I am really bad at estimating. Surprise chapter! I managed to get a hold of my grandma's computer, so I typed up a quick chapter. Got a review yesterday about how Daedalus was plot armored, so I decided to introduce….*dramatic music* a new villain! I was planning on introducing him soon anyway, but yeah, say hello to Azrael. I also develop Daedalus' character, giving him a little more background and having him bond with Yang. So anonymous person, I broke down Daedalus' plot armor, Happy Thanksgiving.
Jaune was exhausted. He had spent the last three days training with Daedalus, and he ached to his bones. He dragged himself down the hall toward the team JNPR dorm, looking forward to blissful sleep. He gave a weak goodnight to his team and collapsed onto his bed, not awake long enough to care that he was going to soak his sheets with sweat.
I'm going to kill myself, Daedalus decided as he listened to Jaune ramble on about his flirting woes, his voice rising above the drone of the bullhead's engines.
"Like, I like Weiss, but I'm just unsure of whether she's playing hard to get, or-" he was cut off by Daedalus' hand slapping across his mouth.
"We're here. Now shut up and try not to get yourself killed," Daedalus snapped, walking out of the aircraft. Jaune took a moment to recover from Daedalus' sudden outburst before running after him.
They exited the bullhead to a sight that made Jaune whistle in awe. The duo stood in a forest of gigantic trees, several hundred feet high, decorated with a myriad of fall colors.
Daedalus didn't stop to admire the scenery. He jogged forward, calling back to Jaune, "The White Fang should be around a mile this way."
They jogged in silence, and after about fifteen minutes, they reached the clearing where the White Fang should have been.
"There's nothing here," Daedalus said, confused.
"Of course there isn't," a male voice called out. Daedalus' face turned white as a sheet as he recognized a voice he thought he would never hear again.
A man stepped out from behind a tree. He looked to be in his late twenties, with short black hair and deep red eyes. He wore a black suit with a white undershirt, and a blue bowtie to add color. All in all, he looked more like he was going to a formal party than the middle of a forest.
"Azrael," Daedalus whispered.
"That's my name, don't wear it out. Now, I've been hearing things circulating, people saying Alexander left the Black Hand. Now that in itself didn't get my attention. What did was that you were now attending Beacon Academy." He tut-tutted, pulling a large glaive off a strap on his back, twirling it in his fingers. "What happened to not ever leaving a friend behind, Daedalus?" He put mocking tones into his voice as he spoke the pseudonym
"Your students stopped being my friends the day they released Grimm into Vale," Daedalus said darkly, transforming Cube into his dual axes.
"Well, someone has a sense of moral superiority," Azrael chuckled. "Alright, Alex. You've had your fun. You've disturbed Cinder's plans long enough. This is where it ends," Azrael's expression grew dark and he launched himself forward.
Daedalus lifted an axe to block the glaive and looked for a counter to his stomach, but Azrael was too quick. He deflected it with ease and countered by slamming the shaft of the glaive into Daedalus' stomach.
Daedalus doubled over and only barely managed to dodge Azrael's next strike by rolling away. Do I use Jaune's semblance? The thought bounced around his mind as he blocked strikes from Azrael. He knew he would lose as they continued, as Azrael was superior in combat to him, but was it worth Jaune's semblance?
Doesn't look like I have much of a choice, he thought as Azrael battered him, wearing down his defenses.
After another thirty seconds of fighting, Daedalus gave in and leapt back to give himself some distance. He closed his eyes, and suddenly shadow swirled around him like wisps of smoke, almost completely blocking Jaune's view of him.
Jaune let out an involuntary gasp as the darkness cleared, revealing that Daedalus was no longer there. What stood in his place instead, was an Ursa. It roared at Azrael, who merely giggled.
"Still got some tricks up your sleeve, eh Alex?" he chucked.
Daedalus swung one of his claws at Azrael, who easily rolled under the attack, slashing Daedalus several times in the process. Daedalus roared in pain and attempted to bite Azrael, who effortlessly brought his glaive down and sliced the Ursa's head off.
The Ursa crumbled to dust, leaving Daedalus in its place, looking quite pale. As Azrael swung his glaive for the killing blow, Daedalus gathered what little strength hadn't been depleted by his transformation and blocked the attack, kicking Azrael in the chest to knock him down, then running toward Jaune.
"I can't beat him," Daedalus managed between gasps. "He's too good. We need to move."
"But you're too weak to outrun him!" Jaune exclaimed, terrified at this point.
"I won't have to," Daedalus said, putting his hand on Jaune's shoulder and closing his eyes.
Wisps of shadow danced around Jaune, and he suddenly felt a very strange sensation. He felt his muscles expand, and his vision raised as he grew taller. In moments he found himself as a beowulf.
Daedalus slung himself onto Jaune's back and told him, "The dropship hasn't left the area. I called it back when I saw Azrael. It's back where we were dropped off."
Jaune immediately bolted off back the way they had come, Daedalus barely hanging onto his fur.
As Daedalus had said, the bullhead was waiting for them. Jaune galloped inside, claws clicking on the metal. Daedalus turned him back into a human, and the two collapsed in a heap.
The pilot took off and they flew to the relative safety of 3000 feet.
"Who was that?" Jaune asked, and Daedalus could hear the fear in his voice. He didn't blame him.
"That was Azrael. The most dangerous man I've ever met. Mentor of Cinder, and instigator of the killing of Ruby's mother. And quite possibly the only person in Remnant that I fear," Daedalus growled. "Born with no semblance, he set out to create his own. Not uncommon. But he succeeded. I can't access it, I don't even know what it is, but it's definitely there. I can feel it."
"How do we beat him?"
Daedalus gave a defeated sigh. "I don't know."
A heavy silence hung in the bullhead for a while, followed by Jaune asking, "So that whole Grimm thing….that was….my semblance?"
"Correct. You're a Grimmborn, Jaune."
"A….a what?"
Daedalus looked at him like he had two heads. "You've seriously never heard of a Grimmborn semblance?"
"Hey, I had never heard of Pyrrha Nikos when I came to Beacon."
"Well, that makes two of us," Daedalus muttered. "A Grimmborn semblance is what you think it would be. You can change your form into that of Grimm, because, at some point in your ancestry, one of your however-many-great grandparents got some Grimm blood inside them somehow, and it's been passed down."
"But my brothers don't have it."
"There's no pattern that humans have discovered as to who it manifests in. So just be glad you have it. It's a powerful and rare semblance. With the proper training, you can surpass even Pyrrha in combat."
Jaune snorted. "Surpass Pyrrha? Right."
"Confidence is the first step," Daedalus glanced over at Jaune, and Jaune could see for the first time the fear in his eyes.
The rest of the ride was quiet.
He needs to oil this thing, Yang thought as she creaked open Daedalus' door. I can't sneak up on him anymore.
Daedalus took off his reading glasses and set them on the table beside him, along with the book he had been reading. "Come. Sit."
Yang lifted an eyebrow but complied, settling into the chair across from the boy.
"Cookie?" Daedalus asked, offering her a plate with several chocolate chip cookies on it.
"Don't mind if I do," Yang said, grabbing all of the cookies and stuffing them into her mouth. "Gheeze ferr breealy soot," she managed as she swallowed them. She cleared her throat and restated, "These are really good."
Daedalus just sighed. "You know 'cookie' is the singular term, right?"
Yang rolled her eyes. "Whatever. So what did you want to talk to me about?"
"Today Jaune and I went on a mission to stop a White Fang force to the west. Turns out there was no such force. It was a death trap orchestrated by a man named Azrael. He was my mentor's mentor's mentor, and if I had stuck around any longer than I did, I would be dead."
Yang's eyebrow arched higher. "There's someone in Remnant you're afraid of?"
"I know, astonishing. On the trip back, I was thinking. But since my brain is going to rationalize and bias things, I thought I'd get an outside opinion on it." Daedalus paused.
"Well?" Yang was growing impatient.
"Am I a good man?"
Yang sat silent for a while. "I….I don't know."
"Very helpful."
"Wasn't finished. I….I think you try to be, and that's what matters. Because for you, it's very easy to give in and be the bad guy, which you are very, very good at. But you don't."
"It's just….can you keep a secret?" Daedalus had dropped his voice so it was just above a whisper.
"Eeeh….."
Daedalus shot Yang a dark look. "Okay, okay, yes."
"I'm just warning you, because Weiss, Blake, your sister, they look up to me in a way. And if you tell them this, it….probably won't end well."
Yang just nodded silently, all joking gone.
Daedalus let out a long breath. "Can't believe I'm actually going to do this," he whispered under his breath. "When I was young, I said I ran away from home. That's not technically true. I ran away from what had been my home. You've heard of Mountain Glenn, correct?"
"Yeah. I almost died there last semester at Neo's hands."
"News reporters claimed there to be no survivors. That everyone had died after those idiots blew an opening into a subterranean-Grimm infested cave. Those reports were wrong. There were, in fact, three. My sisters and I."
"Who are your sisters?" Yang interjected.
Well, time to bite the bullet, Daedalus thought to himself. "Well, one of them is Nora."
He paused a moment to let it sink in. Then he let the other shoe drop.
"And the other is Neo."
Yang sat in shock. "W-who?"
"Nora Valkyrie and Neapolitan Valkyrie. Making me Daedalus Valkyrie. The three survivors of Mountain Glenn."
"Your older sister….tried to kill me. Twice."
"And yet, here you are. Quite a feat, I must say."
"And….you didn't say anything? About your sisters, about the burden you carry every day? And why is Nora so happy if she witnessed what you did?" Yang rattled off questions, deciding to ignore the face that Daedalus' sister worked for the enemy. What would he have said, anyway? she thought to herself. Hey, by the way, my sister is a psychotic girl hellbent on destroying Vale. Just a heads up.
"Nora purged her mind of the memory long ago. She remembers only the happy fragments of her youth," he smiled sadly. "Wish I had that power."
"So that's why you've attempted to destroy your emotions?"
"Watching thousands of people being slaughtered will do that to you," Daedalus rested his head in his hands. Why did I think this was a good idea? he chastised himself angrily. The logical portion of his brain said, Because studies show that venting your feelings helps you deal with them?
To which the impulsive portion of his brain responded with a hearty Shut up.
Yang patted him on the shoulder. "I-I'm sorry. I had no idea."
"Then I succeeded up until tonight," Daedalus said, locking eyes with Yang, a pained expression on his face.
Without warning, Yang embraced Daedalus in a hug. "The fact you've carried this with you your whole life is not a testament to your weakness, Daedalus, but a testament to your strength."
She released him and walked to the door. "Besides, studies show that just letting out emotions is much more healthy than internalizing them." With that, she shut the door, leaving Daedalus alone.
He flopped onto his bed, his brain going back to arguing with itself.
I told you so.
I thought I said to shut up!
Yeah, yeah, I know the fight was a little weak. But I had a limited timeframe and I rewrote it twice and that's the best I could come up with. It's clunky, but it gets the job done of introducing a new character and Jaune's semblance. Next time we flash back to Blake and Weiss and resolve that crisis with a rescue mission cosplaying as a team-building exercise.