamed.

"aaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

The roof and wall behind the padding started to crack, the ground shacking and the lights flickered and threatened to die as the scream got louder the longer it continued. James grabbed the sides of his head to cover his ears, but it did little to quite the sound as he yet out his own paid scream. Lights overhead in both the room and the corridor outside exploded, a shower of sparks falling around him.

He felt something wet in his hands but couldn't take them away from his ears to see what it was. He could see Winter on the ground across from him, her own hands covering her ears and face screwed up in agony as blood started to escape between her fingers from her ears.

James wasn't sure when it finally stopped, mostly because his ears continued to ring long after Ghost fell silent. His vision was blurry from the pain, his head felt it had been hit with a sledgehammer several times from the inside and his leg and chest were on fire.

He could just make out the still form of Winter, the young girl having passed out. Twin rivers of blood were slowly leaking from the corners of her eyes and another two from her eyes. The room was dark except for a flashing red light from out in the hallway, and as his hearing slowly came back he could hear a siren going off somewhere.

Cougher violently, james ignored the blood that came from his mouth and with a lot of effort and pain, turned over so he was on his back. only for his eyes to widen when he Ghost standing above him, staring down at him with James own gun pointed at him.

His breath came in wheezing pants and were each accompanied by blood from his punctured lung. He couldn't feel the pain from his leg anymore, but that wasn't very reassuring and was more a concern than comfort. Yet still, James could do nothing but stare up into the cold blue eyes as they judged him.

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Jaune

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Ironwood was so terrified of him, it made their short exchange so easy. The man was so petrified by the sight of him that Jaune felt it filling him up, his Aura was overflowing and his body stronger then ever. He had only ever felt like this when he fed from entire groups of people at the same time. His eyes shone from the power flowing through him as he threw the man around like a ragdoll, he hadn't even felt the kick that connect with his chest.

The bone in Ironwoods leg was shattered to splinters under the power of his strike, and the right side of his chest looked lopsided compered to the left where he had kicked it. The wheezing pants and blood told him the man's lung had collapsed. With so much strength flowing though him powered by the man's fear of him Ironwood's Aura had been little more than a second layoff of skin against his attacks and buckled under the force.

Blood was leaking from his ears and eyes from burst blood vessels and ruptured eardrums. But unlike his bones they were only small injuries that his Aura would be able to heal in minutes.

The girl barely registered to him, he had simple flickered out and let her pass though him. She hadn't even been able to handle his scream. Though, with just how powerful it had been it was more a surprise that Ironwood was still conscious.

He had found the gun on the floor and picked it up without thinking, his had moving to point it at the man as he slowly rolled himself over onto his back.

Jaune blamed Ironwood, thought not like he had Stone.

Stone was the reason his family was dead, he had ordered his men to hold back. But Ironwood, the good little soldier he was, had followed the order. He didn't even question it until after an entire village was dead, didn't have the nerve to speak out against an order he thought was wrong.

Stone was just as much responsible for the destruction of Draco as the Grimm that ran through it, but Ironwood had let them die! His inaction, his unwillingness to speak out allowed Stone to get away with it.

And now here he was, General Ironwood. Headmaster, leader of the Atlas Military. He had stepped into Stones shoes, Jaune wasn't sure if that made him any different to the man.

However, Jaune didn't want to kill him. He wanted Ironwood to live…so he would be there when Atlas and the other Kingdoms burned. He wanted Ironwood to be there, to watch hopelessly as his life and everything he built fell around him.

General James Ironwood would live…but that didn't mean he wasn't going to hurt him.

With barely a though Jaune flicker back into the real wold, standing over the General and tossed the gun in his hand away before bending down so he was closer to the man and spoke in a ruff whisper to disguise his voice. "I remember you…that day…when you stood in the ruins of my home…and you questioned Stone of his motive…" He said.

He felt Ironwoods fear spike again and breathed it in deeply, a deep breath through his nose before letting out a sigh.

Then without warning he stood and slammed his foot into Ironwoods right shoulder, crushing it. the man let out a wheezing groan, unable to scream anymore. Jaune continued to grind his foot as the bones slowly turned to power inside his skin. "You didn't even question your order's until it was too late…you left us to die, left my family to die because you didn't question an order you knew was wrong." Jaune continued as if nothing odd was happening.

When he finally took his foot away Ironwoods shoulder was covered in blood and badly misshapen. The rest of his arm was completely limp at his side.

"Did you think I would let you get away with it? That I would forget…disappear? I'm not going anywhere General, and I want you to know that everything that happens from here on is because of you. Because you didn't question orders, because you didn't even try…because you let my family die…" Jaune just stared down at the man passively.

Jaune heard shouting from out in the hallway, hurried footsteps as armoured feet hit the ground. With one last look at Ironwoods face, at his terrified, bloodshot eyes, Jaune Flickered Out and disappeared just was armoured Atlas Soldiers came running into the room.

He didn't even bother to watch as they lifted Ironwood onto a stretcher, or as the white-haired woman regained consciousness. He just walked through the soldiers as they hurried around like, passing through them like they were the ghosts as he made his way out of the secrete compound and towards the meet up point he would find Cinder and Emerald.

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Cinder

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Emerald had excused herself to go take a bath and left Cinder to her observation of the now in chaos compound, stating she had three days of dirt from sleeping outside to wash off. Cinder hadn't even bothered to acknowledge her and continued to watch as soldiers ran in and out of the hidden base like headless chickens.

The only warning she had that he arrived was a slight chill in the air, and then their he was just standing right in front of her. While on the outside she showed nothing of her surprise at him suddenly being without reaching distance of her, inside Cinder flinched slight and that bothered her. She didn't like showing signs of weakness, even inside her own head.

Cinder's eyes slowly moved up and down his form as Jaune just stood their and let her. There were spots of blood all over his cloths, but it was clearly not his down, too small and spread out mean it was the spray from someone else. He was also covered in grey concrete dust that was almost invisible when mixed with his already grey clothes.

However, the thing that stood out the most to her were his eyes. They were glowing brighter then she had ever seen them, full of so much power. Cinder felt a shiver run down her spine but didn't bother to think on it. She could feel the power rolling off him.

However, despite her thought on the outside her only reaction was a small, sultry smirk. "I see you were busy, I hope you had fun?" She asked absently.

Jaune didn't response for a moment, his glowing eyes locked on her own as he pulled his scarf down off his face. "Stone is dead…and Ironwood isn't much better." He finally replied.

He knew she knew he had run into Ironwood, Cinder's smirk only grew slightly, her arms crossing over her chest and her hand moved up, so she could rest her chin on it. "Really, I must admit I am curious as to the Generals current health…" She left the question in the air, though both knew it was an order.

If he was worried about her reaction Jaune didn't show it, turning away from her and moving to sit on the bed before speaking. "His right knee is shattered and the right side of his chest caved in. he was coughing up a lot of blood and struggling to breath, so I might have popped his lung or something. I also crushed his right shoulder to dust, so he'll probably lose the arm, not sure about the rest." He explained absently.

Cinder listened carefully to everything he said, and after thinking it over realised something didn't make sense. "He didn't use his Aura to negate your attacks?" She finally asked, moving to take seat across from the end of the bed so they were facing each other.

She wasn't expecting the chuckle that came from his lips at her question. "Oh, he did, it just didn't do him any good. Ironwood was pissing himself the moment he saw mem the man is terrified of me beyond reason. It gave me such a boost his Aura couldn't stand up to my strength." Jaune said.

Cinder narrowed her eyes at his explanation, seeing her chance to get more information about what he could do. "You mentioned something about feeding off of fear before, care to explain that a little more?" She asked politely.

Seeming not to care Jaune gave a small shrug and leaned back onto the bed. "It's like I said, I can feed off fear. I can…feel what someone is afraid of. Any fear will do, but fear of me gives me the biggest boost. It fills my Aura, my body. It makes me stronger, faster. The more fear the more powerful I become. It fades a little overtime but not completely." Jaune said.

Once again Cinder was forced to hide her true emotions. on the outside she gave a small nod, as if the information was trivial, but on the inside her mind was spinning at a hundred miles an hour. Jaune had just become her most valuable asset, all but eclipsing Emerald and her Semblance. If for nothing but his potential alone.

In one corner of her mind, deep down where she couldn't even notice it, a part of Cinder wondered if he could be even stronger then her. But the idea was pushed away before it could even take root. Only her mistress was stronger the Cinder.

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Winter

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It had been three days since the attack. Three days since the brutal murder of the former General Stone. Three days since the current General Ironwood had been attacked and almost killed.

Winter sat with a frown on her face next to General Ironwood's bedside, reading over files while she waited for him to wake. The hospital room had been turned into a makeshift office for her to work, having been forced to take over a lot of the Generals responsibilities while he was unable.

A desk had been brought in for her to work at, already piled high with several stacks of paperwork. Every time she closed her eyes another stack would appear as if by magic, and every time she finished something two more piles would be dropped off.

She was a Specialist, his right-hand woman. It was her job to keep things running in his absence until he either recovered or was replaced. The fact she had only been in the job for little over two weeks meant nothing, it was protocol.

Luckily James had given her a crash course in her first week of everything vital she that would need to be take care of if something like this ever happened so while it wasn't easy Winter was just able to keep her head above water and not drown in paperwork.

The constant 'beep…beep' of the heart monitor hooked up to James was a little reassuring as she worked, reminding her that the General was still alive. The room had no windows, just four white concrete walls and cold tiled floor with a single door in or out. The hallway outside the door had a small platoon of soldiers standing guard, weapons drawn and ready to fire at a moment's notice.

Not that it would do much good if he decided to come and finished what he had started.

Winter didn't know what to think of it all.

She had been horrified and sickened when Ironwood told her what had truly happened when the village of Draco had been Breached. The thought of an entire village of people being left to die when they could have been saved. Winter also couldn't help, no matter how hard she tried, but lose a little of the respect she had held for General Ironwood.

From a logical point she knew that he was following orders, as any soldier should do. Usually this would have been enough for her, Winter loved order and logic. However, from an emotional point she also knew it was wrong and that he had been wrong to listen to the order.

Winter understood why he had told her, it was a cautionary tale…for both her and the General himself. He wanted her not to blindly follow orders like he had, and for her to remind him not to become like former General Stone.

But then the cautionary tale had taken a turn and started to seem like a horror story. Winter would admit she had been sceptical. A little ghost boy appearing out of nowhere seemed more then a little farfetched. Even with the General's theory of it being a Semblance.

Like other Winter had heard talk of the Ghost of Draco. While not a well know rumour to the masses it was in the Atlas military, a ghost story soldier would tell while out on patrol to pass the time. But that was all it had been, a ghost story.

Until three days ago when she had come face to face with the ghost. More then that, she had passed through the ghost!

The thought sent a shiver down her spine, the memory of falling through cold air with no resistance. The memory of that haunting sound, of that scream filling her ears and mind before she had fallen unconscious.

Luckily her Aura had been able to heal the damage to her eardrums and the blood vessels in her eyes. In the end she had walked away with barely a scratch.

James had not been so lucky.

His eyes and ears were healed by Aura like her own, it could do nothing for his other injuries. His right leg and arm were gone.

The bone of and around his knee had been turned to splinters, there was no way it could be healed and due to the bone slinters moving the doctors had been forced to remove his entire leg from the hip down. His Arm was much the same, only instead of splinters the bone had been ground to dust. The arm had been removed alone wile most of his shoulder blade. Then there was the right side of his chest. Put simple, there was nothing left. His ribs, and right lung had been removed, the damage was simple to extreme for them to even attempt to fix it.

Winter knew that under the bandages covering his chest was now a metal plate instead of skin and bone. A mechanical lung had replaced the half that was destroyed, and a new arm and leg were already under construction to replace the lost limps but would take several days.

Ironwood would be half machine by the time he recovered.

In the quiet of the room, over the steady beep of the heart monitor and in the back of her mind, Winter could still hear it. That sound, the scream. She wasn't sure she would ever stop hearing it.

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I know this chapter was a little short, but this just seemed like the best place to stop it.

So as I am sure people will have notice, Ironwood got his arse kicked and now will be getting the robot parts he had in the series I am sure everyone will remember. The reason Jaune was able to throw him around so easily is because Ironwood is absolute terrified of him. As in sit your pants terrified.

And with him been so close Jaune took that fear and turned it into strength, making him strong enough to break through Ironwood's Aura like it wasn't there. If Ironwood wasn't so scared of Jaune it would have been a more even fight, at least until Jaune started flickering in and out.

Jaune will not now be that strong all the time. The strength will fade, even if not completely. He will not be able to ignore everyone's Aura like he did here.

Anyway, let me know what you thought of the chapter. I admit it didn't take me as long to write it as I thought it would :)