Chapter 11: Headache
Jaune woke up slowly, he cracked his eyes open only to be hit with a bright light and a splitting headache. He sat up slowly at first, then jumped out of bed rushed to the bathroom and threw up all over the toilet.
After he threw up again and cleaned the toilet off with a rag retching at the terrible smell. Then disrobed and got into the shower lazily. He turned the water on and started cleaning himself off. I'm never going to drink again, this feels terrible. And I'm serious this time not like the last times where I quit for about a week.
Jaune finished up and put on his towel as he brushed his teeth and put on some deodorant. As he finished up he heard a knock at the door, he assumed it was someone sent to check on him so he slowly opened the door revealing an eager looking Ruby. Said girl looked at Jaune's exposed chest and turned around quickly blushing before she quickly yelled.
"Sorry Jaune I just wanted to ask you to come gun shopping since Yang told me you wanted a gun, but I'll come later when you're ready." Jaune laughed before he responded.
"Don't worry Ruby I'll just change real quick and I would love to shopping with you." He shut the door and grabbed some casual clothes which consisted of a hoodie and jeans, then he left the door and met Ruby who still hadn't turned around. He quietly opened the door and tasered Ruby with his fingers into her sides. To his delight and displeasure Ruby jumped up and screamed in fright. As he laughed and rubbed his head which was hurting because of that scream.
"Damn you Jaune Arc, revenge will be swift, and revenge will be sweet don't let your guard down because that will be when I strike." To Jaune just chuckled and ruffled her hair with his hands. To which she grumbled at him and started walking away not waiting for Jaune to catch up.
After he caught up and they reached the bullhead and got in, as they took off and he took his position next to the trash can. Ruby who was always filled with energy decided to start asking about why Jaune wanted a gun.
"Well Ruby, I hate the feeling of uselessness when the battle gets long range. Like sure I can give orders and stuff, but I can give orders and lay down suppressing fire, or even put damage on the enem. Instead of just standing on the battlefield like a big idiot waving my sword around while my friends shoot their guns. I know you don't really know that feeling but y'know I just don't want to be useless."
Ruby rubbed Jaune's back while he gave a couple dry heaves at the trash can but nothing was coming out. So Ruby decided to respond.
"You're right Jaune I don't know that feeling, but that's why I'm here now right? You don't want to feel useless and I don't want you to feel useless either. Everybody in our circle of friends is important to our missions, and if you know you are then you'll genuinely know how important you are."
Jaune smiled and let a comfortable silence envelop them as they let the rest of the flight remain in silence.
They reached the gun shop without a hitch and walked into the shop, well Jaune walking into the shop and Ruby sprinting into the shop. With the help of her semblance she started looking at every weapon in the shop. Jaune just decided to take a leisurely pace as he started perusing some pistols towards the back of the store. He started examining a couple since he knew that he wanted a pistol. The pistol wouldn't give him the most range, but he wasn't looking for a sniper, their group already had enough of those. But a pistol could help him assist anybody who gets overwhelmed with Grimm and he could kill some as he ran over to help. Or he could just kill some Grimm that someone didn't see that was looking to blindside them. Plus he felt that he would look really cool shooting one.
As he was inspecting the pistols Ruby appeared in front of him holding a Tommy gun with a giant grin spread across her face and she said.
" Here hold this. I thought you might like to look like a mob boss with this in your hands." The reaper paused putting it in his hands, Jaune didn't think it felt right in his hands. So before Ruby could continue he quickly spoke up.
"While it does look awesome Ruby, I just want a small handgun nothing flashy. I know that might be hard for little miss 'Scythe-Sniper' but I really only want a strong pistol that's got some decent range with the ability to have dust rounds put in. Sorry Ruby…" Said girls grin only left for a second then in a flash she was laughing and said.
"I should've remembered you have an appreciation for the classics. Come over here with me Jaune I think I have the perfect one for you." With that Ruby gestured for Jaune to follow him. Ruby was moving pretty fast, a speed that Jaune really did not want to go at the moment still feeling the lingering effects of his hangover. He willed himself to keep up for long enough that they reached the back corner of the store. It's location made it very easy to miss unless you knew it was there. Ruby pulled Jaune the rest of the way once they entered the room Jaune assumed had the weapon she was looking for. She looked at A confused Jaune who was wondering why they were now stopped in the middle of the room. Then Ruby asked.
"Okay Jaune can you close your eyes for me?" Jaune nodded and did as she asked, after about a minute Jaune felt someone pull out his hands then place a cold metallic object in them. Then a voice spoke up.
"Alright Jaune open up." He opened his eyes and saw a magnum in his hand. The gun had a revolving cylinder that could hold six cartridges, and was heavier than he thought it would be. He raised it up and aimed it towards the nearest wall, it felt really great in his hands. Ruby waved a hand and yelled at Jaune.
"Earth to Jaune! It's called the Smith and Wesson, it's been slightly modified to shoot dust rounds but besides that it's almost the same as the original model. Plus this thing hits like a truck and has a lot of kick in tow. You like it?" Jaune smiled and responded instantly.
"Hell yea Ruby, this thing is amazing I'm excited
for what you'll get me for Christmas if you're this good this at getting guns for me!" Ruby was ecstatic now and dragged Jaune to the firing range.
They loaded the normal rounds in and set Jaune up with earplugs and safety glasses. He readied the weapon and aimed at the target. He pulled the trigger and felt the gun kick up and nail him right in the nose. Jaune swore loudly and grabbed his aching head.
"Fuck me, guess I gotta hold onto that fucker a little tighter." Ruby could barely suppress her laughter as she saw that Jaune's shot had completely missed the target. Jaune was pretty sure he had broke his nose since it seemed to be tilted to the left side. So he put one of the magnum rounds in his mouth and bit down on it, then he grabbed his nose and set it back in place with a crunch. Which made Ruby cringe as Jaune spit out the unusable bullet that was dented now and commented.
"Saves a bunch of time not having to go to the infirmary right Ruby?" Ruby looked horrified and asked.
"Does doing that not hurt Jaune?" Jaune shook his head and retorted.
"That would be a no Ruby, on the contrary that hurt like a bitch. But I don't really mind because doing that has just become habit since I used to train on my own and had to do it then." Ruby then got a confused look on her face which made Jaune remember that he hadn't told his friends about the little amount of training he had done before Beacon. So he just started his story.
"Yea Ruby my dad sustained an injury to his left leg early in my childhood so I can't remember exactly when. But I do know that whatever the injury was he didn't want to tell me about. It ended his career as a hunter abruptly and turned him into a bitter man who did not want his son to become a hunter like him. So I stole his sword and shield Sophomore year and ran away from home with a month's supply of food, the clothes on my back, and the booze money I stole from my dad. For a while I just wandered around training with my sword on whatever I could hit. Then about a week in I ran into my first Grimm. It was a beowolf barely taller than I was but that didn't make it easy to kill it tore up my chest but I managed to kill it but not without letting a crescent shaped scar stay on my thigh as a mark of foolishness so I can learn from the experience. But, bleeding and half dead one of Ozpin's agents found me and gave me a choice. Get sent back home to my family forever, or go back home and fly out to beacon for the next school year and he would 'turn a blind eye to my underwhelming training' . And since I'm here right now you know what I picked." Ruby stood there mouth open and unable to speak for a moment flabbergasted by how little of the actual story Jaune had been telling them this whole time.
"Damn Jaune that's crazy, but at least ole ozzy let you stay and then you became friends with us as a result!" Ruby said with a large smile plastered on her face. Jaune gave her a sad laugh and responded with.
"That's the thing Ruby, it wasn't out of the kindness of Ozpin's heart that he let me come here. It was his knowledge of my family and our roles in wars. If I was anybody else I'd be sent back home with a pat on the back and a slap on the wrist. Honestly I might be dead if he nev-" Jaune tackled Ruby into the corner of the room as a cylindrical object rolled into the center of the room. Jaune let out a tiny breath of relief when it didn't explode only to see gas begin to pour out from the object that had stopped in the center of the room. Jaune grabbed Ruby again and stood up, then dove through the window only to feel like his neck was snapped as he noticed a large hand wrapped around his throat. Upon further inspection the hand belonged to an equally massive body with a White Fang mask on and a Chainsaw on his hip. In an act of defiance Jaune gasped out a final wisecrack.
"At least buy me dinner first guy come on" said guy looked down on Jaune and said.
"Sorry I'm not into blondes" and with that he knocked Jaune out and a recovering Ruby who didn't have time to speed away with her semblance. Admiring his work the Lieutenant grabbed his walkie talkie and called in to his superiors. "It all went according to plan my Queen"
Instantly a voice laced with static came through "Good job my Bishop now the knight to me"
There we go guys sorry to keep you waiting but swim team is really busting my balls and I also watched all of One Punch man during the week now I know I said I would be out after the break, but this time Christmas break is longer and I'll have roughly 12 hours of traveling time which hopefully (no promises sorry) the next chapter should be longer if all goes according to plan. Don't be afraid to leave a follow or favorite Thanks!
P.S leaving reviews really help me because it's just me writing/editing these chapters so they're all I have to go off of on how I'm doing.