A/N: Hey guys, nouget here with another chapter of the Azure Flame. Out of all of the chapters I've written so far, this is probably my favourite. We start off with friends getting reacquainted and then combat class. I don't want to spoil any more than I already have. Enjoy!
Seeing the Beacon lunchroom again brought a wave of nostalgia for Jaune. Warmth filled him, making him feel like he finally belonged there. He walked through the lunch line and picked up some food. Two slices of salted ham, some salad and a roll of multigrain bread consisted of his meal, with water as a drink. He left the line and saw where PNR was sitting, and saw Ren was waving him over, welcoming him.
Jaune smiled as he walked over. Nostalgia was filling him as he arrived and sat down to the right of Ren, with Pyrrha in front of him and Nora beside Pyrrha.
"It's nice to have you sitting with us again, Jaune." Ren welcomed.
"It feels nice to be back." Jaune said, as he cut a piece of ham and brought it to his mouth. "I'll tell you this, it beats sleeping on the roof and eating by yourself."
"I concur." Ren responded, remembering the month that he two males ate together in a comfortable silence, both of them happy that they were able to talk out their problems, and put the past behind them.
"Are you ready for combat class today Jaune?" Pyrrha asked as she took another bite of her chicken.
"If I'm being honest, I'm not sure." Jaune answered with a small frown, as he took another bite of ham. "On one hand, I can finally show everyone that I've improved. However, if I lose, then the past month would have been for nothing."
"Don't worry, fearless leader!" Nora cheered "I'm sure you can kick any stinky butt that gets down there with ya!"
Jaune smiled softly at this. "Thanks Nora. It means a lot to hear that."
"No problem!"
"What's no problem?" came the baritone voice of Orion.
"I was telling Jaune that he could kick your butt in combat class." Nora answered, causing Orion to smirk as he sat down.
"Really? After all this Jaune? After I train you and give you the Grimmoire, you'll strike me down in front of everyone? I feel hurt. Betrayed, even." Orion responded.
"Yeah, yeah laugh it up, jackass." Jaune responded with a smirk of his own. "Aren't you supposed to be in class?"
"It was cancelled due to Oobleck falling unconscious." Orion answered as he bit into his sandwich. "Nothing major, just a caffeine crash. Nurse says he'll be fine tomorrow."
"That's reassuring to hear." Ren commented.
Orion looked at Ren slightly confused before looking at Jaune. The expression he had, told him that he was confused as to why he and Ren were not at each other'sother's throats.
"Ren and I talked it out." Jaune answered. "Turns out he had a good reason to act how he did."
"I wouldn't go that far, Jaune." Ren told him.
"You were acting based off of past experience, Ren. I understand that you were trying to be cautious." Jaune responded.
"But still-"
"Ren, please stop beating yourself up over it. I forgave you, and you forgave me. We've kissed and made up."
"I thought you said you didn't swing that way?" Orion joked, trying and succeeding at pushing his friends buttons.
"It's a figure of speech and you know it." Jaune responded, annoyance was starting to be visible in his voice. He took another bite of ham and finished his salad before checking the time.
"What time does combat class start?" He asked.
"Twelve thirty. Why?" Pyrrha answered, as she took another bite of chicken.
Jaune stood up and picked up his roll of bread. "Because it's quarter after twelve right now." He finished before picking up his tray and walking to the exit of the cafeteria. He placed the tray in the return bin and walked out, only to hear a stampede of footsteps behind him. He looked over his shoulder to see PNR running to catch up with him. Looking forward again, he started jogging to the Beacon combat arena with a small smile on his face.
Beacon Combat Arena
12:29 PM
Ah, combat class.
What was once the bane of Jaune's existence now held mystery for the Azure wielder. He was worried, to say the least. As he told his re-acquainted friends in the cafeteria, he has to win today, otherwise the month off would have been for nothing. Thankfully, he knew he had a couple of trump cards.
The first was his semblance. Like a good portion of the Set clan, his semblance had manifested as 'Eater', the ability to drain the opponents aura and fuel his own. What he soon found out was that it also worked on Grimm essence. When killed, a Grimm will start to dissolve. The mist that it leaves behind is what's known as 'Grimm Essence.' According to Albatross, who he learned also has the 'Eater' semblance, this can often be used to take opponents, such as bandits, by surprise.
The second was the Grimmoire itself. While he needed to learn how to utilize the Azure to its full potential, Orion taught him basic maneuvers and attacks with it. Although, he decided to use it only if he really needed to. He learned from both Orion and Albatross, who has the Obsidian Flame, that the Azure is the hardest to learn, due to the amount of skill to master all the different Flames. Orion promised to teach him how to control the Grimmoire so it can become a much more versatile weapon, rather than a badge.
Jaune sat down with a group of people that he had not been with in over two months. In the bleachers, he sat with Pyrrha on his left and Nora on his right. Ren was sitting on the other side of Nora, his back straight up, maintaining the perfect posture.
He saw team RWBY enter and met eyes with Raven's daughter. She grabbed her team leader and carried her to the other side of the bleachers, probably giving a convenient excuse as to why she's doing so. He understood that they had their reasons to leave him that night. Ever since leaving Beacon and then returning, he stopped caring about Weiss, Blake and Yang's reasons. While he wouldn't mind them coming up to him and explaining why, he didn't want to force them to. Besides, he had made amends with his former team as well as Ruby.
The class continued to talk amongst themselves for several minutes, until Miss Goodwitch entered, shushing the class. She spoke for a couple minutes, welcoming the students from other academies, as well as reminding them that they are ambassadors of their schools and should hold themselves to that high standard.
"Now that introductions and welcomes are out of the way," Goodwitch stated, "Let's have our first combatants come to the stage."
The class watched as she pressed a few buttons, and watched as the screen behind her, which shows aura readings, switch to a slot-machine style. Several faces flew by as the wheels turn before resting on the two combatants.
Jaunes heart sank a little bit as he heard Goodwitch call out,
"Will Jaune Set and Weiss Schnee please make their way to the arena?"
Jaune walked down to the arena. He wasn't confident, but he wasn't nervous. No. He was confident in his abilities. He was confident in his training. He was slightly worried about being paired off against one of the strongest fighters in their year. His combat attire consisted of a black long-sleeve shirt, red coat and a pair of black cargo pants.
He walked over to his spot in the arena and stared down his opponent. She looked back at him, a noble to a peasant, before deciding to try and get under his skin.
"You know I won't go easy on you." She chided. "You should give up and spare yourself the embarrassment."
Jaune didn't react to the insult. Instead, he lifted his prosthetic close to his chest and shot it out so it was pointing at the floor.
"Hellfire!" He called out as his sword materialized in his hand. "Gemetria, Gehenna!" He felt his pistols at his sides. He held out his hand palm up in front of him. "All Hope!" He saw his mask materialize, and attached it to his face. Seeing Weiss falter quickly, he smirked, knowing that his initial plan of visual intimidation, was working. One of the tactics that made groups like the Set clan and the Branwen tribe powerful, was their use of masks to intimidate their opponent. If you decrease their moral, you make them guess about their chances of success.
"I wouldn't expect anything less than your best. Schnee." Jaune replied, venom dripping from saying her last name. This seemed to anger his opponent, again giving Jaune the advantage of having both an angered and frightened opponent.
The two of them heard the professor speak up again. "If your chatter is over, I would like to ask the combatants if they are ready to begin?"
"Yes, ma'am." Weiss replied professionally, raising her rapier to an upwards angle and placing her right foot behind her left. She felt that no matter what Jaune threw at her she could easily overcome it. She was a Schnee for crying out loud. She had trained for years, since she was a child. Surely, a fight against this faker will be more of a one sided massacre.
"Ready as I'll ever be." Jaune answered, holding Hellfire in a backhand position and bent his knees. While Weiss had years of training, Jaune still held several advantages over her. The first being that he knew her fighting style. She relied heavily on the usage of Dust and her semblance of Glyphs. Take both those away and you have an enemy with weak hand to hand combat. The second being that Weiss didn't know his fighting style. She was too proud, and too confident in herself to even acknowledge the fact that Jaune had left to train for a month. The third being his semblance, should need be, he could use his semblance to drain her aura. The fourth being the Grimmoire, but he would only use it as a last resort. The last is that his tactics to intimidate and anger her succeeded, clouding her vision, even if it wasn't much.
"You shall fight standard tournament rules. Fight until your aura is in the red, or you are knocked out of the arena." Glynda stated. "If you find yourself no longer able to fight, you may concede. If you are separated from your weapon, you may continue fighting, however if in regards to the previous rule, you may concede. Do both combatants understand the rules?"
"Yes ma'am."
"Hard not to, professor."
Glynda looked down at her tablet, and pressed a few more buttons. She saw a message requesting that the matched be recorded. She entered a command that activated a mobile camera to record the match, before looking at the two students one last time.
"Begin!"
As soon as she heard Miss Goodwitch begin the match, Weiss laid out several glyphs in front of her and used them to speed towards her opponent. When she was a foot from her last glyph, she shot Myrtenaster out, knowing that it would strike Jaune in the chest.
She smirked knowing the outcome.
The smirk dropped when she saw Jaune sidestep, watch her approach and then perform a backhanded strike, launching Weiss back.
She landed on her feet, stumbling a bit, before regain her composure. She looked at Jaune, with fire in her eyes. She created glyphs surrounding him, and launched herself towards them. She used the glyphs as platforms to launch her attacks off of. She would propel herself from one to another, striking her opponent. She heard their blades clash a few times but didn't pay too much to it. She did have to give him credit, he did train rather intensely. She used one last glyph to propel her back as she looked at the aura board. Her eyes opened in shock as she saw that he was still at full aura while her glyphs brought her down to ninety-five.
"Honestly, I'm kinda surprised I managed to block all of them." She hear him say. How dare he taunt her. "I thought the high and mighty Ice Queen would be able to strike me down."
She rotated the chamber of Myrtenaster to a fire dust cartridge and struck the ground, erupting it before her. She watched the line fly towards her opponent, who rolled out of the way before turning to her again.
"Alright, let's dance." He offered.
Jaune charged Weiss, Hellfire still behind him. As he neared her, he performed an underhanded strike, catching Weiss off-guard and launching her into the air. He jumped up, following her striking her twice with his fist before shifting Hellfire into its scythe mode.
"Blood Scythe!" He called out, rolling to his left as he brought the scythe around his body. He felt the scythe connect with Weiss as the fell down in tangent. When they landed, he brought the rest of the scythe through, damaging Weiss' aura. He shifted his weapon back to it's sword form as he lept in the air again.
"Inferno Divider!" Jaune roared, as he twisted around again, bringing the sharp edge of Hellfire around and connecting it with Weiss. He heard her cry out and looked up at the aura board, before smirking. Weiss had hit yellow and his semblance was working wonders.
He walked away from her before tossing Weiss her weapon. She looked at it and then at him. She knew that he was mocking her. She picked up her weapon and charged him again. This time he didn't dodge. Instead, he brought his sword up and blocked her attack, the two of them now locked in a clash. She pressed forward with her blade, only for him to return it.
"What makes you think you belong here?" She hissed, driving the extra edge in the her bladed question. "Everyone here had to earn their place. My father, wanted me to stay in Atlas and run the family company, but I took the only chance he gave me to get way, and SUCCEEDED! I had to work through blood, sweat and tears to earn my place here. And you think that you can just waltz in here like this is some ice-cream social?"
Jaune smirked and let a quick laugh before whispering back. "At least you were given the chance to live up to your family name."
Weiss's eyes widened a bit in this revelation, giving Jaune the opening he needed. "This ends now!" He growled. "Seed of Tartarus!"
Jaune headbutted Weiss, before swinging his sword through her chest and following it up with a backhanded attack with it in it's scythe form. He heard her grunt in pain as he shouted again.
"Dead Spike!" He lifted his sword in an underhanded strike and sent a blast of dark energy through it, critically damaging Weiss' aura and sending the heiress a few feet away. He saw her drop her weapon mid-flight and saw her notice it as she stood up. He would need to be careful. His anger was getting the better of him and if he wasn't cautious with his attacks he could cause serious damage to Weiss. He thought of one last move to end the fight.
"Carnage… Scissors!" He called out, charging Weiss one last time before doing a 180 and planting his sword in the ground, send two intersecting blades of dark energy up from the ground striking Weiss and sending her out of the arena.
There was a long buzz as the room went silent. Jaune removed his mask to show and angered and frustrated expression. He walked over to Myrtenaster and picked it up, before walking to Weiss. He threw it at her feet before looking her in the eyes.
"Do NOT drop your weapon." He instructed. "It could be the death of you, knowing your fighting style. At the very least learn some hand to hand. I'm sure one of your teammates can help you in that regard."
"Winner, Jaune Set, through aura elimination and ringout." Goodwitch announced. "Mr. Set it is commendable to finally see your combat skills improve as much as they did. However, I should mention that your only fault was delaying the outcome. You could have ended it faster than you did. On top of that, you let your anger get the best of you. Other than that, I would like to personally welcome you back to Beacon."
Goodwitch turned to the bleachers to ask the next question. "Now can anyone tell me what Miss Schnee did wrong?"
There was a pregnant pause in the air, as the students were still in shock of the score. Jaune Set, formerly Arc, had won against Weiss Schnee. With a score of full aura, to 20%.
Finally it was Pyrrha that broke the silence.
"Her first mistake is that she let his non-physical attacks, such as intimidation through his mask and his taunts, get under her skin. These gave her a significant disadvantage in the fight as they distracted her. The second is that she severely underestimated her opponent. She's used to fighting him when he didn't have any training, and still used a sword and shield. Those two factors took her by surprise. The third is that Jaune already knew her fighting style while his is still a bit of a mystery. We only pieced together small parts of it. The fourth is when she tried to play mind games against her opponent, he turned them on her. No one heard what he said but whatever it was gave him the opening he needed to win." Pyrrha answered, before turning to Weiss. "If I'm wrong I'm happy to hear a correction."
Weiss looked at Pyrrha, the person that she held in such a high regard in shock. She tried to respond but couldn't. She accepted the fact that the circumstances had changed. But she still wanted to find out what Jaune had meant.
"Mr. Set and Miss Schnee, you two are dismissed from class. I can tell both of you are exhausted from the fight." the headmistress informed.
"Thank you professor." Jaune replied, nodding his head as he dismissed his weapons. He walked out of the arena quietly, the only sound that could be heard was his feet hitting the floor.
"Miss Schnee? Miss Schnee?" Weiss heard, shaking herself out of her daze.
"Yes professor?"
"If you want to stay in class I'll allow you to but I do ask that you get off the combat floor."
"Thank you professor. I think I'll take up the offer to head back to my dorm." She answered, gaining a surprised look from her team. She could care less. Her perspective on a certain blonde had changed dramatically. And she would get some answers.
Jaune stepped out of the bathroom and into his bedroom, running a towel through his hair. Once satisfied, he threw the towel into his laundry basket and put on a grey three-quarter sleeve shirt that had yellow sleeves, as well as some jeans. He found his scroll in his cargo pants and plugged it into it's charger.
He picked up his shirt and feeling the sweat on it threw it into the laundry basket as well. No need to even guess that one. He looked at his clothes and decided that a quick laundry trip tonight wouldn't hurt anyone.
His mind went back to the fight. He remembered each scene play out in his head. Weiss attacking and him returning the favour. Then he made the idiotic decision to use Ruby Flame based attacks. He chastised himself, he could have harmed Weiss, and while the two of them may not be on the same page, he didn't want to have her removed from the school due to an injury.
"FuuuuuuUUUUUUCK!" He screamed, punching a hole in the wall. "FUCKING IDIOT! WHY?" He asked himself, running his hands through his hair. He soon calmed down, not want to let his anger overcome him. He thought back to what Goodwitch told him. Keep your anger in check, and don't show boat.
"Yeah,"Jaune told himself, "that's do-able."
He checked his scroll, and saw that he still time to spare before the cafeteria would open for dinner. He knew that PNR would want to shower first before going to eat. That meant it would be close to three and half hours for them finish class, walk back to their dorm and shower before going to the cafeteria.
He looked over to his guitar and smiled. 'What the hell. Why not?" Jaune thought, walking over and picking it up. He placed the strap over his head, plugged in the guitar and turned on the amplifier, playing scales to keep himself distracted from the fight. Jaune heard the amplifier grow louder as the tubes warmed up and decided to turn down the volume a little.
He continued to play around with the effects before deciding to experiment. He played his low E string and tuned it down two steps, hearing it play at C, before tuning the rest off of it. He dropped the C down to a B and turned on the distortion pedal. He smiled at himself as he sang to himself.
"I push my fingers into my miiiind" He sang to himself as he started to play. The sound was therapeutic. While the song itself spoke to how a person could become insane through repetition without change, he preferred listening to the other parts, such as the guitars and bass.
He ended the song and tuned back up to C-standard when he heard a knock at the door. Curious, he placed his guitar on the stand and switched the amplifier to standby, before walking to the door.
Upon opening it, he saw an heiress standing in front of him. He was surprised to say the least, but with everything that happened recently, he supposed this was the least surprising.
"Weiss." He greeted in a monotone voice. He didn't want to antagonize her right away, but he didn't want to immediately get chummy with her.
"I want to explain myself, and - and ask you something." Weiss said, looking away in shame. He could hear the guilt in her voice. In a way, it hurt his heart to see her like this. Even after everything she said, he still saw her as a friend.
"Go on." He encouraged her. While he still considered her his friend, he didn't want her to take all day.
"Could we do talk in your room?" She asked nervously.
"I think we're good where we are. There isn't anyone else watching us right now due to classes."
"Very well." she accepted, guilt still present in her voice. "Before I begin, I want to say that if you're angered with what I say, please wait until I'm done explaining."
"I'm a human being Weiss, I know restraint." He informed, with a small amount of irritance in his voice.
"I first want to say I'm sorry." She told him, taking him by surprise. "I didn't have all the facts and I jumped to conclusions, rather than getting the full story."
She looked at him, only to receive a 'continue' gesture from him. She looked away again, before continuing.
"Growing up, my father had complete control over me. I walked a certain way, spoke a certain way, acted a certain way." She continued. "Everything I did, I did because he told me to. I learned how to sing, I performed concerts. Until I realized that I wanted to be a huntress. I wanted to escape my fathers grasp. My sister, Winter, taught me the basics of fighting, before hiring private tutors for me. It was during my last concert that I earned my chance to become a huntress. My father had me fight an Arma Gigas Grimm. I defeated it, but in return it gave me an ugly scar."
"It's not ugly." Jaune interrupted.
"Pardon?"
"It's not ugly." Jaune repeated. "It's proof that you aren't a coward, and that you're willing to take on any challenge. So stop wearing it as a burden and hold it like a trophy."
Weiss smiled at this. "I never thought of it that way."
"You learn to view things from another point of view when you grow up with seven sisters." Jaune answered. "Please continue."
"When I arrived at Beacon, I had a plan. Partner up with the strongest student, lead a powerful team and get top grades. It fell apart when Pyrrha pinned you to a tree."
"Honestly, I'm thankful for it. I didn't have my aura unlocked."
Weiss froze at this. Another fact that she didn't know. She soon connected the dots and realized that had Pyrrha arrived any later, Jaune would have died. And it would have been her fault.
"Please, continue."
"It continued to fall apart when Ruby was made leader. And then I learned…" Weiss trailed off as she looked left and right before whispering to Jaune "Blakes a faunus."
"I'm assuming you're whispering because of CDL shaped problems?"
"Yeah." Weiss rubbed her arm nervously.
"Cardin spoke to me on the day I woke up in the hospital. The morning after I jumped. He told me that he had a paradigm shift and he's trying to correct his actions and his team as well. Now please, finish."
"One thing led to another and we learned-"
"She's ex-Fang." Jaune finished, shocking Weiss. "Orion gave me a brief history on the Fang." This calmed Weiss down a little, but Jaune continued to talk. "There's one thing I don't understand Weiss. You and I shared a common goal. Live up to our ancestors. Everyone knows what happened next for me. And then I was left high and dry, because I was viewed as a criminal."
"What I don't understand is, How did you forgive a former terrorist, but not a forger?" Jaune asked. Weiss felt the tension in the air as she felt pressure to find an answer, but failed to produce one.
"I'm sorry." was all she could muster.
"Sorry isn't good enough Weiss! I heard you in the library, the day that Blake was introducing Sun and Neptune. I heard everything you said about me not even deserving the Arc name. I gave you a week while I was in the infirmary." Jaune condemned. "Hell, even if you were there this morning after I woke up after helping you and your team with Torchwick."
"I'm sorry, Weiss. But I still have feelings that I'm trying to get rid of. And I'm still not convinced that you've changed. While you've changed a bit, I don't know if this is just some sick joke, or some ploy to hurt me again."
"IT'S NOT!" Weiss shouted. "HOW CAN YO-"
"Weiss." Jaune interrupted, tears starting to form in his eyes. "I've made my decision. At least… At least for now. I'm sorry Weiss but, I don't forgive you. If anything, I'm forgetting you. At least for now. I'm sorry."
Jaune finished, closing the door, and heard a slump against it. He wasn't going to tell her to buzz off. He had meant what he said. He couldn't trust her right now, hell, he barely trusted Pyrrha and Ren. The only two people he could trust were Nora and Ruby. She had to earn his forgiveness, but knowing her, she'd find a way.
He looked over to his guitar that was still plugged in and walked over to it. He placed the strap over his head, turned the amp off standby and began to play a much more somber song
Weiss was devastated. She thought she was doing what was right, by apologizing and explaining everything to him. Turns out she was too late, and unlike her chance to become a huntress, she missed out on mending what could have been a great friendship. She thought about everything he said, and was more upset that he was right. Then she thought about how he ended it.
'At least… At least for now'
That means that she still has a chance to redeem herself. But how? She knew it wasn't going to be fast, simple or easy. But she was a Schnee. Schnee's are hard workers and always see a something through to the end.
As Weiss began to plan ways to prove she's changing, she heard music come from the room behind her. Her heart sunk as she knew what song it was. Normally, she didn't listen to music by this band but, she heard from several people that their acoustic arrangements were rather impressive for their style of music.
She heard four chords played cleanly, noticing they repeated and were arranged to have a depressing feel. Her heart sank when she her Jaune start to sing.
Bury all your secrets in my skin
Come away with innocence, and leave me with my sins
The air around me still feels like a cage
And love is just a camouflage for what resembles rage again...
So if you love me, let me go.
And run away before I know.
My heart is just too dark to care.
I can't destroy what isn't there.
Deliver me into my fate -
If I'm alone I cannot hate
I don't deserve to have you...
Oooh, My smile was taken long ago
If I can change I hope I never know
I still press your letters to my lips
And cherish them in parts of me that savor every kiss
I couldn't face a life without your lights
Weiss was crying at this point, she couldn't hold it back any longer. Her tears continued as she hear his voice escalate into a rage as he shouted the next part
But all of that was ripped apart when you refused to fight
So save your breath, I will not hear.
I think I made it very clear.
You couldn't hate enough to love.
Is that supposed to be enough?
I only wish you weren't my friend.
Then I could hurt you in the end.
I never claimed to be a saint...
Ooh, my own was banished long ago
It took the death of hope to let you go
Weiss knew what was coming up and it tore her apart, as he heard the distorted guitar enter her ears.
So break yourself against my stones
And spit your pity in my soul
You never needed any help
You sold me out to save yourself
And I won't listen to your shame
You ran away - you're all the same
Angels lie to keep control...
Ooh, my love was punished long ago
If you still care, don't ever let me know
If you still care, don't ever let me know...
She heard the guitar turn back to a clean sound, and she heard crying on the other side as well.
She looked at her scroll to see that there was about an hour left in class. Not wanting to be seen in her current state, Weiss stood up and started to walk away before looking back at the door. She promised to herself that she would earn his forgiveness not matter what it took. She looked forward again with a new found conviction. And just like how she was going to save her family name, she was determined to save her chances of redeeming herself.
A/N: So... Weiss. I had planned from the beginning to not have her forgiven right away. I'm saving her redemption for another moment closer to the end of this arc. Also, to people wanting to see Jaune's siblings, get ready cause I have something planned for next chapter, but not in the way you would expect. Some of you may have seen that I have a new story up, Undertow, that one isn't going to be a serious story, rather something that I'll update when I feel like it. It's centered around Jaune and Weiss essentially telling Jacques to fuck off.
As for this story, I know how I want to close this arc, and I'm starting to plan out the next one. All I can say is, not all questions will be answered, and I plan on continuing this story beyond a betrayal fic.
Review Responses:
Rakkis: Sorry that the reveal of Jaune's heritage wasn't this chapter. I do have it planned on when I'm revealing it.
Zyriarch: In one of the previous A/N's I mentioned that I would only do it if it fit naturally. It seemed most appropriate here. I may or may not have plans for including other masks in here.
Patriot: I have something planned for next chapter. It's going to be one of those moments that are going to keep everyone, and I mean EVERYONE interested.
adislt: That's actually a great question. Schism will definitely be making more appearances, I'm trying to figure out how I want to write them in.
I hoped you all enjoyed this chapter, let me know what you think! I've already started writing the next chapter, so depending on how life happens, expect another update next week or sometime a little later.
The song used at the end was 'Snuff' by Slipknot, and is also the last time I will be using song lyrics in this story.
See y'all later!
-dicknouget
