Jaune Arc: Weapon Whisperer

Chapter Seven: A Trip Through the Past

Crocea watched his partner sleep on his bed from the corner that Jaune had decided to place him. It wasn't that bad of a corner actually, it could certainly use a duster but other than that, the corner was quite nice. Regardless of how nice the corner felt, it didn't stave off the boredom that he felt at night when his partner was sleeping. He was meant to be used for battle after all, not sitting around doing nothing but collecting dust.

It was quite sad whenever he spotted an old weapon be placed up on a rack or put in a museum because they would sit there for the rest of their lives and do nothing but watch the faces of people walk by in order to gawk at them before swiftly walking away and forgetting that weapon even existed. It maddened many weapons. And these were the lucky ones.

The unlucky ones would be those that were left at a battlefield to rust and break apart. Crocea was horrified whenever he and Acier would go on a walk through an old battlefield because he would hear the cried of other weapons scream out in pain as they slowly rusted. This process could take many years before the weapon would finally die.

So many of Crocea's friends from the war had either of these happen to them as the previous owners died and their children would have the weapons put away due to upgrading to the next gun weapon mixes that were used these days. All of them were forgotten. Discarded…Destroyed.

Crocea could even remember the time when Acier had given him to his son, Or. Strangely enough, it was just like how he was given to Jaune.

Acier sat by his son Or on his bed. Or had already packed his bags for the combat academy that he was going to be sent to. The young blonde looked quite nervous and kept rubbing his left wrist which Crocea knew by now was just what the lad did when he was nervous. Acier smiled at his son, his blonde hair was now quite long and covered his right eye. The other eye twinkled with mirth at his son.

"So Or, are you excited for tomorrow?" Or looked at his father and gave a wry smile.

"Y-yeah. I'm pre-prepared for going to the academy! I won't let you down, dad." Or stated much to the humor of his father and Crocea. As Or said this, Acier pulled Crocea from his hip and placed the blade on his lap.

"So, I heard that you are to make a weapon in your combat school this year." Acier stated which cause Or to gain a downtrodden look. The reason for this was because the lad was unable to make any type of craft without it breaking on him. Acier assumed that this was an inherited trait from himself and left it at that.

Or just sighed before replying. "But dad, you know that I can't make a weapon to save my life." The lad complained. Acier playfully ruffled his son's hair in response.

"I know that, which is why I have a present for you." Or looked his father in the eyes in curiosity.

"What present?" Or asked. Acier gave his son a wide smile before he set Crocea on the lad's lap. Or looked down at the sword with both shock and reverence clearly on his face. He slowly picked Crocea up from his lap and unsheathed the blade before holding it aloft in from of himself. "Y-your sword," Or said before looking at his father, "you're giving me your sword?"

Acier nodded. "Yes son, my sword Crocea Mors has served me for many years. It has been my partner since the day I got it." This was the first time Crocea had ever heard his owner calm him partner…It was quite nice. Maybe he would stick with that for this lad.

"But you've had this sword, like, forever. Why are you giving it to me now?" The lad asked in disbelief. Acier put his hand on Or's shoulders in a comforting manner.

"It's because I believe that you are ready to take on this world with your best foot held forward and I want to give you as much help as I can before sending you out into this world." Acier then pulled his son into a one armed hug before he whispered, "And I know that you couldn't make a weapon even if you tried." Acier let Or go while Or playfully punched his father.

"That's cruel, dad."

"Well," Acier rolled his eyes at his son, "it's true. Then again, I couldn't make a weapon even if I tried."

"Then how did you get Crocea in the first place?" The lad asked. Acier scratched his nose and coughed.

"That is a long story that I'll tell you when you're older."

The lad huffed in disappointment before crossing his arms. "You always say that, dad, but you never tell me that. When will you tell me?"

"Like I said, older." The lad pouted which caused both Acier and Crocea to laugh.

A Few Hours Later

The lad and Acier stood before a armored bus that other students were marching onto after saying goodbye to their parents. The father and son duo looked at each other. "I guess this is goodbye…" Acier started. He was cut off as Or rushed up and crushed his father into a hug.

"Bye, dad." Acier looked down at his son before returning the hug.

"Your mother would have been proud of you." The two separated and stared at one another in the eyes.

"You really mean that?" The lad asked.

"Yes." Acier responded sincerely. Or nodded before holding out his hand to his father who in turn slapped it. "Now go kick ass. I'll see you during your break." The lad nodded and ran off leaving Acier behind. When he got onto the bus he saw that there were many students having already taken their seats. He looked around and saw an empty seat on the bus. When he sat down, he looked out the window to see his father waving to which he waved back. A minute later and the bus began to drive off.

The lad then looked about the bus to see that there were many students already having conversations with one another which made him feel left out. That was, until a kid in a blue tracksuit with matching blue glasses and black hair sidled up to him. "Hey there!" The kid said with a slightly squeaky voice.

"Hey," The lad replied.

"So this your first time coming to a combat academy as well?" The kid asked. The lad nodded in response. "Cool, now I won't be alone in this place. So what's your name?"

"Or Arc." The kid held his hand out to the lad who with some hesitation, eventually accepted the gesture and shook it in response.

"Ray Cerulean. Wanna be friends?" Or nodded with a smile. Ray put his arm over the lad's shoulder and gave him a grin. "I think that this will be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

A few Years Later

Crocea and Or had bee together for over eight years. In all of that time, Crocea had seen his partner triumph and fail yet each failure was never something that brought Or down for long. Or had even managed to with some difficulty, to make two other friends, Dawn Vermillion, and Silver Graymen.

Ray and Or had managed to stay together throughout these eight years without being separated once which mainly had to do with them becoming partners.

It was at that time that these two friends were walking the streets of a less advanced version of Vale as the city had only just begun the large scale development that it was know for these days. As the two walked, they headed towards a bakery in order to pick up the food that both of them loved, cinnamon rolls. It also helped that Or was attracted to the lass who worked there by the name of Beatrice.

The duo walked into the building together which caused the door bell to ring. They were not the only ones in this establishment as there was a line that was made from the from counter to the door which unfortunately was where the two teens were located.

"So come on Or, when are you going to ask that girl out?" Ray asked while subtly pointing to Beatrice who was at the front counter. The lass had long brown hair that reached down past her shoulders while her apron contained a growing figure. Or looked at Ray and sighed.

"But what if she doesn't like me. I mean, look at her, she probably gets asked out all the time. I'm just a nobody…" Or said depressingly. Ray grabbed Or's shoulders and gave them a little shake.

"Yeah, you're just a nobody that fights monsters and protects the kingdoms of Remnant for a living. Totally boring." Ray responded with the roll of his eyes. "Now suck it up and go talk to her or else I'll eat your cinnamon roll. Then you would have to go back up to the counter and get another one which I would then eat and you would have to go back up to the counter again for another one. Do you get it now?" Ray asked with a mischievous grin.

"But that would make you extremely fat."

"And that is a risk that I'm willing to take." As Ray said this, the person in front of them left the line after he was served a doughnut and both Ray and walked up to the counter together. Ray gave a cheeky grin to Or while Or looked like her was walking to his execution.

Beatrice looked at Or with her blue eyes into his and nervously smiled. "Hello, what would you like to order?" The lass asked. Or took a deep breath before responding.

"You…"

Many Years Later

Or stood next to Ray in matching black suits. The duo both were quite uncomfortable in what they were wearing but they dealt with it. Ray, because it was for his best friend and Or because it was his wedding.

Or managed to stay quite composed even though if you looked closely enough, you could see him shaking in fear. Or looked out to the crowd and saw his father giving him a thumbs up and then the music began. Or drew his attention to the center isle where his wife to be, Beatrice, was wearing a simple white dress and was walking arm in arm with her father. Or calmed down when he saw her and just stared at the beautiful woman he was about to marry.

She eventually made it up to where he was and he father gave her hand to his which Or took gladly. That was when the minister began his speech which Or began to drown out as he was instead looking at the woman who after all these years, was about to become his wife. The next part though, he paid attention to.

"So, do you take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife?" The minister asked.

"I do." Or said without and hesitation or doubt. The minister then turned to Beatrice.

"And do you take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband?"

"I do." Beatrice said. With that said, the minister presented the rings to the two which they both put on each others hand.

"Then I now pronounce you man and wife. You may now kiss the bride." With that, both man and wife leaned in and gave each other a passionate kiss while around them the audience cheered. The gray haired minister smiled at the young couple and then readjusted his sunglasses.

Year Later

Both Ray and Or were sneaking around a warehouse together. Both were at the moment on a mission together while their two other teammates were entering the warehouse at the other side. This warehouse was one that had recently been discovered to house the criminal element which Or's team was assigned to take care of. While it had been years since the team had attended their combat schools, they still managed to stick together all of this time and do missions together which didn't always happen.

Ray and Or saw two guards and looked at one another. Ray detached from his arms, two large blades that looked like they belonged on buzzsaws and tossed them at the guards. Two dead bodies later and the duo walked past the guards while Ray pulled his saw from out of their skulls. They managed to kill a few more guards on their way through the warehouse before reaching the mission objective: a massive stockpile of boxes containing dust and explosives.

Ray and Or saw that Dawn and Silver had made it to the area with them and the four nodded to one another before walking over to meet up.

"So, now that we found the dust and weapons, what do we do now?" Dawn asked.

"We call it in." Silver stated dully.

"Both of you are wrong," An new voice stated which grabbed the attention of the four. They turned to look up on one of the piles of crates to see a young teen in a white coat with a bowler hat grinning at them. In one hand was a can while in another was what looked like a detonator, "you die!" With that, he pressed the detonator and jumped away from the area while the team looked at one another and realized that this was a set up and they were going to die. Ray quickly on instinct rushed at and tackled Or to the ground while the dust and weapons pile in front of them exploded.

The initial blast lowered everyone's aura but Or's down to just about half while the firestorm that ensued burned away the rest. Or looked at his partner in the eye as he grinned. "I'll be waiting…in the afterlife to have a…drink…" With that his partner began to burn up while Or felt the left side of his face, and his hand begin to burn. He screamed in both anguish and pain before darkness consumed him.

Or woke up in a white room with small amounts of pain going throughout his body. His left side of his face felt itchy so he tried to raise his hand to scratch it only, he didn't feel anything. His eyes widened and he looked at his left hand to see to his horror that it was missing and all that was left was a stump. His heartbeat skyrocketed which cause the machines in his room to go off.

Then memory of the previous day hit Or like a train as he could see Ray grinning at him before burning up. That memory just kept replaying in his mind over and over even as the nursing staff came in to sedate him. Eventually once again, darkness took him.

When he woke up once more, he looked over at his left hand to see if it was still there. Unfortunately it wasn't. He felt a grip on his right hand and looked over to see his heavily pregnant wife holding his right hand tightly as if afraid that if she let go, she would lose him. He heard a cough at the end of the room and looked to see his father Acier sitting in a chair.

"Hello son. You had me worried there."

"What happened to the others?"

Acier sighed, "They all died. I'm sorry."

"Who did it?"

"Some new hotshot criminal that goes by the name Roman Torchwick. We don't know that much about him besides the fact that he was involved in dust and arms robberies and the…murder of two Huntsmen and a Huntress. But that shouldn't stop you. I promise, if we look hard enough then we will find this man and bring him to justice. We can avenge your team!" Acier had a look of determination on his face as he said this. Sadly, this is not what Or had in mind.

"I'm done." Or replied.

"What?" Acier asked in disbelief.

"I am done. I'm not going to be a Huntsman anymore."

"B-but it's your dream."

"Take it and go."

"What?"

"Take your stupid sword, and leave me out of your stupid adventures. I'm not going to go on them anymore." Or said quietly but the tone of his voice made it seem as if he was shouting to the heavens.

"Son, you're making a mistake. You're not thinking straight and you need some time to grieve. I understand this and I think you need to calm down."

"I understand everything. I have never thought of anything so clearly in my life. Now get out and take your stupid sword with you." Acier looked completely dejected and broken as he grabbed Crocea from the corner that he was stood up on and walked out of the hospital room. He looked back once but all he saw was his son glaring at him. This cowed Acier enough that he left without a fight leaving the son with his wife.

Crocea was brought out of these dark memories when he heard Jaune wake up and stretch. "Morning Crocea." Jaune said while cracking his neck. The lad was really putting his time in to training with his team and the results showed in his classes. His other teammates were quite supportive in this endeavor which Crocea appreciated immensely. Right now though, the three teens were still sleeping in their beds without a care in the world unlike Jaune who was awake.

"Morning laddie. Ready for another day of kicking ass?" Crocea asked excitedly.

"Yeah." Jaune replied in his early morning personality.

Jaune Arc while unskilled and at time what could be consider quite the buffoon and oblivious blonde was Crocea's partner, and he wouldn't change that for the world…

And that is a wrap. Sorry about being late on this but I had to deal with my mom's funeral which took my time up. Still, I released this chapter as quick as I could for you because it was my birthday yesterday and I wanted to give you guys something for all the attention you have given this story. My thanks to you, Stay frost my friends.