Star Gazer: Sorry for not replying on your comment. The thing is I had no idea what Grimm Eclipse was so I was busy searching around for a brief summary. I learned that while it is canon, it happens between volume 2 and 3. The problem is that I am thinking to insert there the first arc I planned for so long (remember when I said that I created two of those?). One of the solutions is going through Grimm Eclipse arc first and then the planned one before finally going to volume 3. I need to think about Volume 2 canon first plus some side chapters involving our recent friends.

TL;DR: Maybe yes, maybe no. Depends.

kerrowe: The Shield is wrecked and needs to be repaired/upgraded, yes. I don't understand the second question. No, he has no backup.


It was good being in a body.

A human body.

Perception. Intelligence. Emotions. Memories.

All of it.

He could feel all of it.

It's dark in here. Left alone in a room. Darkness. Silence. Left to scratch at the walls, calling for them, begging them to let you out. Yes. We share the same past. Betrayed by those we loved the most. Let me know you better.

...Huntsmen.

...Beacon.

...Teammates.

...Him.

Hatred.

For him?

Yes.

Why?

Wronged me.

Why?

No one wrongs me.

I asked you why? Let me see.

...

Ah. He has freedom. Talk freely, move freely, live freely... no... respect... It's all about respect.

...

I see. You have to fear him no more.

I am not afraid! Never was!

Don't lie to me. I know you. I am part of you now. Accept it.

...I want him dead.

A laugh.

Many do.

...

Yes. I can sense him. Very close. Hmm... Someone's coming.

Hm?

"Hey, Cardin!"

"Yo, man! Where the heck were you?"

Teammates. Team CRDL. Your allies.

Traitors.

Even traitors are useful. Let me show you.

"Dove? Sky? What are you two doing here?"

The two looked at each other.

"Uh, we were looking for you? Like, you... ran."

"Yes. I know."

"Um... great. So, uh, we need to go."

"Why?"

"What you mean why? Goodwitch, man. Wanna make her mad?"

Goodwitch. Professor at Beacon. Need to know more. But first...

"Also, where were you?"

"Oh, you know. Walking... exploring..."

"Huh?"

Cardin sighed, "Enough."

Suddenly, the leader of team CRDL raised both of his hands and pointed them towards the duo.

"Um... what are you doing?"

A vertical cut appeared in each of the palms, separating the skin and exposing the flesh. Two spheres made of dark crimson substance shot out from the wounds. Dove was hit in the face while Sky in the chest. They had no time to respond as the strange substance rapidly formed a thick layer around their bodies.

Hungry. And thirsty.

With the index finger pointing at himself, Cardin made the two cocoons fuse together only to throw themselves back at their owner's chest, enveloping him as it did with the duo.

The shapeless, crimson mass started twisting and contorting and emitting alien moans, grunts and screeches. This disturbing process continued until the mass started retaking humanoid shapes. To an observer's eye, this scene would be eerily close to that of clay modelling. First there were the basics such as four limbs, a torso and a head. Then five long, bony fingers with long, red, sharp nails. A large mouth with two rows of sharp teeth. Two orange eyes shaped like fire drawn on a piece of paper. Abnormal muscles and dozens of different tendrils placed randomly all over the body. Blackened parts of the skin were shaped to resemble the human circulatory system.

Do you feel that power? Good. Inhale it. Taste it. Hear it. For it will be the cause of Braylon's downfall... and your uprise in power.

It feels... good.

I know it does. Move now. Let's find him. He is close. Use your powers. Gain some familiarity with them. They are yours now.

The alien crouched, aiming for a nearby tree. It jumped with such efficiency and power, that no human or Faunus, no matter how athletic or skilled in Aura manipulation they are, could perform such feat. It climbed, swang and jumped like a predator hunting its prey. Braylon was reached for just few minutes. He was leaning on a tree, unconscious. The alien crouched.

"Well, well, well. Looks like our beauty needs some sleep.", it said before grabbing Braylon by the throat and lifting him up, "Where are your allies now, hm?! Where are those who wished for our separation?! Where are they?! Talk! Argh... wait."

Ah... ah... Ruby Rose... team RWBBY... Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, Yang Xiao Long... and then you... also, team JNPR... close... friends... new allies. A threat.

"We will be close once again. You have my word. But this time I will take some measures. Starting from them."


"Good job, Jaune!"

"Thanks Pyrrha."

The blond knight did it. He really did it. He killed an Ursa by himself. Without anyone helping him. Not Pyrrha. Not Ruby. He himself. To protect his friends, he would do this and else.

Jaune turned around. Ruby was cheerful, as always, Weiss was rather stoic (damn it) and Pyrrha... she was beaming. That was the first time he saw her smiling like that.

It kinda freaked him out. Just a bit.

He then noticed how the girls quickly changed their expressions when they saw something behind him. He turned around and, dear god, there was Cardin. But he wasn't alone. He carried an unconscious Braylon. His school uniform was ruined and he had blood on his face. What happened to him?

"Braylon!" Ruby yelled as he heard someone gasp.

"What did you do to him?!" Asked Weiss.

"Me? Absolutely nothing. I found him laying on the ground so I brought him back here."

That... was kinda weird, Jaune thought. Cardin, a bully, helped someone. Jaune quickly dropped his puzzled look and changed it for a frown.

"Let him go Cardin."

"Sure." He smiled as he placed Braylon on the ground.

"What did you do to him?"

"Didn't I say it already?"

"You are not trustworthy."

"Really? Well, you better believe me, Jauney boy. I mean, just because you and I are not friends, it doesn't mean I cannot be best buds with Braylon."

"Sure, sure. You are "best buds" just like you were with me?"

"Of course not. We are actual friends."

"I never saw him talk to you before..."

"Do you need to see everything, Schnee?"

Jaune noted how Pyrrha didn't really do anything to help. As if she held a grudge against Braylon.

"Are we going to stand here and wait for him to die or what?"

"Professor Goodwitch should come any second now."

The knight was angry. He really didn't trust Cardin. How could he? So he walked up to him and stared him in the eyes.

"Don't ever mess with my team, my friends, ever again. Got it?"

Cardin chuckled as if he just told a good joke.

"Sure, no problem. No problem at all."

He made such a creepy smile that June would probably pee in his pants if it weren't for the adrenaline he got from killing that Ursa.

"I'm serious."

"So am I."

He couldn't explain why, but there was something wrong when he looked Cardin in the eyes. As if the person speaking was not Cardin himself but rather an imposter disguised as him. Okay, going to conspiracy theory levels here.

Thankfully the scrolls buzzed.

Beep... beep...

Braylon grunted as he opened his eyes.

"Hmmm... what..."

Beep... beep...

He slowly moved his head to the left. From the looks of it, he was in a hospital room. But who brought him here? Shouldn't he be in the forest?

"You are awake."

Braylon immediately turned his head towards the source of the voice. There sat the headmaster, sipping coffe from his trusty mug. Kinda irritating.

"Where am I?"

"At Beacon. Thanks to your friends, we were able to take you back to the academy before something worse happened."

"Puah! It takes more than... simple injuries to kill me."

"I'm glad to know that. But you were in a near-death state. If we waited just a little longer, you would be dead."

"About time."

"Internal bleeding, broken bones... according to the doctors, you should stay in that bed for at least a month. And yet you healed completely in one day."

"Hmpf. Doctors are idiots. That or they never heard of me. Both."

"It isn't nice spitting on the hand that feeds you."

"Yeah... too bad no hand feeds me whatsoever. Actually, the only hand that ever gave me food was mine and mine alone."

"And what about your friends?"

"They are no friends of mine."

"If they are not your friends, then why did they help you? They could have just leave you in the forest."

"Fuck if I know. Should I care if someone decides to go braindead?"

Braylon touched his chest. His eyes widened and he started searching around for something.

"Looking for this?" Ozpin said as took out the pendant locked inside a small plastic box and placed it on a nearby table.

He didn't respond.

"Braylon.", Ozpin adjusted his glasses, "I don't know what this is, but I can tell you that this thing is dangerous."

"No shit."

"Miss Rose saw it fall away from your body when you were placed in the Bullhead. As soon as she took it in her hands, she started feeling sick. To the point that she almost lost her consciousness from the pain she felt. At least, that's what she told us. Interestingly, the pendant was glowing as if it reacted in some way with her. Nevertheless, she swore she would give it back to you."

Braylon reached for the box, broke it and took the pendant, storing it quickly in his PDA. He then got up and took the school uniform that was on the table.

"Would you care to explain how were you able to heal so fast? Even with Aura, such fast healing process is unheard of."

"I have no reason to share such information with you or anyone else. You have your methods. I have mine."

"Braylon, we are not your enemies. Being distrustful is not healthy."

"Neither are alcohol, cigarettes or drugs. Yet people use them anyways. Now excuse me, but I have important stuff to do. One of them, is stuffing my stomach with food. See you around Ozzy."


Their table was awkwardly quiet. JNPR and the girls from RWBBY stood in silence as they watched Braylon eating three plates filled with cakes, cookies and other sugary things.

"You shouldn't eat all of that. It's not good for you." Weiss scolded.

"There is not much difference between all of this and that apple you have."

"What do you mean?" The red leader asked as she ate her cookies.

"Hmph. If that is a real apple then I am the Pope."

"Who?"

"Not important."

"Nonsense!", the heiress snapped, "This is an organic product! Are you saying that I am bringing plastic fruits with me?"

Everyone, except Braylon, chuckled at that.

"Nothing is organic. Nearly everything real is gone. What you have there is a ball of animal hormones disguised as an apple. Just like the meat that Arc is eating right now."

The knight in question looked at his food and then slowly moved it away.

"...Excuse me?"

"You seriously think that an organic apple can be that big and that perfect? Did you ever touched the skin of that apple? Feels weird, right? That's because it is coated in a special wax to make it look so shiny under the lights. Same thing with everything else. Fish that grows twice as fast. Peas stuffed with estrogen and many other delicious things. But what the fuck do I know? I am not a scientist. Listen them instead. Surely they are omnibenevolent and pure and always speak the truth. Details are not important. Say something against them and you are labelled as a heretic. And the best thing of it all? Every single part of it happens under the eyes of corporate thieves who get greedier and greedier."

All the time he was looking at Weiss, who immediately realized he was talking about her and people like her. She was angry, not because he said what he said but because he implied that she and her family are like that too. Meanwhile, others looked at each other in confusion.

"Just imagine. A planet, with billions of humans consuming tons and tons of this garbage, unsure what are they eating exactly because they cannot rely on visual clues anymore. And then, there are this governments who approve such methods. Of course, they were never meant for the people, but why? Why governments allow such things? Easy. They allow it as long as they get part of the profit. Possibly because it is broke and cannot fulfill the needs of its population... or because politicians are legal thieves too. Mostly the latter. There are also lobbyists..."

"Even if it's true, what do I have to do with such unethical matters?"

Ruby gasped, "Braylon! Are you accusing Weiss?! What did she do?!"

"She is the daughter of one such corporate thief. That is enough to make her life worthless."

"Care to explain what did I, or my family for that matter, ever do to you?"

"Me? Nothing in particular. But why don't you ask that same question to your workforce? See if you would get the same answer from them as you did from me."

At those words, the heiress's frown softened a bit. Not that he cared.

"Let me explain myself, Schnee. The first chance I get, I will make your life as painful as possible."

In all honesty, he had no reason to wait for it because he already got the chance when he blew up that Institute. The damage was so astronomical that even the SDC suffered from it. In one night the company's stocks plummeted so low that other adversaries almost ripped it to shreds. Rumor has it that both the SDC and Atlas are in a huge economic crisis, with many people suddenly loosing jobs, houses and reasons to live. Not one man or woman on Remnant knows how or why Atlas hasn't still fallen into anarchy. Plot I guess, I mean, moving on.

"Is that a threat? Are you threatening me?"

"No. A threat is something you say to someone to cause intimidation. This is a promise."

She raised from her seat, "You do that, and I will have your head."

To piss her off even more, he sent few kisses her way. She was so angry that she took everything she had and went away. There was some awkward silence before Yang spoke up.

"You... didn't really mean that, did you?"

He smiled, "What do you think?"

She was baffled, "Why would you do such a thing?"

"I told you already."

"So? Just because she is a rich daddy's girl?"

"Do you know the labor conditions of the Schnee Dust Company, blondie? They live to work. Not the other way around. Then of course you have the retards who will go as far as to defend the Company by brining bullshit and straw arguments to the table. But I guess that's how humanity works. Humans see what they want to see, hear what they want to hear and speak what they want to speak. To quote, "If liberty means anything at all, it means to the right to tell the people what they don't want to hear.""

"Since when do you care about the Faunus?" Blake asked but Yang interrupted her.

"...Yup, it's official. You are going to therapy. Even if I have to drag you there."

"And Jaune? Don't think that I have forgotten what you tried to do back there. I don't wanna hear it. You will get your ass kicked for that."

Jaune wanted to magically disappear behind Pyrrha, who frowned as did the other duo.

"Hey, there is no reason to treat him like that. He wants to apologize, right Jaune?"

"Y-yes..."

"Not that he has to!", the ginger butted in, "You left instead of helping him."

"So? Not my problem if he is an idiot!"

"Braylon!"

"You know what?", Pyrrha suddenly spoke, "Why don't you and I decide who was right in the arena, today?"

"Well that's a surprise. Jaune, a man, a team leader, has to let a woman, a second in command, solve his problems for him. What happened? Your balls dropped off?", he laughed while whole JNPR became angry, "But you know what? Why don't we turn this shit up to eleven? Today, me, alone, against your whole team, a quartet of monkeys."

"Wow. Someone has high opinion of themselves." Yang muttered.

The leader of JNPR became extremely pale when he heard Braylon's offer, he was about to decline politely when his three teammates betrayed him.

"Challenge accepted!"

"WHAT?!"

"Perfect.", the Vault Hunter smirked, "You better prepare yourselves. I'm like nothing you ever faced before. Team JNPR will humiliate itself today."

He got up, not even bothering to take away the plates or finish his meal, and went out.

"I am really tempted to break his legs." Pyrrha sighed in irritation.

"Let me join you!" Nora yelled angrily.

"I don't think standing next to him is a good idea.", Ren commented, "He has bad influence."

"We are so dead." Jaune slammed his head on the table.