Shattered Memories Chapter 7- Two Steps Back

I DO NOT OWN RWBY.

Important A/N Below

Jaune and Pyrrha followed Joan who had her rifle at the ready. "You two know better than to be wandering out here." She scolded as she kept looking around for any signs of Grimm. "You could have died just like Thomas…"

Pyrrha looked over to Jaune who hung his head down in complete shame, tears coming down his cheek. Who was this Thomas? She decided it probably wise to ask right now. She stayed quiet as they made their way back to the house. "I'm so incredibly sorry…" Jaune said remorsefully, tears coming down his cheek as they reached the backdoor. Joan stopped and turned around to face them, getting down one knee, being eye level.

"Hey now..." She pulled of them into a hug. "You don't have to be sorry… We just can't stand the thought of losing you." Jaune sobbed while Pyrrha was touched. She knew that the Arcs cared about her, but being this concerned over her well being was a new level for the redhead to understand. She couldn't understand how they could be this caring to her, an outsider.

John kept lookout while the maintenance crew reinforced the culvert with a new grate. He kept his rifle at the ready, keeping an eye out for any Grimm, but he was rather preoccupied with had happened earlier.

He barely made it out in time. He was barely out in time to save his kids. He was able to stop the one that was charging at his Pyrrha. Then it clicked, there was another Grimm, that he was not able to kill. A Grimm that was going to kill his son. He was too slow, he should be dead. If it wasn't for Pyrrha, he would be.

He was too slow. He wasn't fully aware. He was too careless. Today could have been a repeat incident of what happened with Thomas Arc, his twin brother, who was cruelly snatched away by an Ursa. The memories came back fresh as daylight.

John kept running, running as fast as he could. Rifle at the ready.

*Cling Clang CLINK* A blood curdling scream could be heard. No. John thought to himself as he redoubled his speed.

A Beowulf leapt out in front of him, which he mercilessly shot down with his automatic rifle until it was bloody confetti. Still running, he replaced the magazine with a fresh clip. Oh gods no. Another Beowulf charged after him chasing him. He quickly stopped and snapped around aiming his rifle at the Grimm's head and opened fire, dropping the Grimm.

He continued to the sound of pain and agony. He reached the area where it was coming from. What he saw, he could not understand. A man, similar to him in almost every single way, was getting torn apart by an Ursa. No. No. No. NO! He screamed mentally. Thomas Arc laid on the ground, a pool of blood surrounding him, his sword, Crocea Mors, far from his reach. John aimed his rifle at the Ursa and opened fire, letting our a ferocious war cry. Filling ever bullet with hate, anger, and rage. The Ursa bellowed as the rounds from the assault rifle pierce the Grimm. After emptying an entire clip the Ursa fell over. John reloaded his gun and pointed the rifle at the Grimm's head and opened fire, smashing away at what remained of the Ursa's head. Knowing that the Grimm was dead, he rushed over to his twin brother.

Thomas was coughing up blood, as blood seeped through his armour. "Well….." He spat out blood. "I don't think I'm going to make it out this time…." He gave a pained chuckle. John applied pressure to the wound and redirected his Aura into his twin, hoping it would heal his wounds.

"Shut up." John said. "You going to be fine. You've went through worse."

"John."

"No. Stop talking. Save your energy." John with strain as he pulsed a faint white light.

"John… don't…" Thomas grunted.

"You're going to be fine." John gave him an exasperated smile.

"Tell….." Thomas coughed. "them…. I'm sorry… and… that I love…. them… Stay... strong..." Thomas stopped breathing as his eyes closed.

"No!" John shook his twin brother. "Thomas! Please!" He shook him even more. "You aren't dead you aren't dead you aren't dead." Thomas didn't move. "NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" John screamed out in anger, losing his other half. His brother, his twin, his best friend. He sat there sobbing. It should have been a simple mission, clear out some Grimm. What went wrong? "Gods damn it! Why couldn't it have been me?! TAKE ME!"

He sat there cradling Thomas, cursing the world that he would never let this happen to anyone that he cared about.

Jaune and Pyrrha head upstairs in silence. Jaune reached his room's door. "Hey… I'm sorry, but I need to take a nap. I'm not feeling too good." Jaune muttered looking down at his feet. Pyrrha knew he was lying, he was still bothered by what happened today, but she nodded. "Jaune." He looked at her.

"Are you alright?" Pyrrha asked. He looked terrible, he had the most pained frowned on his face, but he tried to give her a smile. "Yeah I'm fine." She decided to leave at that. She headed into her own room, deciding it was better to find something to do.

She entered room thinking of what she could do. She could read the next X-Ray and Vav comic that Jaune let her borrow. She could get started on her school make up work, maybe even start reading another book. She hopped on her bed realizing something. Those Beowolves could have eaten both of them, yet she was able to kill one of them.

Kill Grimm. She even managed to protect a dear friend. Maybe she was meant to become a huntress? She knew that it came to someone hurting someone she care about, she reacted instinctively, without a second thought. Was that a good thing? Is that the right thing to do? She didn't like the idea of killing, but Grimm weren't people, Grimm only wanted to hurt people, people who Pyrrha cared about. She scowled at that thought of creatures hurting the people she wants to protect.

She felt like she was meant to protect people, to protect the people she cared for. The note was wrong, she was meant to become a huntress, even if it meant not having a second chance at a normal life. A not wasn't meant to control her life, she wanted to do this now by any cost.

John entered the house. He hung up his rifle, just underneath the unmistakable sword of Crocea Mors, his brother's sword. He took a step back looking up at the sword, relieving the painful fourty-five year of living together. He failed to realize that his wife was behind. "John." She said worriedly. "What's wrong?" He couldn't respond.

"John? Please talk to me." Joan pleaded, her blue eyes begging at husband.

"I… I…. I…." He stammered shaking his head. Joan knew that he was reliving his memories of Thomas. Thomas was an important member of the family. He basically Jaune's second father, a dear friend of Joan, but she couldn't imagine what it would be like to lose someone so close, so identical to you. He managed to bury the pain, to hide his anger, and frustration. However, at times, it would surface. Joan tried to get him to open up about, to share the pain with her, but that caused him to shut down even more. Three years after the death of his twin, John still kept quiet about it. It must have been crushing.

"I…. was too slow Joan….." John whispered.

"But you killed one of the Grimm." Joan tried to soothe the tortured man beside her. "You saved them."

"There was another one, right above Jaune. He would have died if Pyrrha wasn't there." John said looking at the sword.

"You mean she killed a Beowulf?"

He nodded. "Using metal, I think her semblance had something to do with it." He hung his down. "If she wasn't there with him, we would have lost him. I was too slow. I was unprepared, I was irresponsible. I let Jaune down just like I let Thomas." He walked up to the sword hanging above the fire place. Placing a hand on the sheath of the sword.

"John… it wasn't your fault. You did the best you could do….. for both of them."

"Don't say that." He whispered still looking it

"John… you can't blame yourself."

"STOP IT!" He turned around, pure rage in his eyes. "You don't understand what it is like to lose your brother. You don't know what it's like to lose you twin. You don't understand what it's like to let your family down. I was meant to be hunter, he wasn't meant to be hunter." Hist voice settling down into a cold and distant, but resolute tone. "No one will put in the same situation I was or he was. If it is one successful thing that I'm good at, it'll be that kept my family away from unnecessary danger."

"John…."

He interrupted her. "Just stop." Joan hesitantly back off. She never heard John like this.

"Alright, I'm sorry." She said apologetically and headed upstairs to check on Jaune. She knocked on Jaune. She knocked on his door. "Jaune? Can I come in?"

"Yeah." He said meekly, as if he voice was muffled. She opened the door to see her son head underneath, curled into a little ball, underneath a few blankets. She came over to her son's bed and sat down rubbing his shoulder.

"Jaune… what's wrong?" Already knowing full well what he was upset about.

"I'm sorry… I didn't mean to make Dad upset." He sobbed underneath the pillow.

"I know honey. I know. He isn't mad, he just wants to make sure you are alright." She rubbed his back in sympathy.

"I didn't mean to remind him of Uncle Thomas." Jaune sniffed. "I…. miss him…."

"I know, we all do. You just have to remember that he loves you and he will always love you." Joan said steeling her own voice. "He's in a better place now."

"Are you sure?" Jaune asked turning to face his mother.

"I am." She said sweetly.

"Pyrrha saved me out there. I think Uncle Tom would have liked her, especially if wants to become a huntress." Joan inwardly cringed at the conflict that would be rising between John and Pyrrha. Sure, Pyrrha was still a child, she may change her mind. However, Joan felt that Pyrrha was going to become a huntress no matter what.

"I bet he would have too." Joan stood up. "Feeling better?"

"Yeah…" Jaune's tone a little lighter. "Mom can you do me a favor?"

"Hmmmm?"

"Can thank Pyrrha for me?"

"Sure." She left his room and head over to Pyrrha's room and knocked. "Pyrrha can I come in?"

Pyrrha heard the knock and got off of her bed. She headed at the door with an urgent pace. She opened the door to allow Mrs. Arc to come in. "Hey there Pyrrha." She closed the door behind her.

"Hello." She said, her voice losing all of its previous warmth. Joan hugged the little redhead.

"Thank you. Thank you for saving Jaune." Her voice began to break. "I…. We….. are so thank you…."

Pyrrha stood there for a moment unable to comprehend what she was talking about. How did I save Jaune? She just reacted without thinking, but it didn't explain how she did it. She did the one that felt right and returned the hug. After an emotional embrace. Pyrrha broke away slightly. "Mrs. Arc?"

"Yes?" She responded.

"Who is Thomas?" Pyrrha asked noting how Mrs. Arc frowned at the name being mentioned. She led the redhead to the bed and gestured for her to sit down. Pyrrha sat down as Mrs. Arc took the chair from the desk and sat in front of the little girl.

"He's." She rubbed her hands nervously. "He was…. Mr. Arc's twin brother… and was almost like Jaune's second father."

"Wha…. What do you mean second father?"

"John wasn't around that much…. He was always hunting trips, and well Thomas would always stop in when John was away and take care of the family…. He was a good man. I'm sure he would have loved you."

"He sounds like a good man." Pyrrha said. That's why Jaune was really upset with the mention of Thomas. This man took care of him just like his own father. "When…. When did he go?"

"It's been three years…" Joan sighed remorsefully looking out at the window. "Three long years." After a few moments of remembering the past, Joan came to. "Pyrrha. I want to help you become a huntress, but let's keep that between us. It'll be our little secret alright?" Pyrrha nodded confusedly, not understanding why she had to keep it a secret. "We'll go out in the woods and train for a bit, but you can't let anyone know, especially Mr. Arc, that also means Jaune as well." She nodded again without fully understanding what was happening.

Joan stood up. "Alright, you should get some rest. I'll call you guys down when dinner is ready."

A/N

Hi guys!

Thanks for reading! As always, if you have any thoughts on the chapter, please feel free to leave a pm or a review and I will try to get back to you as soon as possible. If you have thoughts, ideas, suggestions, feedback (good or bad), opinions, reactions, predictions, let me know! I love to hear from my readers!

Now on to important business.

Soooo... I have been following a group of fanfic writers called Legion205. I absolutely love their stuff and I watch their streams occasionally when time permits. That being said, I owe them a huge thanks for writing amazing fanfics, and to be honest, for my inspiration of writing fanfics just in general. This guys are the coolest to me! I highly highly highly recommend their stuff.

I also wanted to thank these guys for creating a fun and vibrant community. It was because of this group that I have joined a small collaboration with other Legion fans. We have dubbed ourselves Division 502. That being said: I want to absolutely want to stress that we are not trying to copy Legion. We look up to Legion and we want thank Legion for bringing all of us together... and basically allowing us to share our love of fanfics just in general. We are a collab group that is actively trying to raise awarness of Legion 205 and who actively support it. We love these guys and we owe them so much! So a huge shout to them!

Expect our little project to be released in about a week or two... (that's all I'm going to say... and let me tell you... I am super excited for this project)

Another side note. For those who are actively getting more involved and want to get to know the author of Shattered Past and Arkos Books, I will start streaming on Look up LordxSauronx15. Stop by, say hello. Stay awhile eat some snacks, we can have little chats and stuff while you watch me play games that I will fail at and other games. I may or may not have other guests within my streams who would also love to talk with all of you! I want to get to know my readers on a more personal level, and I figure that this would be a better way!

-Thank you for all of your support. It truly means the world to me!

Lordxsauron