Chapter 12 Part 2: Ours Is the Fury

"Stupid dad, stupid sword, stupid legacy!"

These were the words of a child who had just been admonished for not doing enough despite doing his best. Jaune Arc, age eleven was fighting back tears after receiving yet another rather brutal training session again ending without any of the progress Jaune's father desired. At this point Jaune figured his father was simply using him as a punching bag both physically and verbally. To think that three months ago Jaune was actually excited at the prospect of training, to become the next great hero like all of his ancestors and make his family proud of him.

"I'm doing my best, I'm always doing my best!" Jaune ranted as he kicked a stick out of his way in his childish fury, "But does Dad ever notice? Noooooo. Stupid!"

Jaune's life had started so well, growing up, his mother wasn't overbearing, his sisters constantly doted over him like he was some sort of prince (much to Jaune's embarrassment), and his father always looked to him like he was a symbol of pride. But that all changed after Jaune's tenth birthday when his father decided that it was time to train him. Now? His sisters were starting to distance themselves from him both in fear of father's fury descending upon them and because of personal distaste. Jaune didn't understand it at first, but now, now he knew it was because of how much of a failure he was. This thought quelled the fury in the child's heart temporarily as melancholy replaced it, bringing Jaune to his knees as tears finally started to form.

"Why can't they ever notice how hard I'm trying?" whimpered Jaune.

For a while Jaune simply sat where he was, his father's final words to him that night before leaving Jaune on the training room floor bruised by bleeding. His body still hurt, but not as much as his heart, his pride, his very soul.

"Why? Why? WHY?!" Jaune repeated towards the sky.

SNAP.

Jaune jumped at the sudden noise and looked around frantically only to pale. In his fits of fury Jaune had accidently gone beyond the protective boundaries of his village. He was in Grimm territory. And he was just oozing negative energy.

Grrrrrrrr.

Jaune slowly turned around only to see an alpha Beowolf glaring down at him with its blood red eyes. Jaune stared into those eyes and for some reason he saw the fact of his father with those exact same eyes. It was then that Jaune couldn't contain himself any longer as all of his pent up anger surged forth and he shouted at the top of his lungs unchained fury. It likely only sounded like a high pitched squeal to anyone listening, but it did seem to give the alpha pause as it wondered why its prey wasn't screaming in fear but rather anger. The pause wore off as quickly as it came as the alpha lifted its massive arm to crush the child under it. Jaune made no move to avoid it. What was the point? It's not likely that his father would miss him anyway. So Jaune continued to shout planning to do so until he could do so no longer, shutting his eyes as he waited for pain.

SLICE!

Jaune jumped at the startling sound of a blade cutting through flesh. When he opened his eyes he saw the headless body of the alpha crumpling to the floor with a heavy thud that sent Jaune onto his butt. Jaune didn't really care as he stared at his savior.

"Well now," stated a sultry, distinctly feminine voice, "What is the scion of the Arc Family doing out at this time of night?"

Jaune's eyes never left his father as his mind returned from the land of memories. It was the day Jaune learned how to play a little game of pretend. The day that he pretended to follow his father's path exclusively, the day he pretended that he did not notice the negative things people were saying about him, the day he pretended that he was just a happy-go-lucky boy who can never be angered. The truth of it all was that he followed another path, he was hyper aware of everything that was said, and most important of all… he was always angry. This path was what shaped him into the man that he was now and he had a certain old friend to thank for that…

"Don't give in to anger, but don't let it dissipate either. Manipulate it to your advantage instead, so that you can make them reap what they had sown."

Those were her words to him that night the words that spurred him into action, the words of a person that taught him everything that he knew. Now? He can finally take her teachings into action... this situation was perfect for it anyway. Besides, wasn't it supposed to be healthy to have an outlet or negative energy?

"What drives you in a fight, Mr. Arc?"

Jaune felt Ozpin's eyes on him, he knew that the old headmaster was watching this fight. He also knew, somewhere, somehow, that his old mentor was also watching. He would not let either of them down.

"You ready for this Pyrrha?" asked Jaune, finally acknowledging the girl beside him, his partner.

"Born ready," stated Pyrrha with a bit of glee if Jaune wasn't imagining things.

Jaune let out a snort. He couldn't blame her, after all Pyrrha was a warrior at heart and warriors live for a worthy battle even if spurred through the harm of a loved one. The mere thought of Blake caused Jaune's anger to grow ever brighter like a wild fire during the dry season. Jaune held it in for he knew he'd need that energy.

"Manipulate it, and be stronger for it."

Jaune smirked as he reached for his weapon. But this weapon was not Crocea Mors, rather it was the weapon that Jaune made with his own two hands, one made in honor of the person who started him down the right path.

"That is a fine bow you have Jaune, what will you name it?"

Jaune held the simple looking wooden bow in his hands almost reverently. It had been with him just as long, if not longer, than Crocea Mors had. It was a key factor to his survival out in the wild where the Grimm stalked every shadow. Where Crocea Mors represented his family name and legacy, the bow represented the pain, the suffering, and the sheer anger that Jaune hid away for so long. Thus it was only fitting that Jaune named his bow to symbolize those emotions as it was a physical part of Jaune's very soul.

"Same plan," said Jaune, "And we beat the living crap out of them for hurting Blake."

Jaune heard Pyrrha let out slightly maniacal giggle.

"Simple, I like it."

Jaune smirked as his drew an arrow from his quiver. He lovingly stroked his thumb over the handle of his bow as he allowed his aura to flare. His eyes flicked towards the display showing that his aura levels were still in the green.

More than enough.

Jaune's aura spread onto the bow giving it a celestial white glow, the same went for the arrow that was notched onto the bowstring and as Jaune pulled the arrow back in preparation to release, the tip of the arrow seemed to burst in white flame. Jaune stared down his target as he did so, looking at the looks of surprise and slight fear. Yes Jaune had a decent affinity with Crocea Mors, but if one pushed him far enough to take out this bow… well…

"Strike true, Ira," Jaune whispered before he released the arrow.

THWANG!

The arrow sounded more like a bullet of a high-powered rifle as it rocketed from Jaune's bow. Nobody saw the arrow fly as a split-second later it was right between the two Arcs before exploding in a blinding light, dazing any who were unfortunate enough to stare directly at it.

"You're up Pyrrha," said Jaune as he pulled out another arrow, "I've got your back."

Pyrrha didn't need to be told twice as she charged forth with speeds that she never new she possessed. As soon as Pyrrha was within range, she unleashed the full fury of Milo upon her dazed foes. While Marissa recovered rather quickly and somersaulted away, Julius was not so quick and met the full blow of a slash from Milo. Julius stumbled backwards from the bow and Pyrrha stepped up with him, not giving him any reprieve from her onslaught. It was only stopped when Marissa attempted to stab Pyrrha from behind, a blow, which Pyrrha blocked last second with Akouo. Before Marissa could continue her counter attack-.

THWANG!

The arrow struck Marissa dead on only for her to shatter like glass only to reappear a few yards away from Pyrrha. Pyrrha looked behind her to see Julius attempting to charge him at the corner of her eye.

Oh no you don't.

Pyrrha threw Akouo with precision at the older Arc's head forcing him to halt his advance. Pyrrha recalled Akouo as she leapt over to stand between Julius and Jaune.

"Where do you think you're going?" she growled.

Julius answered with a glare and sliced down at her with his sword.

THWANG!

An arrow smacked right into the older Arc's oncoming sword causing it to fly out of his hand. Pyrrha then felt a tap on her shoulder before Jaune suddenly appeared before her flipping in the air before delivering a powerful kick that sent his father sprawling on the floor. He then notched another arrow all while still in the air and shot at his sister who attempted to rejoin the fight all the while his eyes remained trained on his father.

"Thanks for the assist partner," said Jaune.

"Anytime," answered Pyrrha as she stared at Marissa.

The two shared a brief glance before charging at their respective targets. Pyrrha made to stab at Marissa only for image to once again shatter. This time, however, Pyrrha was ready as she quickly placed Akouo on her back blocking a strike that would have hit her neck. Pyrrha then shifted Milo into its spear form giving Marissa a challenging look. Marissa cocked her head at Pyrrha before she dropped her umbrella to the floor where it is shattered away, she then called up on her halberd and got into her own fighting position that mirrored Pyrrha's. This caused the young Mistral champion to smirk.

"Now that's what I'm talking about," she couldn't help but say.

Marissa simply gave a one-shoulder shrug while her own smile widened with glee. The two then charged forward both trying to stab at one another with their respective weapons. It was truly a dance of blades as both fighters gracefully evaded or parried each other's blows all while attempting land a hit on the other. The shafts of the pole-arms sang as both women twirled them around all while keeping their eyes locked on one another. With each clash Pyrrha was starting to get a better read on the style of Marissa Arc and this only exhilarated her as she continued on with her onslaught. Fights like these were what Pyrrha Nikos lived for, win or lose she would remember this fight for likely the rest of her life.

One thing I can say about the Arcs is that they have a couple of extremely skilled children.

When Pyrrha thought of this, she thought of Jaune and Marissa, both agile fighters who didn't really let hubris get the better of them, those were fighters that Pyrrha had come to respect.

CLASH! TING! WHIRLWHIRL! CLASH!

The duel raged on with neither fighter willing to give ground and with each clash Pyrrha started to notice things about Marissa that she never thought she would. It was as if she was catching a glimpse at Marissa's soul and it became more apparent with each second the fight went on.

CLASH! WHIRL! TING!

Marissa's eyes, they changed color more frequently when she became more emotional and they would only range through three colors: pink, brown, and white.

CLANG! CLANG! WHIRL! CLASH!

Those eyes… they were filled with a myriad of emotions.

TING! WHOOSH! CLANG!

Glee.

CLANG!

Pain.

TING!

Anger.

WHIRL! CLANG!

Sadness.

The two warriors finally separated from one another all while staring each other down. Only for Marissa to look away, her gleeful smile fading a more sincere… rueful one. Pyrrha meanwhile felt like she knew Marissa a bit better and because of that… she felt her inner fury towards her fizzle away. Call it a gut feeling or whatever you will, but something told Pyrrha that this was a family member that well and truly loved Jaune… in her own way. Pyrrha suddenly saw Marissa… no… Neopolitan in a different light. A girl who didn't want to the weight of a name to weigh her down, to make a name for herself that she could be proud of. This was something that Pyrrha aspired to have… but went about it wrong…

Perhaps… I can learn a thing or two from this Arc.

THWANG! THWANG!

The sound of Jaune's arrows drew their attention to another duel that was happening on the other side of the arena. Julius looked rather imposing compared to Jaune with his full set of armor (minus the helmet) and his bulkier build. But Pyrrha knew that appearances weren't everything especially thinking back on how she handled the older Arc earlier. There more at stake in this fight however, as it was a fight between father and son, a fight for pride, respect, honor. Pyrrha turned to look at Neopolitan who looked back at her. An understanding without words was made as the two holstered/dismissed their weapons to watch the fight before them. As they did so, Pyrrha cast a glance at Neopolitan's eyes once more and saw a glint of pride as the woman watched her brother. Pyrrha smiled.

I guess you were right after all, father.

Julius stumbled backwards after another flurry of attacks from Jaune's bow. It was as if he was being attacked from all sides by millions of skilled archer with the frequency the boy was able to teleport to wherever he wanted to go. Julius grit his teeth.

Impossible. Impossible. IMPOSSIBLE!

The boy was supposed to be the weak one, the one who couldn't follow the Arc code to save his life, the one who was unworthy to wield the mighty Crocea Mors.

And yet here he stands victorious over my eldest daughters and keeping me on the defensive.

Julius stared at the boy in front of him.

How? How is it you have become so powerful when you were so pathetic and useless during training?

The said boy had no intention of reading the older man's mind as he once again disappeared in a blink of light, Julius expected another onslaught of arrows, but what he didn't expect was for Jaune to appear right in front of him. Julius got a glimpse of a smirk on the boy's face before he engaged Julius at close quarters, using his bow and bare hands to strike at vulnerable points in Julius' armor. So startled by this, Julius stumbled backwards for a couple of hits before he could retaliate with a large sweep of his shield, which Jaune easily avoided by flipping away and firing yet another arrow at Julius' face.

THWANG.

The sound of each arrow firing was almost concussive and packed enough force on impact to send Julius flipping backwards onto his stomach. The man pushed himself up to glare at Jaune who simply looked back with a calm almost nonchalant expression on his face. At this rate Julius would slowly be beaten into submission with no way of retaliation. Julius flicked his eyes over to the only daughter that he had standing only to see that Marissa wasn't engaged in combat with the Nikos girl and was instead standing by her side observing the fight. From the way she was looking towards her brother, it was clear whom she was rooting for. Julius growled at this.

"I suppose you have done well, boy, for driving me into a corner like this," he said aloud for all to hear.

Jaune stood where he was, his only answer being that same nonchalant expression.

"It is clear to me that you have followed the same path as your dear sister over there," he stated waving his hand towards the said girl who simply looked back at him with a bored expression, "How very alike you are."

Jaune's eyes flicked towards Marissa before locking back onto Julius still not saying anything, still defiant. Julius smirked.

"Then again I shouldn't be surprised, after you were both orphaned at birth."

Julius watched as Jaune's face shifted into one of disbelief and for a second, the boy's battle stance went slack.

"Orphaned?"

Julius looked back towards his son who had his head down so that his hood's shadow covered his eyes.

"What do you mean orphaned?"

Julius saw the slight shiver, a telltale sign that the information had affected the boy to a certain degree. Julius relished in it.

"That's right, orphaned, you were never any son of mine and being unable to follow even the simplest notions of the Arc Codex made you unworthy of ever being an Arc."

Julius watched as the boy started to tremble a bit at the new information being given to him and at the corner of his eye he saw Marissa glaring at him in silent fury. Feeling empowered, he continued.

"Thus it is best that I banished you from the Arc Family, you never belonged in the first place and quite frankly neither does your traitorous sister!" he shouted, "Neither of you are wanted in the walls of the Arc Manor!"

"If that is the case then Beacon will welcome them in with open arms."

Those words immediately cut through Julius' speech and he turned to glare at the man who had spoken the words. Ozpin continued on, his mug of coffee sitting to the side almost forgotten.

"And if we are revealing things about Jaune's past then I must also mention that you have no claim over Crocea Mors either for it was not for you to decide who would wield it, that sword is Jaune's and Jaune's alone."

Julius glared up at Ozpin.

Damn you Ozpin. Damn you for always being there to muck everything up!

"What a relief."

Julius looked back down at Jaune who put his bow back onto his back.

"Then I have no qualms finishing this up in style."

Julius blinked owlishly at the boy; it was as if anything the boy felt from the revelation was gone, replaced by that infuriatingly idiotic grin that he always wore.

"Since you're done with your monologue I'll say this," said Jaune before his eyes opened to reveal a certain fire in them, "Fuck the codex, I make my own path."

It was then the boy unleashed the full fury of his aura enough to make Julius flinch while struggling to stay standing.

This power… I never knew… then again why should I be surprised?

For a split second Julius thought he saw someone else standing in Jaune's place, someone with the same blue eyes and blonde hair, someone from long ago, someone that Julius absolutely despised… and missed. The moment afterwards there was a flash of bright light and then pain. Despite such Julius had one lingering thought even as he fell.

You truly are your father's son.

It was then that Julius succumbed to unconsciousness.

The arena was fill with yet another burst of light one that lingered for a while in its blinding brilliance before it finally died down leaving the bystanders to witness one Arc with his sword out standing tall and firm while the other lay on the ground completely unconscious. Honestly Weiss had thought for a split second that it was Julius, but immediately pushed that thought away upon seeing Jaune turning around with his grin still in place.

Well I shouldn't be surprised, he is Jaune after all.

Weiss smiled at that before turning towards Neopolitan who was still standing next to Pyrrha with an oddly pleased smile on her face. Weiss blinked, she had been so focused on Jaune's fight that she never really paid any attention with Pyrrha and Neopolitan's exchange and judging from the way they were standing side by side, they had agreed on a ceasefire. As if sensing Weiss' stare, Neopolitan looked over at her and gave her conniving smile and a wink. Weiss could only smile awkwardly back before she looked down towards Blake.

It's really a shame Blake, you missed quite a spectacle and you helped make it happen.

Suddenly Ozpin's voice cut through the palpable silence of the stunned arena.

"I believe that this fight has come to a conclusion and since my college seems to be a bit preoccupied with her thoughts at the moment, I shall make the final judgment call."

Weiss blinked and looked over towards where Glynda was standing and sure enough the disciplinary was still staring at Jaune long and hard for whatever reason only to turn to glare at Ozpin when he spoke.

"I do believe that the Arc Family still has one fighter left standing with full aura reserves," stated Glynda.

Weiss turned towards Neopolitan for her answer only to see the girl completely ignore Glynda and look towards Ozpin with a slight grin. It seemed that a mental conversation was exchanged as Ozpin gave a small smile back before turning to address Glynda.

"And that said fighter has declared her surrender a while ago, thus I think it official that this victory goes to team ABSN."

There was excited clapping, but only from one person as everyone else was still completely shell-shocked at the fight they had just witnessed. Weiss looked within the crowd and saw that it was Ruby Rose who was applauding with a happy look on her face. Honestly after how ABSN treated Ruby's team Weiss figured the young girl would be one of the last people to cheer for their victory.

Well… how about that?

"Now then," stated Ozpin completely unfazed by the lack of response from the audience, "If team ABSN would please see to Ms. Belladonna, the staff will look after the incapacitated Arc combatants and I would like to speak to Ms. Neopolitan in my office."

Neopolitan simply nodded calmly and disappeared with the sound of shattering glass something Weiss would probably never get used to.

And that's not the only thing.

Weiss looked up just in time to see Jaune kneeling at the other side of Blake with a rueful look on his face with Pyrrha right beside him. Weiss stared at the two and she was reminded of Jaune's look of repressed anger and Pyrrha' gleeful smile. Watching the two fight was like watching two storms rage in one place. During the fight Weiss remembered having only one thought and that was relief that she wasn't on the receiving end of that anger. This was a side that Weiss never thought she would see on the two seemingly unbreakable warriors, but then again, she knew that both held a certain amount of pain in their hearts even if they were practiced in keeping it hidden.

And I would know… I'm one of them.

"You okay there Weiss?" asked Jaune snapping Weiss out of her thoughts.

"Yes, I'm alright."

Jaune stared at Weiss for a few moments before he let out a smile.

"C'mon, let's get Blake out of here."

With that he carefully took the injured girl into his arms. Pyrrha walked up to Weiss and held her hand out for her, which Weiss graciously accepted.

Ozpin walked down the halls towards his office all the while he couldn't help but take a trip down memory lane during a time of his youth when things seemed so much brighter. There he saw a young blonde man with blue eyes determined to take on the world and not letting some stupid 'destiny' get in his way to greatness. Ozpin smiled at the memory.

You are definitely an interesting boy Mr. Arc, you have exceeded all of my expectations.

It was then that Ozpin's smile slowly started to fade.

But I wonder how you will handle the dark times that are ahead?

Ozpin put those thoughts in the back of his mind for later mulling as he walked into his office where he found Neopolitan staring out at Beacon's vast campus through the large window behind Ozpin's desk. Upon hearing Ozpin's entrance, the girl turned towards the headmaster, her playful smirk gone, replaced with a serious grimace. Ozpin walked up to stand next to Neo staring out at the campus.

"So it's begun hasn't it?" he asked.

There was no answer, but Ozpin seemed to already know the answer as he sighed.

"It was only a matter of time, but I had hoped that fate would be kind enough to prolong the inevitable."

Silence pervaded the office for a while before a soft voice spoke.

"What would you have us do in the meantime Headmaster?"

Ozpin turned towards Neo with a grim expression.

"We prepare."