The Price Of Freedom

They traveled for three months before they saw the coast in the distance. They had to stay in a few small villages along the way, using the lien they took from the armory of Grigori's lab to stay for one night and buy food and water for more traveling, also buying more ointment and bandages for Jace's arm. When asked what had happened to them, the brothers had just stayed silent as they looked away from the questioner. They had been walking for a few days after leaving the last village and still had a few weeks to go at their pace, but they decided to take a break for a bit to change Jace's bandages.

"I still can't believe any of this. We have the worst luck don't we?" Jace said while rubbing the last bit of ointment they had on his arm.

"Yeah, it seems that way doesn't it? At least we're on our way home now." Genesis replied, thinking about how Oobleck and the team of girls are doing. "I wonder if they finished their mission."

"I'm sure they did. It's been a few months." Jace said while finishing with the ointment. "Well, I guess I'll have to make due now. Should've thought to get more of this."

"Yeah, you're right. They probably finished it in like a week. Do you think we'll see them again?" Genesis asked as they traveled on, trying to keep his mind occupied.

"I hope so. They helped us out a lot, even though they didn't know us. I want to repay them," Jace replied, "Plus I'd like to actually talk with them without being dogged down by Grimm."

"I'd like to give Oobleck that journal. Maybe see if he can get anything out of it," Genesis said with a sigh, "I just really wish we could've got that scientist and made him talk."


It was almost dark as they sat down off of the road. They had walked for another couple of days and took the time for a longer break. "So what are you gonna do when we get back?" Jace asked after a few minutes.

Genesis thought on it as he pursed his lips. "After we check on dad? Well, we have to explain all this to Ironwood." He answered and sighed.

"I think we should go get that drink first, we'll need it." Jace said with a weak grin, and they both laughed a small bit. They needed it after what they had been through.

Something moved.

They heard it easily thanks to the Faunus DNA in them. They stood up with weapons ready to defend themselves when they heard more movement. They prepared for the Grimm to assault them, trusting that the damage they had taken in their escape had actually healed. When the figure of a man ran across Jace's vision, he wished it was the Grimm.

"Damn it, we need to go." Jace said and they rushed from the area.

They ran through the forest for several minutes until the area around them was barren and rocky ground. They were on a the edge of a small cliff now and they could see the small coastal village in the distance. Beyond that was just seemingly endless sea. They were still so far from home.

"Oh shit…" Jace breathed and looked outward.

Genesis stared worriedly and turned back around. "We can't fight here! We have to go back in the forest!" He said with urgency and Jace nodded nervously.

They ran back through, running past the mercenaries and striking out at them. Genesis blocked gunshots with his sword as best he could, then sent out a wave of fiery energy through the trees, bringing both soldiers and the trees down. Jace replaced his axe with his sword and brought Ebonshot out, slicing at those close to him and shooting as accurately as he could at those further away. The two brought down two dozen soldiers before making it to a small clearing.

They ran forward but were met with the sight of dozens of mercenaries.

They turned back behind them and saw the same.

On all directions, Jace and Genesis were surrounded. They stood back to back and held their weapons up, Jace threw his sword to the ground, reloaded his pistol, and brought out Siege Breaker. He breathed deeply, trying to calm himself before the impending fight. Then, the soldiers started moving in with automatic dust rifles, submachine guns, light machine guns and swords held in front of them. It was more blades than what they'd ever want to see against them. They knew they were in mortal danger but they didn't even know what exactly they faced.

"It seems that you two had quite the journey. It's finished."

The two looked around frantically for the source of the voice. Then they saw him.

It was Grigori.

He walked out into the clearing along with part of his army of mercenaries. He had found them. They were so close to being on their way home, but now it seemed too far away from them.

"You two boys have had quite the run of luck. Escaping your cell and fighting past a horde of Grimm, also finding a group of Huntresses-in-training and a Huntsman to help you," Grigori chuckled, sounding like a cackling crow more than human, "I'll admit, it was rather impressive to witness. But, if only those Grimm hadn't arrived, you would've been subdued and I would've had those girls as well. I had my eyes on them for quite a while before I chose you. They seemed like promising subjects…"

"I could've even collected a bounty for the White Fang deserter," He said lastly and drew confused looks from both of them.

"Ah, you don't know do you?" He asked and laughed at them. "Belladonna. A Faunus, a former Fang member, a traitor to this branch's leader himself. Oh yes, quite the bounty indeed."

"The hell?" Genesis mouthed silently.

"But you two seemed very much more promising than those four," Grigori gave them a sadistic grin.

"I suppose you hope to see Haile don't you?"

That got their attention even more than what he said about Blake, then Grigori motioned to have his men bring someone forward.

The man had medium length, dark green hair and a short beard, both peppered with gray and silver strands. His eyes were a piercing sky-blue color, but one was closed shut after being beaten down. His dark brown pants and gray shirt were torn in multiple places as well and blood covered the top of his shirt from the wound on his head. Around his neck was a silver cross with a snake wrapped around the top of it, held on a chain.

"Dad!" They both yelled as they saw who it was. They activated their semblances at the same time, about to lunge forward at their tormentor.

This was one such time that Genesis was pushed past his anger's limit as blue flames erupted and coated his body.

"You two should listen to me," Grigori said as he raised his palm towards them. One of the soldiers brought a knife close to Haile's side and the brothers hesitated, giving Grigori his moment to speak. "We came to this man five years ago with an offer to take you both as test subjects. Out of his love for you, he refused. When you two went out to the forest those months ago, we paid him another visit and asked where you two were. Of course, I had someone watching you two leave to the forest, but he refused still, so Kurokuma injured him in his anger and he was put in the hospital. It's a wonder the authorities didn't do anything, but they were most likely too busy with White Fang, plus Ironwood is in Vale to oversee the tournament. An inopportune for Haile, I'm sure. Then after consideration between you both and those four girls, we came after you two…" The scientist gave another wicked grin at the two.

"Such a shame. I was ready to pay a small fortune for the both of you, two huntsmen-in-training. Two street rats. Poor Haile would've had enough lien to retire at the time and still have more to spare," The madman said and started to laugh again. He went on for a few moments before he turned to the brothers and scowled, "Your father never betrayed you. But in the end, it amounted to nothing. Kill him."

The soldiers did what he ordered and stabbed Haile in the chest.

"NO!" Jace and Genesis screamed in horror, then blasted Grigori with what dust they could, but it was ineffective.

Grigori laughed as the attack hit the soldiers that stepped in front of him to protect him. The three protectors were killed and Grigori laughed even more, until the smoke cleared. What he saw Jace flying toward him. No one helped him this time as Jace struck him with such force that the wind picked up around them. Grigori was knocked back out of the clearing and Jace cut down the soldiers standing next to their father. He grabbed Haile and took him back to Genesis. All the mercenaries were caught off guard by the speed of the event and were hesitant to do anything.

"I… am… Dying?" Haile said weakly, the soldier had missed his heart.

Barely.

"Dad, what happened? What did they do to you?" Jace asked frantically while holding the broken man in his arms, hoping to Oum that they could save him.

"They… beat everything out of me… on the way here… following you. He has a damn army… You two need to run," He said, his breaths were coming in ragged gasps.

"There's nothing you can do, I'm sorry," Haile took one last breath and looked up at his two adopted sons, "I love you both…"

"Please… run."

And then he stopped breathing, leaving them alone.

The horrible realization hit them hard. They had no more family, only each other. Now they had an army of mercenaries to deal with and they had nothing to lose. They both felt the tears coming, but they held them back and turned their attention to the oncoming soldiers.

They stood ready as the mercenaries started their assault. Jace and Genesis stood back to back as they surrounded them. Jace felt the blazing heat from Genesis' semblance, but he didnt care at all as he glared at the men on his side. The soldiers weren't able to get behind either of them because they stayed like that, turning and cutting them down with no signs of weakness. The gunmen were blocked by the constant force of swordsmen and couldn't get a shot on the two brothers. They didn't want to shoot their own comrades in the back, so they waited until there was small openings and opened fire in short bursts, whittling down Jace and Genesis' auras little by little. Only a few could engage them at a time with such a small area to attack. The brothers learned to do this when they had to fight harder in training due to having to mostly fight on their own.

"Duck!" Jace called out and Genesis complied. Jace spun around and took down three men on his brother's side before completing the turn and facing his side again. It confused the mercenaries long enough for Genesis to take down even more.

Genesis lifted his hand and blasted a few men with fire, setting them ablaze and causing them to break away in panic. They ran, running into the others and setting some of them on fire as well, spreading a bit of chaos among them.

Jace cleaved down dozens with his axe and Genesis did the same with his sword. It went on for minutes, almost an hour. Their auras were slowly depleting but they fought on, hoping to keep from taking much damage. Hoping to gain vengeance against them. Jace blocked a sword swing and bashed outward with his axe, knocking one of the attackers off balance and sending him down to the ground, tangled upon his comrades that fell with him. Jace brought the axe around and cleaved at their sides, knocking their weapons away and making contact with flesh.

Jace took a deep breath to steady himself from it all and tried to fight harder.


It seemed to go on forever. The adrenaline running through their veins was the only things keeping them going at the moment, keeping their tiredness from affecting them. That, along with the burning, seething hatred for everything that happened to them. It was that hatred that propelled their attacks and drew a few Grimm closer. They were shot down easily by the gunmen, but the Grimm weren't the focus of the brothers.

They fought for another four hours toward dawn. Their auras were almost gone, but the numbers of the army have dwindled also. They had done well in blocking most attacks from the few that could engage them, but it was nearing an end. Many have run away, leaving their comrades on their own while those left were brought down by this army of two.

They were almost gone and were slowing in their assault when the brothers' auras drained completely, making them deactivate their semblances. Jace took a hit in his side by the last man, drawing a shallow and painful gash. Jace brought his axe deep into the man's shoulder and ended him. The rest of the swordsmen cleared out and left the brothers alone in the center of the clearing. Unfortunately, that gave the all the remaining gunmen a clear shot at Genesis.

His chestplate was shredded by the huge amount of dust-rounds that burned and tore through his body. They exited his back and were imbedded shallowly into Jace's armor and back.

Jace was shocked when he felt the stinging sensation and turned around, only to see his brother on one knee, clutching his gut as he bled heavily.

"Genesis!" Jace called out and started blasting every enemy he saw now with ice spikes, fireballs, bolts of lightning and anything he could out of rage, each blast making the pain in his arms intensify.

The numbers were dwindling more and more. Jace transformed Siege Breaker to its artillery form and opened fire as he just screamed at them. He fired continuously until they ran or died, and until he exhausted the ammunition of his weapon. They cut their losses and hauled themselves clear of the killing ground. Whatever they were being paid, it wasn't worth it now.

The last of them cleared out and Jace finally collapsed, feeling pain everywhere in his body as everything slowed to a grinding halt. He crawled over to Genesis, who was now laying on his back, motionless aside from his breathing. He got up to his knees and held onto Genesis's arm.

"Oh Gods no, Genesis!" Jace cried out, exhausted, sore, and on the verge of breaking down, "Why did all of this have to fucking happen?"

He was sitting on his knees and noticed Genesis' blood-soaked hand search frantically for his sword. Jace quickly put the sword in his brother's hand and put his own hands to his side. It was a few agonizing moments until Genesis finally spoke.

"I don't think I can keep my promise to you Jace…" He laid almost motionless, weakly clutching the hilt of his sword. His wounds were great. This was his final moment and they both knew it. "I can't think of any way I'd rather go out than fighting with you, man."

Jace sat stock-still, staring in disbelief at Genesis's wounds. "Your promise…? S-so… I-I'm gonna be alone? Gods… how did we end up like this?" Jace said while trying to fight back his tears in a losing battle, "I can't save you… I can't pay you back for all the things you did for me… I don't know what to do… What do I do?" He asked weakly. He couldn't bear the thought of not having his family with him anymore. All their lives, they fought together against anyone who wronged one of them, and now Jace would have to fight his battles alone.

"Listen to me, Jace… after I die, I want you to take my sword…" Genesis said weakly and pulled his sword closer. "I finally thought of a name for it… I'm calling it 'Standoff,' because we held back an army. My spirit's in this sword, I put my own aura in it… in every step I took with it. And I'm pumping what little I can into it now. I want you to carry it with you. I want you to survive and live your life. Please, find Professor Oobleck, and find the answers to that damned journal…"

Genesis' breaths came in ragged gasps as he reached up and placed his blood-soaked hand on Jace's head, "I just want you to know… this isn't goodbye… it's just… see you later…"

And with those final words, his arm fell to his side and he stopped breathing.

Jace still sat there in complete shock, unmoving like a stone gargoyle. He was like that for several minutes in complete silence. No sounds that usually filled the night cut the silence, no birds chirping or any wind blowing through the leaves of the trees, only deafening silence. Genesis was gone. His father was gone. The crushing loneliness hit him like a train. The emotions built up in him until he finally cried out, tears streaming down his face and trailing through the dirt and blood that was there. He cursed whatever gods that cared to listen and yelled at the shattered moon.

After several minutes he slowly stood up, gripping the hilt of Standoff. "I… I promise I'll try to live for you too, Genesis. I'll fight as long as this body will let me. You-"

Jace's words were cut off abruptly by a searing pain in his left shoulder. He dropped Standoff and went to clutch at his shoulder, but couldn't feel anything there.

Then, he looked on the ground.

He stared in shocked confusion. His arm was just severed off of his body like it was nothing.

Jace looked behind him to see who it was that did this, and looked with even more mounting rage in his eyes. That rage kept him from going into complete shock.

It was the giant from the facility. Kurokuma.

It wasn't over for Jace yet, but he was a severely weakened person at this point. He barely fell out of the way of the next swing and hit the ground. Kurokuma was on him before he hit the rough dirt, swinging wildly while Jace barely rolled out of the way. He had to create any type of separation he could, but with one arm now, he was almost hopeless.

Before the giant got too close to Jace again, he pointed his hand at the larger man and shot thick steam at him, cloaking the area in smoke. While Kurokuma was disoriented by the smokescreen, Jace ran to a sword and picked it up. He had one form of defense now, at least. He turned back to the smoke, now seeing Kurokuma slash his sword and using the wind generated to clear his vision. Even in his weakened state, Jace tried to go on the attack. His aura was bubbling wildly from his left shoulder, causing a red mist to pour from it.

Jace didn't know how, but he felt that his aura was regenerating, as if some outside force was pushing him along. Jace clashed with the giant over and over causing sparks to fly, illuminating the area around them.

They threw everything they had at each other, overhand cuts, side cuts, and anything in between. The rising sun shone brightly with both swords shimmering in its glow. The two warriors locked swords, each of their faces mere inches from the other. In the deadlock, Kurokuma spoke.

"I'll admit, I didn't think you'd have this much fight left in you after that battle, I'm impressed. But this is going to end. WITH YOUR CORPSE!"

He used his strength and knocked Jace away, creating room for him to start to charge. Jace felt enough of his aura return to him, so he did the only thing he could do.

Kurokuma was halfway to him before Jace activated his semblance.

The giant met Jace's blade once more, except this time Jace looked deep into the man's eyes with his own glowing, ruby eyes, seeing the hatred and slight fear there.

"I hope the devil tortures you himself."

Jace knocked Kurokuma back with a fiery slash of his temporary weapon. Before the bigger man could recover, Jace dashed forward with greater speed than what the giant could defend against. It felt to Jace as if that outside force propelled his speed, making sure that he could walk away from the battle.

In reality, and unknown to him, his body unconsciously made use of the bolt dust within him.

From all sides, Jace struck Kurokuma with seven slashes from his sword, and the eighth powerful strike sent the giant to his knees.

Kurokuma sat on his knees, limbs useless to him, while Jace walked up to him, ready to deliver the finishing blow. What the former bodyguard said caused Jace to tilt his head.

"Please… have mercy."

Jace stood still for a moment before he shook his head slowly, staring deeply into Kurokuma's eyes.

"No… You deserve to rot."

Jace threw the sword to the ground and brought out Ebonshot. He stared blankly while aiming it at Kurokuma's head. When he pulled the trigger, everything seemed to slow down in his mind. The whiplash of Kurokuma's head snapping back, the recoil of the pistol, and the wind that started to blow in the trees. Everything was slow to him at that time. Before he went to back to his fallen family, he caught sight of the man who caused it all.

Jace limped over to where Grigori leaned against a rotting tree, holding his gut. Jace's attack from before got through Grigori's aura and he was bleeding heavily. When Jace reached him, the man started chuckling weakly.

"You… you both destroyed everything I have tried to accomplish."

"Good." Jace growled the word at him.

I wanted-"

"You wanted to make some kind of… freak… You took people away from their families… to use them for your damn experiments!" Jace cut him off, seething with rage, "You ruined families… you ruined my family… my family. " Jace looked to his left side, he tried to speak more but immediately pointed his pistol at the man's head.

"You may walk away from here, but you'll die… just like them." Grigori said with heavy emphasis on the final word.

Those words sent Jace into an inhuman rage. He grabbed the man from where he leaned and slammed him into the tree. Then he just punched him, and punched, and punched. His aura kept him from sustaining serious damage to the head, but it still made Grigori feel the pain, exactly what Jace wanted.

Jace yelled with every strike that hit the man's face, punching harder and harder and eventually the rotted tree cracked and broke down. They both fell to the ground with a thud, and Jace recovered. More strikes rained down on the long unconscious scientist, each were now opening cuts on his face and forehead. Even though his body screamed for him to stop, Jace kept punching Grigori until his face was barely even recognizable. He eventually stopped when his arm was almost too numb to even move. Jace shakily went to his feet and found his pistol. He stood over Grigori's unconscious body and aimed his gun at his head.

Jace thought back to all of his memories, all of the happy memories he shared with his family. After all he had been through, the memories were cold and shattered to him now, not even giving him comfort.

Jace pulled the trigger and shot him through the skull.

Then he thought back to when they were in the forest and were tricked and taken. He pulled the trigger again.

He thought back to being experimented on. The Faunus DNA, the dust in his veins, and the thought of the Grimm DNA. He pulled the trigger again.

He thought back to the other people. The men, women and children he and Genesis killed to give peace. He pulled the trigger again.

He thought back to the Armaddon that sent him through multiple trees and seared his arm, and pulled the trigger again.

He thought to the team that Grigori even considered taking, and pulled the trigger again.

He looked to where his left arm should be, and pulled the trigger.

There was hardly anything left above Grigori's shoulders anymore. Jace shook uncontrollably and fell to his knees, crying out in pain and fear and sorrow. He felt something on each shoulder, causing him to turn. He saw nothing. He felt absolutely sick after what he had done and what he had been through. He bent over and vomited violently over the ground. It was uncontrollable for several moments until it just died down and he took control of himself. He stood up and looked around silently for minutes before deciding what to do. He needed to do something for Genesis and Haile. There was no way in hell he was leaving them like this. He had no strength or equipment for a burial, but he had an idea.

He gathered what wood he could find with the little strength he had and set up a large fire pit. He took Genesis's duster and laid it to the side, as well as his weapon and harness, and set Genesis's body on the pyre. He then walked to his father and grabbed his necklace, then placed it around his own neck with the wolf pendant. He picked Haile up and placed him along side Genesis, then lit the funeral pyre.


For an hour, he watched silently as the flames burned brightly into the morning light. With a deep, sad, and heavy sigh, Jace finally spoke.

"Gen, dad… I hope I can do this. I just don't know if I can though… see you later." He said, then started walking.

XxXxX

AN: And that was the start of Jace's origin in this story. Now he just has to find out where to go and what to do.

This was a difficult one for me to write, mostly out of inexperience, because I didn't know fully about what I wanted to happen with Genesis or Haile, or even Jace. That boy's got the weight of his family on his shoulders and the weight of guilt in his mind. He's got a lot to work through

Now we have Jace's journey to find a place to be.

See you next chapter, and have a nice day!