Alrighty, I am SO sorry this took so long to get updated! Shit's been going constantly downhill, and I'm pretty much at the end of my rope at this point. That, and whenever I did want to write the internet had lovely timing when it came to shutting down. It was great, I'm great. On a brighter note, I got to take the girl I've been head over heels for to prom! It was a lot of fun, much better than I was expecting it to turn out!
But anyway, enough about that, let's just get on with the chapter!
...
"Shit!" Junior cursed the moment he saw the pack of beowolves at his doorstep. "Kid! Close the fucking door!"
It was too late, though. Junior watched in horror as the pack leader threw the young blonde to the side, its sights set on the real prize. Junior gulped as the beowolf howled, before it charged straight towards him. Junior snapped back to his senses just in time to dodge the alpha beowolf's strike, though he winced when he heard his precious booze shatter. He glanced behind him as he scrambled away, frowning when he saw exactly which drinks were now splattered on the floor.
'Oh, Blondie's gonna be pissed,' he thought as he reached underneath the bar and pulled out a double barrel shotgun he kept around to dispute any trouble going on during business hours. Every since the blonde bombshell trashed his baseball bat/rocket launcher combo, he's been forced to use this less impressive firearm.
Turning around, the bartender fired point blank at the alpha, sending it flying back onto its back. Junior smirked in victory, but his confidence faded when the alpha rose to its feet, looking more pissed off than anything else. The alpha beowolf felt its chest, which was warm and sticky with blood. Snarling, it batted the shotgun out of Junior's hands before lifting him into the air. It licked its fangs in what could be sick, twisted glee, but before it could put an end to the bartender it froze, mouth wide open. Suddenly, the beast collapsed, dropping Junior to his knees. The bartender took a deep breath and glanced up.
"Thanks, girls," he said, nodding. The twins each gave a little curtsy, before the sharpened their blades and charged towards the rest of the pack. Junior crawled over to where his shotgun lay and picked it up. He rose to his feet and looked down on what was happening. So far, so good. The twins and his goons were dispatching beowolf after beowolf, and the pack was beginning to thin out.
'I'll have to give all of them a raise,' he realized, frowning.
Eh, a small price to pay. At least most of the club was still intact.
Junior suddenly remembered Jaune, and his eyes scanned for any sign of the former knight. He finally saw him laying in the middle of the dance floor, unconscious. He was breathing, though blood ran down his forehead. Junior let out a sigh of relief and, assuming his boys would keep the grimm busy, jogged over to where Jaune laid.
He stopped and kneeled down beside the kid. "You're a lucky son of a bitch," he murmured, hoisting him over his broad shoulders. "Stupid, but lucky." He then turned to the battle. "Girls!" he called.
The twins turned around, casually listening as they elegantly avoided swing after swing from the beowolves.
"I'm going to take the kid to one of the back rooms, alright?" he explained. "Think you could hold off the rest of these grimm?"
Miltia nodded and stabbed her claws through a beowolf's skull. Melanie merely grunted in response as she slashed open another's throat with her heels. Junior chuckled and headed for the back, leaving his goons to finish the fight.
The "back rooms" typically served as a place for the twins and the goons to sleep. Most of the goons were actually pretty poor, and Junior wasn't completely heartless. The bartender kicked one of the rooms open, stomping inside and carefully (sorta) dumping Jaune on the bed that occupied the space. Junior exhaled through his nose and shook his head as he looked down at the unconscious teen. "What the hell am I going to do with you, kid?" he muttered, glancing back towards the direction of the battle. "I just got the place cleaned up. too."
"...ugh..."
Junior's eyes widened. "Kid?!"
Slowly, Jaune's eyes pried themselves open. They looked dull, tired, and pained all at once, and Junior frowned at the sight. Jaune's eyes stared straight ahead for a few seconds, before swiveling towards Junior. "J-Junior...?" he rasped out.
Immediately the bartender flicked the former knight's forehead, causing him to wince. "You're a damn idiot," he growled, clenching his fists. "If you didn't already take that blow from the beowolf I would punch your fucking lights out."
Jaune cracked half a smile and closed his eyes. "Glad...to see you...too, Junior."
Junior sighed and sat down on the bed. "I wonder what's going on..." he muttered. "Grimm? In the city? How?" He rubbed his chin with his hand. "What do you think, kid?" He turned to Jaune, who still had his eyes closed.
The blonde's ocean blue eyes flickered open again, and his lips tightened together. "Junior..." he began slowly, cautiously. "Do you think...Neo...would forgive me?"
Junior blinked. "Huh?" He shook his head. "Kid, the hell are you talking about? I know you came in here for drinks and drugs, but what the hell does that little psychopath have anything to do with it?"
Jaune didn't respond for a few moments, but he eventually let out a sigh. "Maybe she hates me..." he whispered, voice barely reaching the bartender's ears. "Maybe I deserve it..."
'Dammit, I didn't sign up for this bullshit,' Junior thought, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Look, I don't know what's going on, but can we worry about that later? We have grimm invading the city, for fuck's sake!"
Jaune hesitantly nodded. "Y-Yeah..." His eyes drifted shut. "But I'm so...tired..."
'Fuck,' Junior cursed as Jaune passed out.
...
Okay, this was bad. This was very, very bad!
Ruby swung her scythe and sliced through an ursa's skull, but for every grimm that was cut down, it was like two more appeared in its place. Ruby dodged the charge of a strange, bipedal dinosaur thingy that she had never seen before, and watched as it was swiftly cut down by Weiss. The ice queen shared a glance with her, and the two noted their shared panting. Weiss then turned away and ran towards the next batch of enemies, leaving Ruby on her own.
Ruby didn't know how close they were to eliminating all of the grimm, but she prayed that it would be over soon. Right now, it was just the four of them against an entire grimm army, and their energy was rapidly depleting. The young huntress in training her the sound of growling behind her, and she just managed to flip over the ursa's strike. She swung Crescent Rose, striking the monster's torso.
To her horror, it barely flinched, and Ruby stumbled back as the ursa major rose to its full height, towering over anything Ruby had ever seen before. The ursa licked its razor sharp teeth and raised its large paw, ready to crush the young girl underneath its sheer strength.
"Not on my watch!" a familiar bubbly voice cried out, and an explosion of pink came from the ursa's back. It swayed for a moment before it collapsed onto the ground, motionless. Nora cheered as she hopped on top of the ursa, thrusting her mighty hammer into the air. "Ten points for the valkyrie!" she cried, before hopping off. She hummed a small tune and turned to Ruby. "So...what's going on?"
Ruby glanced behind the berserker and caught sight of both Ren and Pyrrha working together to dispatch a king taijitsu. "Grimm have invaded the city," she explained. "We've been trying to hold them off, but-" A familiar blonde knight appeared in her mind, causing Ruby to gasp. "Jaune!" she squeaked, grabbing Nora's shoulders. "Jaune's somewhere in the city! What if the grimm reach him?!"
Nora's expression turned serious as she shrugged off the young scythe-wielder. "Got it," she said, gripping her hammer tighter. "You try to keep the grimm here, I'll go find Jaune."
Ruby's eyes widened. "Nora..." This was the first time Ruby had seen Nora act so serious about something, it was a little nerve-racking. However, Ruby managed to nod. "Okay, good luck."
"You too." Nora suddenly broke into a grin, and with a surprising burst of speed, left Ruby's side. "I'm coming, Jaune-Jaune!"
Ruby stared after Nora, watching her disappear behind some buildings. Jaune would be safe, Nora would find him and take care of him...
"Ruby, look!" Yang's voice called from some distance. Ruby turned towards her sister, seeing the blonde bombshell pointing at the sky. The young huntress-in-training followed her sister's arm, and her eyes widened and a smile broke on her face. A collection of bullhead's were racing across the sky, dropping Atlas' newest robotic soldiers onto the battlefield. The moment their feet hit the ground, the robots immediately began opening fire on the grimm, cutting them down with deadly accuracy.
"NEVER FEAR!" a bellowing voice shouted. "PETER PORT IS HERE!"
Professor Port appeared in Ruby's line of sight, swiftly cutting down a boarbatusk with surprising speed and agility. Behind him, Team CFVY were dealing with a horde of surrounding grimm, displaying power Ruby could only find herself dreaming of achieving.
"Junior detectives, on the case!" Sun and Neptune had joined the battle, the monkey-tailed faunus using his staff to deflect a blow aimed at Blake. Further away, Ruby saw the mysterious transfer students from Haven also holding their own.
They were winning! They were finally getting the advantage over the grimm! Her fighting spirit renewed, Ruby jumped into the air with a cheer, before propelling herself forward back into the fray.
...
"You're not Jaune. The Jaune I knew would never give up. He was a brave and caring leader, someone we all loved with all our hearts. But now...I can't even look at you..."
This was the street she first met Jaune after he was expelled, Nora recalled. She frowned and leaned against the wall, the memories of that argument returning to her. Those words...they were harsh, and part of her regretted saying them. The other part of her argued that because of them, that may have been the start of Jaune's healing process.
She hoped it was the latter. The last thing she ever wanted was to hurt him.
She remembered thinking of him as only a stranger. The Jaune she met that night was not the one she knew at Beacon. She felt so angry. Angry at him for becoming that way, and angry at herself for doing nothing to help him. Nora slid down the wall, sitting and resting her hammer on her lap.
Yet...something changed him. Or rather, someone. She remembered Yang mentioning someone at the dance. Was there someone in Jaune's life? Someone who changed it for the better? If so, she would have to thank them someday.
'Enough of that,' Nora told herself, hoisting herself up. 'I've gotta find Jaune.'
The last time she saw the former knight was at Freezy Cool, so should she check that area? For some reason, Nora's instincts told her no. She should continue down this street, cover the entire area. If he wasn't here somewhere, then she would head off in that direction. "Jaune, please be safe..." she whispered to herself as she continued walking down the street.
There was a lot of ground to cover, she noted as she circled the block. That, and there weren't any grimm around... Relaxing a little, Nora shifted Magnhild to its grenade launcher form and strapped it on her back. Taking a risk, she cupped her hands at her mouth and called out, "Jaune-Jaune! Where are you?!"
No answer. Of course.
Nora sighed and started heading off towards the direction of Freezy Cool, when she suddenly heard something. Perking her head up, she paid close attention, closing her eyes and letting the sounds flow into her ear.
'Is there...fighting going on?' she wondered, eyes opening. 'Between two people?'
That was strange... Narrowing her eyes, Nora jogged towards the direction of the fight, concluding that as a huntress-in-training, it was her duty to investigate. 'Maybe one of them is the one who did all of this?'
The sounds led her out into the open, and she skidded to a halt. "A warehouse?" she muttered. Then, she heard the sound of two weapons clashing, and she tore her eyes away from the massive building to look further down.
It was between a deer faunus and a diminutive, multi-colored girl. The former wielded a simple baton while the latter had a more exotic weapon of choice: a parasol. The two were weaving through each other's attack, both equally tiring out despite neither apparently suffering any blows. The faunus hissed something at the human that Nora didn't pick up, but it seemed to spark a reaction from the pink, brown, and white girl. She suddenly lashed out in anger, but the faunus slid away, laughing.
Nora wasn't sure who was in the right or who was in the wrong, but she still had to stop them. "Hey!" she shouted, catching their attention. "What do you think you're doing?!"
The faunus sneered and twisted away from the human girl, reaching into her knee high boot. She pulled out a dagger, and with surprising speed, hurled it straight at Nora before she had time to react.
...
The fight was getting them nowhere, Neo noticed as she blocked a strike from Melody. The two had very similar styles of combat, focusing on evasion and defense in order to tire the opponent out. It was almost like fighting a copy of herself. Melody seemed to figure that out as well, because soon she was backing away, practically forcing Neo to be on the constant offensive. This wasn't what Neo wanted...This wasn't suited to her, she was now at a disadvantage.
Thinking quickly, she teleported behind Melody and struck at her with a high kick. The faunus caught it and shoved Neo away, charging and swinging her baton immediately after. Neo countered with an illusion, and Melody struck only a copy that shattered from her blow. Growling, the faunus ducked underneath another one of Neo's kicks, and to the mute criminal's surprise, Melody caught her leg. Grunting, the deer faunus flipped Neo over, but thankfully Neo managed to land on her free foot and twist away.
They both backed away for a few moments, both noting each other's heavy panting. 'This...isn't fair!' Neo internally growled. 'She's not supposed to be this good!'
The two were at it once again, twisting around the other's offenses yet failing to penetrate their defenses. 'I can't lose this,' Neo told herself. 'I have to make this bitch pay for what she did to Jaune!'
"I've heard about you," Melody said as she ducked underneath Neo's parasol. "The dangerous, mute assassin under Roman Torchwick's employ." She licked her lips. "I guess I was expecting...more."
Neo narrowed her eyes. 'Really? Fucking banter?' What did that cow think this was? A fucking comic book? She tried her best to ignore Melody's words, instead putting all her focus on the battle. 'I won't lose! This is for Jaune!'
"Do you really think he'd ever love someone like you?" Melody snarled. "A mute, murdering midget? I have him wrapped around my finger, he'll never be yours!"
'Shut up, shut up, shut up!'
"Oh don't worry," Melody chuckled, "once you're out of the picture, Jaune will be with a real woman. He'll be mine to control, mine to fuck..." She licked her lips. "Mine to break."
A fire raged inside Neo, and with a silent roar she increased her assault, not caring about her own defenses. Melody was going to die! She was going to get her fucking throat torn out! 'No one hurts Jaune!' Neo roared. 'No one!'
"Hey!" a new voice suddenly cried. "What do you think you're doing?!"
Melody shoved Neo away and turned to face their surprise visitor. Neo was about to charge again, until she saw who it was that stopped them. 'Is that...the bimbo?' Neo wondered, turning to get a better look.
It certainly was, the friend of Jaune's she saw during the first night she met the blonde. The one from Beacon...What was she doing here?
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the dagger fly from Melody's hand towards the Beacon student. When did she get that? Was it a back-up weapon supposed to finish her off? Neo's eyes widened as she realized how much danger Jaune's friend was in. Reacting quickly, she jumped in front of the girl and opened her parasol, blocking the blade and causing it to bounce away. When Neo lowered her parasol, Melody was gone.
'No!' she internally screamed. 'I can't let her get away!' She was about to run, when she suddenly felt someone grab her arm. She turned and saw Jaune's friend gripping her arm and keeping her in place.
"Let go!" Neo mouthed. "I can't let her get away!"
The bimbo tilted her head, before finally reading Neo's lips successfully. "Not until you tell me what this is all about." she said. "Are you the one who brought the grimm into the city?"
Neo didn't answer, she only continued to struggle.
The girl frowned. "I'm guessing that's a yes," she sighed. "Well, uh...Guess I gotta turn you in-"
Neo teleported out of the girl's grasp, then immediately gripped her shoulders. "You don't understand!" she mouthed. "That faunus hurt Jaune!"
The bimbo's eyes widened. "What?!" she gasped. "You know Jaune?!"
Neo didn't answer, she turned around and began running. 'I don't have time for this!' she growled.
"Wait!" the bimbo called. "How do you know Jaune! Wait for meeee!"
Neo continued to ignore the girl as she searched for Melody, but to avail. The faunus had disappeared. Neo fell to her knees and slammed her fist into the ground. 'Dammit!' she cursed. 'Dammit, dammit, dammit!'
The bimbo finally caught up, panting and resting her hands on her knees. She brought a hand up and gingerly rubbed her large breasts. "Owie..." she murmured, before glancing at Neo. "Please...tell me what's going on..."
Neo sighed and pulled out her scroll. After typing a message, she handed it to the girl. I'm the one that's been taking care of Jaune, my name's Neo. That faunus, Melody, had just raped Jaune, and had been doing it for awhile. I was trying to stop her, but she got away...
Neo hung her head in shame, angry at herself for not being able to put a permanent end to that whore.
She was surprised when a large bust pressed against her back, and two arms wrapped around her. "Thank you for taking care of him," the girl whispered. "Jaune got back to his old self because of you...and don't worry..." The arms squeezed. "We'll find that bitch and make her pay."
Neo nodded and squirmed out of the girl's grasp. The bimbo smiled and held her hand out. "My name's Nora," she introduced. "And any friend of Jaune's is a friend of mine."
Neo couldn't help but smile, and she happily shook Nora's hand.
Nora helped the mute criminal to her feet, then looked around. "I think more than anything, we should find out where Jaune is..." She tilted her head. "Would you know where he would be, Neo?"
Neo was about to shake her head, when suddenly a location did sprout in her mind. The place Jaune often found himself hanging out at one way or another: Junior's club. Nodding, she motioned for Nora to follow her, before turning around and heading off towards the direction of the club. She hoped that somehow, the grimm hadn't gotten this far into the city, and Jaune was safe and sound.
Melody's escape replayed in her mind, and Neo clenched her fist in frustration. 'I can't believe I let her get away,' she criticized herself. 'Dammit...'
This wasn't over between them, not by a long shot. One way or another, Neo would find the faunus and make her pay for hurting Jaune.
Finally, the two stopped at the entrance of Junior's club, and Neo felt her blood run cold. Obviously, the club was invaded by the grimm, judging from the scratch marks everywhere. Neo's breath quickened, and she pushed past the doors, fearing the worst. Nora was taken aback by Neo's panic, and worry churned in her gut. "Neo..?" she asked, voice trailing off.
Neo stopped inside, looking around. A pack of beowolves were here, she could see some of the remaining bodies vanishing. Junior's goons were nursing their wounds, but there was no sign of Jaune nor Junior. Nora trailed behind, eyes wide. "Whoa," she breathed. "I had no idea the grimm had already made it past all of us..." She caught her breath. "Wait...Where's Jaune?" She turned to Neo. "You led me here, that means this is where he'd be, right?"
Neo nodded, hardly able to breathe.
Nora grabbed Neo's shoulders. "Then where is he?!"
"He's in the back," the goon closest to them said. He walked towards them, wincing and pressing his hand into his side. "The kid was injured by the grimm, Junior took him to the back rooms to heal."
Nora and Neo shared a look, before sprinting towards the back of the bar. They vaulted over the counter top and threw the back door open, immediately entering the first room.
Junior glanced up at them. "It's about time you showed up," he said to Neo, stepping out of the way to let Neo past. "The kid's asleep now, but earlier he wouldn't shut up about you." He raised an eyebrow. "The hell's going on?"
Neo ignored him, slowly approaching the unconscious blonde. He had a gash on his forehead, poorly bandaged but enough to stop the bleeding. 'Jaune...' she thought, taking his hand in hers.
"Jaune..." Nora gasped, bringing a hand to her mouth. She shook her head and pulled out her scroll, dialing a number. Moments later, a voice answered.
"Nora, did you find him?"
"Yeah, Ruby," Nora replied. "He's unconscious but okay, I'll send you directions."
"'Kay, we'll all head over as soon as we finish off these grimm!"
Nora said goodbye and hung up. She bit her lip and glanced at Neo, eyes drifting towards the connected hands. Nora's expression softened and she gave the mute a knowing smile, before she stepped out of the room, dragging Junior by the tie. The door closed, and Neo smiled slightly. She turned back to Jaune and brushed her hand through his hair. 'Jaune...' She leaned down and gave his lips a quick kiss, before she laid herself down next to him and pulled the covers over them. Neo pressed herself against Jaune's side, wrapping her arms around him. She kissed his cheek before laying her head on his chest, taking comfort in the sound of the former knight's heartbeat.
Within minutes, she was asleep.
...
I'm gonna go deal with stress now! Don't forget to review! And remember, stay wykkyd!