The ground shook as a massive, nearly 10-feet tall Grimm made its way around the corner in the cliffside path.
As soon as it noticed the two faunus standing in its way, it halted its advance and leaned forwards, ready to strike- its long maw of jagged teeth opening and releasing a gout of steam that smelled of fresh blood.
Red eyes blazed with unholy intelligence as the creature looked at Blake and Adam. Its elongated, inhuman head was protected by segmented sheets of chitin-like bone leading up to its back and a singular, long blade jutting out of the creature's head like twisted parody of king's crown. Its chest was covered by external ribcage of interlinked bone with sheets of segmented white bone protecting its thighs and two hooved legs. Massive plates covered it's heavy hunchback, wisps and gouts of black smoke escaping from the cracks between the plates and rising into the air. A long, thick tail with pair of scythe-like pincers at the tip swung idly behind the creature as it used the tail to balance itself on the uneven path in the cliffside.
Its four long hands were covered by white bone-like armor, exposing small flashes of black flesh in the gaps.
What drew most of the faunus pair's attention was the four red serrated sabre-like swords it was grasping, one in each of its hands, and each of them nearly the size of a grown man.
Each of the blades was stained with blood, both crimson and dark red.
The beast's roar snapped the faunus out of their stupor as the Grimm took a step forwards.
.̡͉̖̩͇̺̼̤͓̪̠͎̬͉̞͚͕̙̟̺
̶̢̛̥̘̦̰͓́G̷͟͏͍̦̩̖͎̰̬̼̦ͅR̨͈̼̲̤̲̱̼̱̝̦̩͓A̧͔͎̟̫̩͈͈̼͡͠͞͞Ą̶̻̹̜̭̣͉͍̬̣̬͚̳̠̳̙̹̺̣́A͝͏̧̨̛̳͔̻̞̥̝ͅĄ̨̡̛̜̬̖̥̲͍̹͍̠͚̙̝̹͠ͅĄ̨̛͕̳̱̠̗̬̼̗͉͖̮̯̳̀͜Ḩ̸͝҉̪̘̩͍̱̭̘͎̠H̸͍̼͍̺̩͍̫̱̭̘̼́ͅḨ̸̨̟̦̭͈̻͕̤̹̟͓̪̗͞H̷̹̣͓̭̜́̕͡
.
Blake took a step backwards while Adam stood still.
"Aim for its legs" Adam commanded and Blake nodded, throwing the blade of her Gambol Shroud to the rocky cliffside above the creature. She used the ribbon tied to the blade to pull herself into air, attempting to swing herself behind the odd Grimm monster so she could hamstring it.
Before Blake could finish her leap, she was driven back as the monster's tail swung over its shoulder, trying to snap at her with the pair of pincers at its tail. She was forced to dodge it awkwardly and ended up leaping on top of the creature's hunchback-armor instead.
Adam charged forwards to meet the creature's blades, his red katana striking to slice at the Grimm only to be forced back when the red bone-sabres began to dance towards him, weaving intricate patterns in the air and causing sharp ringing when serrated bone met steel.
The wild and erratic movement of the creature did little to help Blake remain in its back, the cat faunus having pulled Gambol Shroud off the rock and buried it's blade deep into the bone-like carapace. She was holding onto the hilt of her weapon tightly as it was the only thing that kep her from falling off the Grimm abomination's back and into the sea of swords below her.
Meanwhile Adam Taurus was getting pushed back as he was unable to break through the Grimm creature's defense, and was starting to suffer from various nicks and cuts. The red sabres weaved a deadly pattern around the leader of White Fang, his Aura starting to weaken as it worked to keep the bone sabres from tearing him apart whenever the red blades would strike past his defences. The Grimm creature was suffering wounds at far faster pace than Adam was losing Aura, but whenever Adam would get hit by red blades, the creature's wounds would start to close rapidly.
Adam knew that he could not win a battle of attrition against this creature.
"Blake! Buy me time!" Adam shouted.
"On it!" Blake yelled affirmation while attempting to regain her footing on top of the armored creature, having to dodge the creature's sword-like crown when it swung its head back, the spike within the crown coming close to impaling her.
She saw rocks above the combatants on the cliffside move slightly as the creature stomped on the path, sending vibrations to the trail and small rivers of pebbles sliding down the cliffside, falling to the tree-covered ground far below.
Blake took her opportunity to distract the monster and launched her Gambol shroud into particularly large boulder above, holding onto the ribbon of the whip-blade. The Grimm somehow noticed her attempt to unlodge the large stone and have it slam the creature off the trail, and began slamming its back violently against the cliffside.
She immediately felt herself slip off the Grimm, but managed to kick the bone-armor on the way off to stabilize her fall.
"Adam! Hold on!" She shouted as she landed behind the Grimm and used her weight to dislodge the boulder on the end of her weapon, sending a landslide crashing down towards the Grimm abomination. She swiftly sheathed her weapon and prepared to dodge the rocks as the boulder turned into landslide.
As the landslide closed in on the creature, it swung all four of its blades towards Adam and forced the man to jump back while sheathing his katana. With unnatural speed and agility the creature jumped back as well and used its long tail to balance itself, avoiding the huge boulder that Blake had dislodged by mere inches while getting pelted by smaller rocks, the smaller pebbles bouncing off its hard bone-armor.
Blake was too distracted from avoiding her self-made landslide to notice the black tail striking towards her. The tail connected with her stomach, accompanied with a hard crack and flare of pain, and tore her off her feet.
More importantly, the hit knocked her clean off the trail.
With a yelp of both surprise and fright, Blake was forced into free fall towards the red-leaved canopy of trees far below. She attempted to pull Gambol Shroud out of her holster to use its whip-like blade and ribbon to pull herself back, only to discover that the tail had cracked the sheathe and jammed the blade inside.
She heard Adam shout something as the figures in the cliffside became smaller and smaller, wind rushing past her ears and ruffling her hair as she fell...
'Is… this it?...' Blake thought, feeling numb as she felt herself closing on the ground, seconds passing like hours as her mind attempted to weakly process the situation.
Yet no solution reached to her as the time ran out, and she felt herself hit something.
Impact shot through her, followed by feeling of something breaking apart. A brittle, glass-like sound rang in her ears.
Her world went white as pain lanced through her back, and with an explosion of static, she felt her consciousness flicker out...
"BLAKE! No!" Adam Taurus shouted, panic creeping into his voice as he saw his oldest friend and comrade get flung into the forest below, hurt.
Damn the monster.
Damn the operation.
He would get her back, no matter what.
"Out of my way" Adam growled to the Grimm creature as it was watching him, its blazing red eyes seeming to laugh at his inability to save Blake. The abomination stood tall on its hooves and took a step backwards, before turning the momentum around and into a devastating charge.
Adam was ready. He placed his hand on the hilt of his sheathed katana Wilt, gripping it tightly in the signature iaido stance as he turned his mask towards the creature..
He felt the colours of the world around him fade to bright red and deep black, his Semblance ringing with power from the brief clash mere seconds ago.
The Monster swung all four of its bone-sabres at him.
He pressed the trigger in his sheath, Blush, causing rifle cartridge inside it to detonate.
With a flash, Wilt was unsheathed.
His Semblance-powered slash careened directly at the monster's exposed neck, past all four of it's blades.
He saw the blade connect with the creature in gout of crimson blood and sparks…
Crack
Sound of something breaking rang in the red and black world.
Adam was snapped from his daze as colour flooded back into his surroundings.
He focused his gaze on the Grimm only to see three broken blades held by the creature in three of its arms, drawn in to form cocoon of blades around its head.
The Grimm had managed to intercept his blade partially, causing the hit to sever three of its bone sabres and redirect his slash aimed at its head, the katana instead biting deep into the creature's chest and piercing through its external ribcage.
Great gout of red blood to burst from between the Grimm's jaws as it took a ragged breath.
It had taken damage but had avoided the killing blow.
Before Adam managed to retract his blade the creature counter-attacked, and it's remaining blade swung down.
Adam felt tearing pain as the serrated blade struck his extended forearm, breaking his weakened Aura and severing his right arm by the elbow. He saw Wilt fall into the rocky ground, discarded, as the severed hand fell down.
Adam launched himself back with pained cry, hitting his back on the rocky cliffside while holding onto the stump of his arm. As the cold stone hit his back, he felt his legs give out from under him as he slumped down.
The monster gave a wet, blood stained gurgle eerily reminiscent of laughter and took step towards Adam… only for it's weakened legs to fail under it and sending the creature crashing on the rocky path.
Adam watched as the monster slid down the side of the path and into lazily spinning fall towards the red-leafed forest below, his vision blurring with each passing moment.
He felt his consciousness fade.
"...Hurry! He's losing blood!"
"...The wound is infected. There is something in it…"
"...Administer 200 milligrams of…."
Clatter of boots on hard ground. Mixed voices fading into silence.
Adam Taurus felt himself waking up slowly as his right arm sent spikes of dull pain to his brain.
He tried to lift himself up from the field hospital bed, only to feel his body not cooperating.
"Leader! You are alive! Thank Oum, we almost lost you!" nearby White Fang medic exclaimed as she noticed Adam being awake. The fox-tailed female faunus rushed over to the recently conscious man, red fabric of the camouflaged medical tent rustling slightly as she moved.
"Where… Is… Blake…" Adam voiced slowly as he tried to clear the haze from his eyes.
"We found you in the cliff trail after we heard sounds of battle from its direction, and sent a team to investigate. I managed to stop the bleeding before you would have died of bloodloss." the medic spoke in calmer tone. "We… didn't find anyone else alive beside you. What happened?"
Adam tried to lift himself up from the bed, only to almost fall off the field bed as the right arm he had instinctively leaned on was no longer there. The medic rushed to grab him and prevented him from falling over.
He grasped the stump of his arm with his left hand.
"Find Blake. She fell to the forest…" Adam said.
"With all due respect, sir, if Blake fell from that height, chances are that…."
"I don't want to hear it. Send teams." Adam spoke over the medic, his gaze stopping her dead on her tracks.
She would not abandon him and neither would he abandon her.
He would find Blake.
No matter what.
Scream, devour.
Black form leaps on top of him. Sting of something biting into his back.
Crash from above, rock falling. Avoid, leap.
Black form swims through the river of stones.
Swing the tail, the form is launched into the air.
Wak҉e̷ ͏up
Black form. Red hair. White mask.
Flash of red. World of Red. Blade tears through bone.
Pain. Pain.
Painpa̵I̅̋̇̔͊͒͘nP̨̢͡͝a̵̛͘į͢͠n̵̕͞P̨̢͡͝a̵̛͘į͢͠n̵̕͞.
.
Fade. Tumble.
Pain. Pain. Pain.
Crash.
.
.
P̨̢͡͝a̵̛͘į͢͠n̵̕͞ P̨̢͡͝a̵̛͘į͢͠n̵̕͞P̨̢͡͝a̵̛͘į͢͠n̵̕͞
.
Wak҉e̷ ͏ŲP͠
A gasp escaped from between his jaws as he felt himself wake up...
Jaune woke up.
'What is going on… did I eat... a red sword?' he thought groggily.
He remembered being in a snowy, nightly forest, covered in… 'Blood… Hunger… the… No. Wait. Where is Crocea Mors?' Jaune thought through his haze, sweeping his arms through the forest floor and ruffling red grass.
He tried to look into the ground to find the silver-steel blade, only to find his eyes not co-operating. After a moment of inability to focus on anything, he started to look into his surroundings more.
The world was covered haze of red, forms of… Trees? Rocks? Leaves? cluttered around him. It was difficult to tell…
He tried to rub his eyes, only to feel his hard bone-like arms brush against his face. He felt two pairs of hands grasp at his head.
A howl of terror escaped from between his bone-white jagged teeth.
'Must not pass out, must not pass out….' Jaune fought for consciousness as he rose to a sitting position, his legs giving out from under his weight as he staggered and fell over to his side again.
He felt a living being moving in front of him through the trees and foliage. The creature was mere hundred feet or so away… it was moving slowly, almost as if scared of something. He could taste it's fear.
He felt pang of hunger everlasting. Need to eat. Regain stren̨̢͠ģ̶́̕͜t̵̨h͘͠͏.
Jaune stood back on his hooves, feeling the rush of fresh adrenaline flood his system. Bone creaked as barely-closed cleave through his interlaced bone-skin reopened. Warm liquid rushed from between his jagged teeth as his bleeding lung exhaled blood alongside air.
He begun his charge, cleaving through the bushes and towards his chosen prey. Red tree that stood in his way was torn from its roots and flung aside like a toy.
The black form heard him and turned to face him. White eyes stared at his red pair and he heard his target give a quiet whimper.
He leaped from through the undergrowth, shaking the ground and sending himself flying on top of the prey in avalanche of black flesh and white bone.
He opened his maw, letting out a gout of blood and hot, steaming air, jagged claw-like teeth reaching for the form…
...A bloody form of a man and his dog, the form holding a broken dagger...
"NO"
"N̸͟͝O̶" A distorted roar came from between his jaws as the maw came to a stop, his arms burying themselves on the ground around the black form to stop himself from crushing the fragile creature that seemed to shiver underneath him.
'No... No… no. no. I'm not…I'm not!' Jaune's mind thought through the haze that threatened to overtake him again. He pushed against it, trying to remember anything familiar.
Smoke. Blood.
Blonde man, standing.
Red blade.
Jaune screamed, the sound coming out in hollowed wail from between the teeth as he felt his body bubble, skin melting as the black flesh and white bone started to boil and strip away.
.̵҉̡̲̠̼̮̯̳̪͔̪͇̳͜ͅͅ,̸͖̙̯̮̟̟̫͇̲̦͓̞̪͢͡G̷̡͚͓͖̻͜͝ͅR͏̵̫͉̼̫̯̫̠͙͖̗̦̣̮̖͓̯,̧̖̼̭̪͉̣̯͉́͞͞.̪̲̩̜́͘Ą͞҉̧̦͍͈̹̟͈̪̺͍̥̦͕.̵̸̳͚̤̪̱̰̪̖̺̗̪͙̙̼̹̭͓́͟A̴҉҉̵̳͓̣̫̰̬͚͓̲̟̣̤̰̱̹͍͘ͅa̶̦̗̭̘̫̤͇̲̬̝͔͚͕͍͈͓͜ͅ.̴̢̼͎̺̝͢͟͝,̷̛̥̩̯̰̖̱͉͙̬͙̮͚͘͡.̷̶̧̛̱̹̣̲̗̬̱͓̯̻̫̯͎̙͖̖͝a҉̷̭̯̹̞̰̳͕̰͔͍̩͘͡͠a̧̺̙̜͙͎̹̤̤̖̭͟͠á̧̧͎̥̘͉͎͖͎̣̘̲̩͢͟á̦͚̻̙̤̺̞͜͠ą͝͏̪̗̰̮̫̻̤̞̟͔͞a̴̴̯̰̜̹͎̦̬͓͙̦̫͎͇,̧̖̼̭̪͉̣̯͉́͞͞.̪̲̩̜́͘aaaah! Ghaaaaah!"
.
.
His ragged voice began to gradually resemble what a human voice might sound like as he felt himself detaching from the huge black-and-white mass.
Jaune felt exhausted as he fell off his discarded carcass, having shed the flesh and bone-skin he felt he had worn for ages. 'I'm Jaune. Of Arc Family. We live in... in Vale. We have a lodge in Shion' Jaune kept repeating to himself 'I'm human. I'm human. I'm human'
He braced himself up with his two hands as he pulled his legs out of the mass of flesh and bone, feeling his stomach tightening as liquid pooled in his mouth. Dry heaves wracked his body before he began to vomit blood.
Red blood.
Jaune reached to the ground in order to brace himself, only to feel something unusual under his hand as it brushed against something soft.
He looked down.
A trembling faunus, clad in white and grey uniform, looked up to him. Her eyes were wide as a thick white foam came out of her mouth. and her long, brown and fluffy bunny-ears were pressed tightly against her scalp as her body shook violently, faint streaks of tears trickling down her cheeks.
Jaune watched her as she attempted to calm herself to no avail, until Jaune felt the carcass above him move slightly. He reached to grab her hand, pulling her away from the black and white carcass as it began to sizzle and crash down where the pair had been, almost crushing them underneath its bulk.
Moments passed in silence that was only interrupted by the sound of the two forms breathing as the faunus had passed out as he had reached for her.
'Red forest… so it was not just my… my… it's eyes that was seeing things' he thought as he crawled further away from the mess of flesh and the discarded… whatever he had been, discovering that he was completely naked in the process. He grasped the unconscious faunus by the hand and dragged her further away from the rapidly decaying carcass.
He stood up after a while and carefully walked to grab the long cleaver that was lying discarded on the ground alongside a white pistol. The pair of weapons had likely belonged to the unconscious faunus woman.
He gave the long cleaver few test swings, and left the pistol lying where he had found it as Jaune did not know how to use it.
A shout from somewhere near broke his concentration.
"...Scarlatina? Dahlia Scarlatina! Answer to me! Or at least answer your scroll!" a slightly panicked male voice rang through the forest, the sounds of rustling of leaves and undergrowth accompanying the voice.
Jaune lunged to the side in order to hide himself, tumbling to a red bush nearby and trying to draw its branches so that it would hide his naked body.
Mere seconds after he had disappeared from sight the rustle of leaves turned into fast footsteps, and a white-and-grey clad male form broke through the undergrowth and into the clearing.
Jaune saw that the man wore a slightly tarnished white mask akin to the one the woman had been wearing, before the man tore it off his face and ran to the woman's unconscious form, completely ignoring the decaying monstrous carcass that took most of the clearing.
The man fell to his knees in front of the woman, whispering something that Jaune could not hear before picking her unconscious form up and holding her tightly against his chest.
Rustles and voices came from around the clearing as more men and women with similar clothing and mask burst from the bushes, each of them carrying cleavers with one of them wielding a heavy-looking machinegun.
Jaune was watching the scene in front of him with expressionless face, feeling himself freeze still as the men and women were either dry-heaving at the sight of his old discarded carcass or moving to check the slowly stirring faunus woman.
'Just moments ago... I was that creature… now this…is this really reality?' Jaune thought, feeling pressure building at the back of his head. Scenes that he had never seen played in his mind, red blades cleaving flesh and the tearing sound a̡͠͏̦̩s̸͇͔̟̟̥͙̭ ̩͖̠̹́͟t́҉̟̪̘h̷̷̨͕̝̘̼̟̠̻e̵̴̟̥ ҉̱̠b̵̘͚̝̫̭̬͔̞l̻͈͇̫̝̖͞a̳̟̟̣͔̘̗̲̭͠c̷͏̜͚͇͇̫̹̜̠k̩̙͙͉͇͓̳͈ ̴̩̫̖f̣̝̜l̢̼̬͔̮̗e̘̹̣͢s̯͕̳̺̻̀h̬̗͎̥̼̤ ̵̧̺̠͓̣̳͈̩I̳̱s̠͉͜͜͜ ͚̬̦͓͍̣͢͝s̯̩̙͉̺̥̮ͅḙ̮͓̟͕͚̘p̬͇̞̝̯̼̠ȩ̸̘̪͚r̛̩͍̦̟͓̝̗ͅa͓̦͕͇̻̺̫ͅt͙̪̣̝͍̫̹̬̜̕͠e͟͏̙d͔̣̖̭͈̣̩̦.̜̣̣̟̤͍̀
D̵̛͞͡e̛v̸̴̶ó̶ù̸̸͞r̡͝.͞͏̶̕ ̸́͘͝͞G̴r̶ò͘͜w̶̴̧̛.͘
҉̵̀̀͡C̢̧̛r̵̨͡ą̵̨̀ć̛̛̛̕k҉̨̀l̷̷͡I̴̡ņ̷́͜g̴͘ ͏͟͠ẹ͏͠҉͞ń̸͘e̡r̸̸͡͞g̸̸̛y̨̨͘ ̵̨͘͠f̡́͘l̸҉̛҉҉ǫ̡̛͘w̵̛ị͢n̴͜͜ǵ̡̨ ̶͢ţ̶̡͞h̸̡͜͞͞r̢͢ơ̶̕͜͝u̸ǵ̸͞h̷̵̨̨̧t̛͡ ̀͠͝h͘͏ę̴͜͠͡ ̢̀͜͟b̢͢͢͝͝l̷̛͘a͠͠͏̕d̶̕͢͠ę̴͜͝ḏ̨̧ ̧c҉̶̛r̡ó͏ẁ́n̢̢̡
̶̷́E͏͠a͏̶t̶̛͜.̡́͝ ͢͞
̡͠҉Ḑ̵̶̧ę̷̨͢͞v̸̀͟ờ̴͘͟ṷ҉̵̶̸̨ŗ̵̷̴͡.̀͜҉ ҉͏͘S̸͟҉͘c̨҉͟r͜͟e̶҉͝a̵̕m͠͞
.
Jaune began to laugh.
The chilling, hollow sound of his laughter echoed in the clearing.
"What's that?" a male voice asked as the group of faunus in the clearing became aware of Jaune's existence.
"I'll go check it out" a female voice answered. "You there, in the bushes! Come out where we can see you!" she commanded.
Jaune just continued to laugh, the laughter slowly fading to turn into series of sobs.
"Wait… it's a teenager. Hold your fire" the same female voice sounded.
Footsteps. Something came closer.
He heard rustle as the bush in front of him was opened and a small but strong hand pulled him out of it and into the open. Jaune fell face-down to the black ground while still hugging the cleaver tightly to his chest and hiding it from view under his bulk. His eyes were closed as he tried his best to fight back the rising urge to kill, to step forwards and tear apart flesh and bone...
The voices from the people in the clearing made it easier, pulling him back towards reality.
"It's… a human? What's a human doing here!" a male voice exclaimed.
"Maybe he's lost? Who are you, what's your name?" a second voice asked.
"Lost? In the Forever Fall, naked? Are you on drugs again?" new female voice interjected. "He's just a human, kick whatever he knows out of him and just kill him" the voice continued.
"Good idea" a male voice agreed.
Jaune felt a swift kick to his side, causing him to open his eyes.
"Hey, boy. You have ten seconds to tell me who you are and…." the man who had kicked him was cut off as a woman with dog ears slapped the man in his arm, interrupting him.
"No-one is killing anyone! He's the only one who perhaps knows what happened here!" she said, before turning to Jaune. "Now, sweetheart, who are you and did you see what happened here? It's really important so please try to remember" she asked, her voice quiet.
"Everything is wrong. Everything. I'm not… it. I'm not…" Jaune whimpered, looking up from the ground to catch the masked woman's eyes.
She looked deep into his wild, unfocused eyes before sighing.
"I think he's broken" the woman spoke quietly, although loud enough to carry over the clearing before pulling a small pistol from her belt. "Haah, I hate being wrong… Don't worry, I'll show you mercy." she said, cycling a round into the chamber.
She took aim at Jaune and fired.
The second slowed into a minute as Jaune saw the flash of fire and felt the hot bullet burrow into his skin. The flesh parted in front of the metal projectile before the thick bone of his cranium stopped the small caliber shot.
The kinetic force was enough to rattle his head and slam it to the ground, making it look as if he had slumped down, dead. Yet Aura regenerated the skin and mended the cracked bone, once again not stopping the damage but instead massively increasing the healing speed.
The impact, however, was enough to distract his attention away from his internal battle for too long.
Pressure washed over his mind and caused all of his hairs to stand on their ends as he felt the foreign instincts take over.
R̵̺̤e҉̷͍̻͈͎͙n͉̺͓̱͈͇͉͘͠d̪̣͉̀
̻̕͜K̷̵̝͔̜̩̥͖̟̪͕I҉̨̩͜l҉̟͍̪̞͖̻͟ͅl̨̹̣̠͜
̛͔̰̗̗͙͓ͅT͎͖͡é̱̟̫̖̙a̢̧̠̬̤͚̪͜r̸͚ ̣̲͘͡a̵͍̬͚͜p҉̢͚͎a̶̩̪r̵̡̫t҉͍͇͉͖̜̣̭̀
Jaune's world faded in colour as he felt something pushing its shadowy tendrils on his mind, memories not his own flooding his consciousness.
"Right. Bro, can you take pictures of the corpse over here…" voice of the female faunus with dog ears who had shot Jaune rang in his ears.
The continuation to the woman's speech to the was lost to him as he stood up and pulled out the long cleaver hidden beneath him.
Jaune took a step forward in trance-like state.
He heard the soft voices of the grey and white clad forms around him.
Take a step. Two. Three.
The woman with dog ears turns to look at him. Her scream echoes in the clearing.
Lazy flick of his cleaver separates her head from her shoulders. The blade carves red trace in the air.
Another flick downwards tears into her dead body, freeing the identical cleaver she had on her hips. He reaches to grab it, holding the dual blades in stance that is familiar to him yet one he had never used. He had learned it through countless battles that…
...He could not remem̢̕͠͠b͏͏è̕͞͞r̶͢͠.
A flash of a foreign memory passed through his mind, too fast to be comprehended.
He heard shouts around him. He sees a man pointing finger at him as the men and women in the clearing stand up with two exceptions. One man stays on his knees, his back towards Jaune. One woman in the kneeling man's embrace looks at Jaune with wide eyes.
Gunfire.
Pinpricks hit Jaune's skin. Organs were punctured and ruptured as bullets penetrated his skin.
Irrelevant.
The wounds closed faster than they were made. Bullets dissolved into his bloodstream, the liquid flowing in his veins turning highly corrosive as a response to the trauma.
Step. Two. Three. Slash, parry. Flesh and bone separates from a body. Man screams as he falls grasping a stump that used to be his leg. Woman charges at him and swings her cleaver with two hands, he parries it down with one hand. His other hand flicks down, severing the woman's hands from her wrists.
Step. Two. Three. Man with a machine gun turns it towards him. He raises his cleavers to block the salvo.
Hail of bullets breaks his cleavers, the shards of superheated dust shattering the steel blades like glass.
He commanded the bone of his thumb to extend in both of his hands, pushing it through his skin and flesh until it forms a long claw. The claw elongates and widens in rapid pace, turning itself into a thin, single-edged bone-sword.
With a crack the swords separate from both of his thumbs and he grasps them by their narrow hilts, holding them in reverse grip.
Step. Two. Three. Cleave. Blood flows in the air. A man's upper body falls to the left, his lower body falling to the right with soft, wet sound.
A Man and a woman standing side by side. The man speaks to the woman. Woman takes step backwards as the man raises his blade to high guard.
Step. Two. Three. Feint, parry. Leg swipes at other, the man falls.
Stab down, cut. Head rolls away from twitching body.
Woman screams and swings her blade. Cleaver bites into his thigh, severing veins and tendons.
G̸̶̀͜r̕͟o͏̵͜͢wl
Woman covers her mouth and backs up slowly, her cleaver having gotten stuck on his leg.
Mask falls from her face. Words directed at him. Brown cat-like ears tremble on top of her head, pressed tightly against her scalp as she takes a step backwards.
Step.
Cry of fear fills the air. She begs as she backs up slowly, tears flowing from her eyes.
Step.
She opens the buttons of her sleeveless jacket. Brown, smooth skin is exposed to the cold air.
Step.
Slash. Slash.
Woman falls. Her head is cleaved in half horizontally, arm is cut off from the shoulder.
Jaune looks idly across the clearing. Wails and pained cries from the wounded filled the air. Man is clutching to his leg-stump.
Walk to him, slash. Cry of pain turns to gurgle before going quiet.
Woman is on her knees, staring at her severed hands.
Walk to her. Flick cleaver. Long hair is cut short, her head rolls to her lap.
Look around.
On the other side of the clearing a man keeps holding onto the female faunus with rabbit ears. Both stare at him with wide eyes but stay deathly still, and he could feel waves of fear radiating from the pair.
Step, Two, Three...
The faunus pair was mere foot away.
He raised his hand to… to…
...'No... I'm not…I'm not!' he looks at the trembling female form through his red eyes…
His hand lowers, the blade falling from his numb fingers as a familiar memory presses into his mind.
He stands in front of the white and grey forms. The female looks at him, her face white and rabbit-ears pressed against her scalp. The man holds the woman closer to his chest.
Minutes pass in silence as he looks at the pair, Eventually the silence breaks as the man shuffles backwards quietly, dragging the nearly catatonic female faunus with him.
Step back.
The man starts to run, holding onto the woman.
He does not pursue, his remaining blade slipping from his fingers. The swords begins to smoke slightly as they are discarded, jutting out of the red-stained ground.
He takes a look at his surroundings. The clearing is quiet.
Jaune blinks.
'I… Did… How...' quiet, sob-like breath escaped from his lips as he felt the tendrils of jumbled memories ease their grip on his mind as the danger had passed. The haze of instinctive behaviour receded from Jaune's mind.
He sat down, pulling his legs to his chest calmly and stared at the field of corpses.
"Miss? Miss. Please wake up" A firm, elder voice rang through her brain.
Crash. Flying through the air. Heavy hit.
Boulder falling. Red blade…
A…..
"Monster!" Blake shouted, sitting up quickly. A pang of pain shot through her frame from the sudden action.
"Now now, no need to get hasty. I may be old but I am not that old." the moustached man commented, sitting on a cushy chair next to her. "How are you feeling?"
"I… where am I?" Blake asked. She looked around to find herself in luxurious one-person passenger suite, lying on the couch with small blanket on top of her. She saw red trees flashing past the windows on the other side of the cabin, out of which one window was blocked with cardboard and tape.
"You happened to fly through the window and into my breakfast. Not quite what I had in mind when I ordered fast food, but I suppose the people at dining car get creative every now and then." the elderly man chuckled. "Have I told you how I once ordered a large salad only to find myself fighting an avalanche of Geist grimm who had taken individual fruits as host bodies?..."
"But… I…" the confused cat faunus tried to interject as the man seemed to go into extremely far-stretched tale about bravery in face of insurmountable odds and lettuce.
"...And that's how I invented my signature pick-up line and saved the restaurant." the man ended, twirling his white moustache. "Are you quite alright, miss?" he asked from the girl who had gone quiet, resting herself back to the couch.
"Why did you help me?" she asked quietly. "You don't know me"
"And you don't know me, but my profession and calling is to help humans and faunus alike who are in dire need of assistance, be it in form of slaying Grimm, guiding with life choices or listening to teenage relationship drama." the old man answered.
"In fact, it's surprisingly refreshing when the people in need of help come directly to me rather than needing me to come find them. Although I would prefer if they didn't topple over the breakfast table while doing so." he added.
"Who are you…" Blake asked, her cat ears twitching slightly on top of her head as she struggled against her rising amusement over the old man's antics.
"I am Professor Port of Beacon Academy. And based off your gear, the fact that there is no registered local militia in Forever Fall, and how you have unlocked Aura, you are either a dangerous criminal, a trained and registered Huntress or someone who is looking to become either of the two." the man gave her a piercing look before offering a steaming cup of tea to the faunus who had frozen still like a deer in headlights.
Blake was quiet while taking the cup as she stared at the man. As the professor chose to not press the issue, she relaxed slightly on the soft couch as she balanced her options. Moments passed as she took small sips of tea and looked at the red scenery passing outside the window, until she finally came to a decision.
"I am Blake Belladonna and I aim to become a Huntress."
The night had fallen.
Jaune was still sitting in the clearing, rocking himself back and forth while going through the foreign and familiar jumble of memories that now filled his mind.
He no longer felt cold. He had chosen not to, burning his aura to keep him warm. A small glow of red illuminated his face, his now scarlet irises having started to glow. He felt memories of what felt like lifetimes ago begin to trickle back into him.
'Dad… Mom… Sapphire… Jade… Coral…. I'm sorry. I wasn't able to save you' Jaune looked at his arm, closing and opening it while rocking himself back and forth. The field of corpses had started to slowly chill and a faint buzz could be heard as flies and other insects had started to gather on the corpses.
Jaune took deep breath, smelling the pungent odour of blood and exposed entrails. A smell that somehow… felt familiar. Frighteningly so.
He looked at the corpses, noticing that one of them had clothes that might fit him…
Jaune began a bloody and arduous task of undressing the corpse and putting its clothes on himself. He left the mask off, feeling that it would only work to hinder his sight.
As he was clothing himself he noticed changes in his body- No longer was he a wiry and short teenager, instead he felt sinewy muscle where there had been soft flesh. He felt taller, although it was difficult tell as there was nothing he could use to properly measure himself.
'How long has it been since… that day…' he thought to himself as he put on the blood-stained shirt. Answer to his question came from a piece of communication equipment that he found in one of the pouches in the dead man's jacket. He took the Scroll out and unfolded it. 'This…. It's been two years'.
He closed his eyes.
'What am I going to do now… seek revenge? Kill that bandit tribe? Try to continue to live as before?'
He willed himself to think back to the lazy days of youth. To time when he could sleep for as long as he wished on soft, clean sheets. When he could read about heroes and monsters with no care in the world. Familiar voices rang in his head…
And in response, he felt the… burn in his eyes, feeling the signature bubbling and heat as his body changed, his eyes shifting under their lids.
When he opened his eyes, the glowing scarlet irises had turned back to deep blue.
'Yes… There is no reason to change what I wished to become.' Jaune took a deep breath and exhaled, seeing his breath come out in gout of steam as his organs let out the excess heat into brisk summer night.
'Dad and mom might not be here to look over me anymore… but I will not disappoint their memory. I will become a Huntsman like dad, to protect people like mom, and my sisters...'
With his goal set, he set his sights on the corpses in the clearing, beginning to loot the dead and ignoring the immorality of the act.
'Well, they are not going to use the clothes and lien anymore, right?' he thought.
The ransacking of the corpses left Jaune with few hundred Lien in currency and some used clothes. He attempted to grow another pair of bone-swords, but found out that no matter how much he willed them to grow, they would not. Instead he looted another pair of metal cleavers from the corpses.
He didn't take any of the scrolls or personal electronics, as he felt they might do more harm than good as he was fairly certain that the devices would be traceable. More importantly, he was able to scavenge a physical map of the area, and gather some info on where he might be.
'Vale…'
'And as always, nothing is as easy as it sounds…'
With the morning sun, came the red eyes of the Grimm.
'From one fight to another…' Jaune readied his cleavers, standing in the wide stance that he had grown somewhat used to. The Beowolves that had surrounded him were circling around the patch of woods slowly, looking for opening moment to strike. He had discarded the small carry-sack that contained his few looted goods and clothes in order to better face the Grimm.
One of them charged forwards to snap its bone-clad jaws at him, only to leap back when he swung his cleaver at it. As Jaune was concentrating on the one Beowolf, another tried to lunge at his ankles in an attempt to hamstring him. Quick flick of blade bit into the lunging beowolves snout and drew blood.
Brief confrontation was replaced by more circling and staring.
'They are trying to tire me out by keeping me on my toes...' Jaune thought idly, his mind calm despite the situation. He knew that he should have been afraid of the Grimm creatures but somehow he was unable to bring himself to fear them.
The combat seemed famili͢a̵r, ̷l͞ike ͡so͠m͜e͠thing͜ h͢e̛ ͡w̨as͠ ̛b̢o͞ŗn ͢to ͞d̕o.̛
T͟͡ơ͝ ͘r͏͡e̶̛͞n̕͟͡d̀,̨ ̛͢d̸e̕v͘͟ơ̶u͜ŗ̢.̕͝
S̴͞͠c̸҉r̷̸e̵̡͜͠a̸̸͠m̛̀͡,̵̧̡̛͢ ̶̴́͞ḑ̶̛̀͡e͡͏̕v̕҉̴͘ǫ̧̡́͠ừ̧́͝r̴͢͝.̶̢́́͞
A growl escaped Jaune's lips as he felt the familiar pressure wash over from the back of his head. Red daze started to set over his eyes… before he shook his head.
'No… I won't let it control me. Focus.' Jaune centered his eyes on the beowolf that was starting to creep gradually closer.
He stepped forwards to charge, only to stop as the Beowolf jumped back. Instead he turned and jumped to the side, avoiding another Grimm that had lunged at his back when his attention was elsewhere.
This time, he counterattacked harder as the beowolf had overextended itself and wasn't able to leap back in time.
The bone-cleaver bit deep into the Beowolf's flank, causing the beast to let out whimper and crash to it's good flank, trashing as it begun to die.
Unfortunately, the trashing made it difficult to pull the cleaver off the corpse, which caused the weakened blade to break with audible snap.
'Not good' Jaune thought as he brandished his remaining blade at the rest of the beowolf pack.
The Grimm seemed to realize his plight and picked up the pace of their snaps and feint-attacks. It wasn't long until Jaune was distracted with two other beowolves attacking from his front to miss third swiping at his leg, the claws connecting with his leg as he wasn't able to dodge fast enough.
The razor-sharp claws bit deep, severing tendons on his leg and biting deep into the muscles.
With muffled curse, Jaune fell to the forest floor and all four remaining beowolves jumped on his form.
'No, no! Not like this!' he cursed as he felt multiple maws biting into his flesh, tearing chunks off his legs and tearing open his stomach. He swung hard at one of the beowolves, feeling the cleaver lodge itself between the faceplate and neck of a Beowolf, drawing pained howl from the creature as it pulled back, ripping the cleaver off Jaune's hand as it was stuck on the beast's flesh.
'Pain, pain pain pai̷͘͘ǹ ̵̴̵͏͝p̀͠á́̀͡I̢͘͝n̵̶͟ ̷̡̡͘͜p̛a̧͜͏I̵n̡̕͟͠ ́p͏̡a̷̢I̶̡ǹ̴̛͢͡
Haze of red clouded his vision as he felt himself fall inside his mind. Impossible memories forcing their tendrils into his head as he felt his Aura work to regenerate his flesh as it was torn away. Flesh returned to places where it had been torn, except instead where was once white skin and red muscle, now there was white bone-like armor and black flesh.
Jaune saw pair of jaws closing towards his head.
He extended his hands, grasping the snout of the attacking Beowolf. As the hands closed on the beast, he saw that his fingers had molded together with a long claw-like blade extending from his hand in dagger-grip.
The claws bit deep into the Beowolf's head, puncturing through it's bone-like mask and sinewy black flesh. Tearing sound vibrated through the clearing as he felt his claws pull the Beowolf's head apart.
The sudden death of the pack member caused the remaining three Beowolves to jump back, one of them narrowly dodging his swiping claw that nearly hamstrung it.
Jaune stood back up, feeling the pain and sizzling from where his wounds regenerated, black flesh and mass of bone growing over the maimed skin and knitting cut flesh back together.
He felt… something grow in his arms. Tingle spread over his form as he leaped at the nearest Beowolf, skewering it to the ground with his long claws and rending it to pieces with frenzied strikes.
Last two Beowolves attempted to charge his back, forcing Jaune to take a fast step forwards to evade the beasts. He leaped against a nearby tree, using it as launchpad to pounce on the larger of the two of the Beowolves.
His claws tore once again into the black flesh, whimpers of the dying Beowolf filling his ears.
The last Beowolf turned to flee.
He felt the tingle in his arms stop as something wanted out. Hollow sting came through his arms as he felt small airways open from his lungs, leading up to his forearms and to the bases of long bone-darts that had grown themselves into his forearms. Sharp heads of the black darts jutted from the holes in his arm, and he could feel anticipation as he readied himself to unleash them on his prey.
He took deep breath, instinctively knowing how to use his new… addition, aiming his hand at the retreating back of the Beowolf and exhaled.
Yet no air passed from through his lips.
Few black dart flew from his arm, accompanied with satisfying feeling of something bursting from his skin as his lungs pumped air through the internal airways to launch the darts from his arms in similiar fashion to a high-powered blowpipe.
The darts flew true and lodged themselves into the Beowolf's back, jutting out of the thick skin.
As Jaune watched the spine-like darts began to burrow into the Beowolf, seeking organs and spreading inside the beast to cut into them with their jagged, serrated edges.
The fleeing Beowolf crashed into a nearby tree, thrashing and trying to claw at the source of the agony, unable to comprehend the source of its suffering.
The creature's tore at its own flesh until its movements started to weaken before going still.
Jaune felt the tendril of a foreign memory pushing into his mind as the last Beowolf died.
He felt…. hungry.
D̡è̸́v҉̵̧̨̛o̢̧͢͝u̕͢͏̢r̶̨.̧̕ ̀͢͏͝S̷̛͘͝͞ç̷r̨̕͞e̢̕a̡̧͢m̴̸̷̡̨
̀H̶̀͢͡ừ̸͜ņ͘͟g̶̢̧͘͟e̸̷̕͜͢ŕ̶̷͘
Jaune gasped for air, feeling the presence at the back of his head slam itself into his consciousness, threatening to push him deeper into the unnatural memory.
He looked at the dissolving corpses of Beowolves in the red forest floor.
Saliva coated his mouth as he felt his lips drawing back and revealing razor-sharp jagged teeth.
Jaune felt hungry, and bit down on the raw, black Grimm-meat.
Black blood flowed into his mouth as oily and sinewy meat was torn apart between his jaws.
His skin boiled as he felt the now-familiar heat and bubbling of himself growing. White exoskeleton spread to cover his chest as he felt his head elongating, and bone-plates started to grow from his back and tear apart his constricting clothes.
His claws bit deep into the slowly evaporating black flesh to tear more chunks off it, and Jaune lost track of time as he continued to feed.
Hours later, a roar echoed from the woods as the monstrous, almost 10-feet tall form stood up from it's meal. However instead of four red blades, it held onto a small canvas bag full of clothes and looted essentials as it continued on its journey through the forest of Forever Fall.
AN:
So, Jaune Awakens… or something that was once Jaune.
He may or may not remember meeting our lovely faunus pair, but I'm certain that they will remember meeting him.
Next chapter: Breaking and Entering- 9th Sept.
Omake:
Meanwhile in parallel universe, two Beowolves were watching a movie from the TV where a massive, bone-armor plated Grimm with four arms was kneeling over a nearly catatonic bunny faunus.
The Beowolves cheered on the cushy couch as the maw of razor-sharp teeth closed in on the helpless bunny girl, until the armored Grimm creature let out a chilling scream. The pair on the couch watched in horror as the Grimm started to claw its breastplate as something bulged in the Grimm's chest.
With twin screams of abject horror, the Beowolves saw a human burst out of the massive Grimm's chest, covered in dark red Grimm blood. The human let out a chilling howl and exhaled red blood, before grasping the faunus by the wrist and dragging her away. As she disappeared out of sight the four-armed Grimm creature slumped into the ground, dead…
"Matt, we're never watching your movies again" the first beowolf said, having jumped on the second beowolves lap and shaking uncontrollably.
"But metacritic gave Human: The Eight Passenger a score of 4.8 out of 5…" the second beowolf complained, holding onto the first beowolf tightly...