Mad Max: Road to Salvation: Volume 2

Episode 11[42]: Through pain lays peace

[Guest: Thank you so much, I made sure to try my best to with what combat racing material I have available for reference, and yes I will catch up eventually. The reason why I'm taking this at the pace I am is because I don't want to reach the end of the cannon too long before the next season of RWBY. I wouldn't want run out of track to follow and work on after all, I might wreck myself. But I should pick up the pace though as summer is getting shorter.]

[Wombag1786: Thanks, and what is Downtown Abbey anyway? I'll look it up.]

[Clearwingyuta: Tanks. :) ]

[dirtrevor: Now you'll find out.]

[EnriksD8: Well thank you, I made sure to do what I could to make it as good and deep as possible with plenty of octane in the tank.]

[Lordofuselessnes: Yep, it's pretty crazy.]

-A FEW DAYS LATER-

After learning the truth and saying goodbye to her parents again, Amy returned to the academy with the girls and Mari right behind her. She and Weiss both felt better about it now and were happy to have family in each other. The rest of the girls felt better about the whole ordeal now that it was over and the truth was revealed. In time things went back to being business as usual at the prestigious academy. Cardin and Jaune had fought each other again in Glynda's class and soon enough Cardin had Jaune by the balls with some blackmail. The leader of JNPR knew he could do nothing for now until he figured out a way to deal with his tormentor as brute force wouldn't be an option. He decided not to let anyone else bear the weight of his own burdens, even his team. Cardin's tormenting continued for some time and kept getting worse. His friends were cluing into the situation but there wasn't much they could do at the time.

Max had also noticed the boy's change in behavior and had begun to investigate. This put some pressure on Jaune though since he knew Max would find out somehow. The shrewd former cop could see something was wrong and his investigation was beginning to yield results. At some point Cardin the bully harassed Velvet but was met with 'unspoken' death threats from a very irritated Bruz. The bully was smart enough to know if he touched a single hair on that rabbit faunus in front of the son of Max, he would be roadkill beneath the extremely angry dingo's boots. Torturing Jaune though, that was something he knew he could get away with as long as his victim was kept in check. With that tiny tidbit of knowledge that he'd gained from listening while Pyrrha and Jaune talked was becoming his greatest source of entertainment. Jaune had wanted so badly to apologize to girl he'd grown to feel great affection for and Cardin was the one thing standing in his way, his pride notwithstanding. It had to end and he didn't know it but the perfect opportunity for revenge was coming up. Glynda had organized a trip to the forever fall forest to gather tree sap with Mari and Max handling the rest of her classes for the day.

On the way to the forest Jaune had been sharpening his sword with a rock and thinking angry thoughts about his nemesis. He had to find a way to make things right with his team and make Cardin pay for the damage he'd caused. Another thing was on his mind though, what ruby had said the night before, about him being responsible for his team. With that in mind, it could only fuel his desire for payback against the bully who held his leash. It made Jaune sick to his stomach about how he'd been taking Cardin's shit and doing whatever he said, including gathering very painful Rapier Wasps. A voice in his head kept telling him to strike back, but his budding instincts as a tactician told him to wait.

Eventually after forcing Jaune to do more slavish work for him, Cardin had pushed it too far. Once Jaune had gathered all the sap, out of sight of Missus Goodwitch, Cardin ordered Jaune to throw the sticky substance at his own friends. The young man refused and instead smashed the jar over Cardin's head. The brawny bully's buddies moved in to inflict a beatdown on Jaune. Time slowed to a crawl as his eyes glow a different shade of blue and shadows formed around his eyes. Jaune's lighter personality took a back seat as his anger finally came out in his desire for retribution. The other voice took over and grinned madly, unafraid and in fact eager to fight. Unsheathing his sword, the leader of JNPR countered a strike from dove and levied a mean punch to the cony's lower jaw. Next came a strike from Russel that Jaune/Not Jaune sidestepped and tripped the bully, causing his attack to hit an unprepared Sky head on. An angry Cardin rushed Jaune, only to get a face full of shield. As the fight continued four against one, an Ursa major lumbered out of the forest. It roared hungrily and rushed at Cardin who was caught off guard. The rest Cardin's team ran off away from the beast, while 'Not Jaune' dragged Cardin's butt of the proverbial fire. The cowardly bully leaned back against a tree in a mix of awe and fear as he witnessed a very different person from the poor sap he was tormenting battling the beast that nearly killed him.

Not backing down from the threat posed by the beast in front of him, the leader of JNPR clanged his sword against shield in challenging manner. The Ursa major roared in anger as it charged at the nimble swordsman who rolled out of the way. The beast slammed into several trees and was dazed by the hit from the young fighter's misdirection. Standing his ground in defiance, Jaune thrusted shield forward and block a retaliating strike from the large Grimm. The young fighter dropped down and rolled again, gaining some breathing room. He looked the monster straight into its red eyes and charged for the final blow. Nearby, his comrades had been watching the battle against the creature and Pyrrha noticed a fatal opening in Jaune's attack. Thinking quickly, the spartan girl used her semblance to aid her friend by raising his shield. With the Ursa major's strike parried, Jaune/not Jaune beheaded the beast.

-IN JAUNE'S MIND-

The young Arc was watching in awe as he witnessed his own body fight and win the battle. As he stood there watching like he was sleep walking, a lone figure appeared and pulled his attention away from the action. Jaune then got a full view of the person or entity that had come from behind and his eyes widened in confusion.

"Who the heck are you?! What's going on?!" Jaune frantically shouted as he pointed to the new guy.

"Heh, right now, I've got the wheel, but I'll be glad to give back in a bit." The stranger replied and stepped forward out of the shadows, revealing an extremely pale boy covered in dust. He had blue eyes and various engine diagrams that were akin tribal markings covering his built-up torso. The strange boy's minimal attire was made up of black pants and boots, with a manacle of some kind on his right wrist and a white cloth wrapped around his left wrist. Two large bumps were situated on the left side of his neck with small dots on them resembling faces.

"Ok, but who are you, and why are we even… ya know in my head?" Jaune questioned the stranger and pointed at his head where his brain would be.

"They used to call me Nux. You could call it our head, and why wouldn't you be in here? It's your, or should I say our, corpus." The mystery boy now known as Nux retorted and crossed his arms.

"Great I'm crazy now." Jaune slapped his own face in exasperation.

"No, I'm the crazy one in this team. I'm the whole reason you know cars like you do, and how you drive and fight so well. I've been watching you, learning, and waiting a long time for just the right moment. It was getting boring just sitting in here doing nothing every single day I've been awake." Nux pointed a thumb to himself and threw his arms up in joy.

"Awake? You mean you were asleep in my, or our, head? Oh man this is really weird and confusing." Jaune put a hand to the side of his head.

"Well that ain't point of this meet. What's confusing to me is how you've been treating a certain girl who actually likes us!" Nux put a hand to his chin and smiled before frowning and berating his roommate.

"Huh? Who? You're not talking about Pyrrha are you?" Jaune guessed correctly.

"Oh yes I am! She's just so shine, I could swear on my life it's so familiar, and yet… you've been screwing that up for us!" Nux replied, grinning about how pretty and familiar the girl was to him. He quickly burned his roommate, again.

"I haven't been like that… too much. I've noticed okay, we trusted her that night Cardin put a chain on us!" Jaune huffed weakly in his attempt to defend himself and blushed.

"Close but not enough! She's good for us and you barely understand that!" Nux called him out his mistakes.

"You don't rush this kind of stuff! I'm completely new to really like-liking someone!" Jaune countered.

"Well get used to it, because we like her and she really likes us back!" Nux got in Jaune's face made himself very clear on the matter of the heart.

"I get it!" Jaune threw his arms up in frustration.

"Good, then I'm letting you have the wheel back now." Nux grinned and started to walk away.

"Wait, will this be a regular thing or-?" Jaune asked.

"Can't really say, later." Nux shrugged and faded away into the darkness.

-THE OUTSIDE WORLD-

Jaune, back in control now walked over to Cardin with a serious look on his face. He stood over Cardin with a frown on his face, there a brief silence before Jaune stuck his hand out and helped up his tormentor. He briefly considered punching him in the face, but that would've made him no better than the cowardly bully who'd caused him so much pain and misery in recent times.

"Holy crap… Jaune-" Cardin started to say but was cut off by a very determined Jaune.

"Never mess with me, or any one of my friends, ever again. Got it?" Jaune snarled in a low threatening voice.

"Whatever you say, it's not worth the trouble, or the pain, anymore. I'm done." Cardin put his hands up defensively. The bully had to begrudgingly admit it to himself, as there was no doubt he owed Jaune his life, and the guy had earned his newfound respect.

"Good." Jaune said as he turned around and walked away like a boss. Nearby though, a wise wasteland mystic hidden in the brush grinned to himself as he watched the young man fight. It quite interesting for him as he witnessed the two souls residing within Jaune's body come to terms. It was all going as he had planned so far. Destiny would need just a little more pushing to go in the right direction, and he was certainly enjoying giving quite the nudge. Soon enough he'd speak with the two boys directly when the moment was opportune, but for now he was content to observe his hard work in motion. Without a single word spoken, the mystic disappeared into the wind as usual.

Later that night, Jaune apologized to Pyrrha and she accepted his apology. The young warrior went a bit further with his courage, and quickly checking to see if the were alone, made a slight confession of his affection. Pyrrha blushed and smiled a little bit at Jaune's honesty and cute shyness at that moment. She swiftly kissed him on the cheek and he grinned ear to ear in joy. Today had truly gone from one of his worst days to one of his best in spectacular fashion. As the two of them embraced each other with a hug, they could feel two other presences in the air doing the same thing. The two lost and revived lovers, Nux and Capable, had finally been reunited with each other at last.

The two of them sat down and looked at the night sky with love on their minds. The moment was interrupted by the appearance of a certain mystic who couldn't pass up the opportunity. As Jaune and Pyrrha were enjoying each other's company, a low murmur of voices echoed around them and a very familiar voice in Pyrrha's case spoke them.

"The two lovers from a harsh world of sorrow and dust, separated by the barrier of death, now rejoined in a new life with a bright future." The mystic grinned as he spoke to the two teenagers.

"Oh not again! I hope I'm not dreaming." Jaune groaned as he recalled his encounter with Nux.

"G-griffa, what are you doing here?" Pyrrha stuttered in surprise at the outback mystic's presence.

"I told you it was possible I would see you again young one, did I not?" The shaman of the desert replied coolly.

"Who is this guy Pyrrha, how does he know you?" Jaune asked his girlfriend in confusion.

"We met in a dream, he showed me who I am and told me something about my fate, specifically someone I might meet. I never knew for sure it would be you until now." The red-haired beauty answered her lover's question with a blush and a smile.

"You mean… you… and me… we were meant to be…? This was destiny?"

"Right you are young knight of Arc. You are the reincarnation of the other soul that resides within you, the valiant Warboy called Nux. He was always a tough nut to crack in his previous life, now more than ever before. I suspect both souls within your vessel have agreed to work together, haven't you?" Griffa said as he paced around the couple calmly.

"How did you know that? You weren't spying on me, were you?" Jaune asked incredulously.

"I observed, true enough, but it was not anything disgraceful to watch you and Nux perform as you have. I came to give my congratulations to the both of you for successfully finding each other as you were meant to. Enjoy your happiness together young ones for it is meant to be. So long as you have faith and hope for each other, never shall you be separated again until death." The outback shaman explained himself and his reasoning behind his appearance without a hint of deceit in his voice.

"Thanks… I guess." Jaune said awkwardly and rubbed the back of his head.

"Thank you so much, for everything Griffa. I don't know if we can ever repay you for this." Pyrrha said respectfully to the shaman.

"It is no trouble young one, I was simply helping you two along to find each other and discover who you are and offering subtle guidance when you needed it. Should you ever have serious need of my assistance again, I will offer my aid when your need of it need is greatest if possible. You both have earned your love for one another for through many trials and tribulations throughout your lives, both new and old, may it remain as strong as it is so long as you both live." Griff replied and vanished in a plume of wasteland dust, leaving behind a rune of some sort in his absence. Pyrrha and Jaune looked at each other and then at the sky in peace.

-END CHAPTER-