Chapter 6: Into the Emerald Forest
…
RWBY Volume 7 is out and finished. The hiatus is starting! HOLY CRAP that was an amazing Volume finale and cliffhanger, I absolutely LOVED the end song, "Fear". Thank you CRWBY for the amazing Volume and for all of the improvements you have been able to make this year! Good luck and KEEP MOVING FORWARD!
Warning: blood, gore, character death, horror, mentions of rape.
Weiss was in shock. She looked down at her two large suitcases and set them down. The Princess of Atlas opened her suitcase and took out her white backpack, stuffing random clothing and Dust into her pack. Then the teenager ran to the cliff-side.
Looking down over the edge of the large forest below her, she gulped. Weiss hadn't even fought a Grimm before coming to Beacon University. Weiss didn't know the first thing about living out in the wilderness, she didn't know how to survive on her own, she was a Princess for the Gods' sake!
Weiss shook her head, 'No, it doesn't matter. I need to pass the Initiation and get into this Kingdom University. I have to!' Weiss thought as she gripped her rapier in her left hand. Channeling her Semblance into her sword, since Weiss didn't have great control over it yet, she used her sword as a conduit.
Weiss activated her light blue Aura around her body and breathed deeply to concentrate and center herself. She used two sets of Glyphs to get down the cliff, Platform Glyphs (light purple) and Jump Glyphs (light pink). She landed on the forest floor and looked around, watching the trees and shadows so she wouldn't be caught off guard by any of the other initiates or Grimm.
Unfortunately, that's exactly what happened.
Maniac laughter filled Weiss' ears as something comes crashing down from above her. It was a girl with purple fanned hair and light red eyes. "Schnee, well, aren't I lucky." The girl laughed as Weiss tensed and prepared to fight.
"Who are you?" Weiss asked the crazy girl.
She didn't say anything, just attacked the white haired Princess. Weiss shrieked as she blocked the talons coming at her face. The red-eyed girl grinned as she activated her Aura and kicked Weiss in her stomach, blowing her back into the cluster of trees near the base of the cliffs.
Weiss coughed and gasped at the powerful kick. She didn't know who this girl was, but she was going to die if she didn't find a way out of this fight. Activating her Aura around herself, Weiss waved her arm and spears of ice shot out toward the girl who was attacking her.
The purple haired girl's eyes widen in shock and jumped back, trying to escape the ice, but she was blocked off from Weiss. Flicking her wrist, Weiss summoned up white Speed Glyphs and dashed across, away from the crazy girl.
A Beowolf broke her concentration on her Semblance and Weiss pitched forward, as the Beowolf swiped its claws at her. Narrowing her eyes, she flicked her wrist toward the Grimm and froze the monster solid. Spearing it through the chest, it disintegrated into black smoke, its shoulder bone-plates falling onto the ground with a dull thud.
"I need to recharge." Weiss said, panting and leaning on her sword. Closing her eyes, the Princess used the breathing techniques that Winter had taught her.
"It's a really bad idea for you to not be aware in a Grimm-infested forest." A female voice said from in front of Weiss.
The white haired girl gasped and snapped her eyes open to see two people in front of her, watching what she would do.
"Who are you two?" Weiss asked the two girls.
"I'm Yang, this is my partner Ruby." The blonde said. The dual-haired girl nodded to her, a staff in her hands.
"Weiss Schnee." She introduced.
"We know." Ruby said, looking her up and down. Weiss bristled but didn't reprimand the red and black dressed girl.
"Can you fight?" Yang asked.
"Yes, I can." Weiss said confidently.
"Good, then let's go. We know what we have to do to pass the Initiation." Yang said.
"And what would that be?" Weiss asked, she took the tip of her rapier out of the dirt and followed behind the two partners.
"Teamwork." Yang said simply.
"What? Teamwork, that can't just be it." Weiss said.
"One part is about teamwork, the other part… we haven't figured that all out, but we know it has to do with teams of four people." Ruby said, as she gripped her staff and pressed one of the buttons on the shaft, the red one.
Yang and Ruby fought Grimm left and right, stumbling into a pack of Ursai and three packs of Beowolves. It was not a fun experience killing that many Grimm in such a small amount of time.
"I think… that the Headmaster is trying to kill a lot of the initiates." Ruby said, leaning on her staff.
"Why do you say that?" Yang asked, not even slightly winded.
"Packs of Grimm congregating where partners, teams and, individuals are? That's not normal; it's like a pack mentality type thing." Ruby said.
Yang looked at her sister in confusion. "How…?"
"Different Grimm uses a different form of communication. Similar to animals, some Grimm are said to be the mutated versions of some animals. There are some theories that say that Ursai and Beowolves come from bears and wolves respectfully. Grimm Science isn't exact since the Grimm evaporate into black smoke after being killed, and the only thing left are their bone-plates." Ruby told her sister.
"And where did you read that from, Rubes?" Yang asked, impressed by her sister's knowledge.
"It was to get Dad off my back. I figured picking a hobby involving Grimm and Hunters would get him to back off for a bit. It worked, until this year when he kept pressuring me to start thinking about the weapon I wanted." Ruby said, shrugging.
"I'm sorry, Rubes. Dad has no right forcing you into this. It's not what you want." Yang said.
"Maybe not, but I'm stuck in this job until I either die or am able to get out and retire." Ruby said, continuing to walk through the Emerald Forest.
Yang winced at Ruby's dismissive and harsh tone. 'Shit, I really need to talk to Dad the first chance I get. I gotta somehow get Ruby out of this, especially because of Ozpin. I don't trust him as far as I can throw him.'
Ruby broke Yang out of her thoughts by putting a hand on her shoulder. Looking at her younger sister, she saw a hand go to her mouth. Yang nodded, and went around a small cluster of trees.
Ruby crept forward to see whatever it was she felt. It was a girl, a white haired girl, leaning on a rapier. "It's a really bad idea for you to not be aware in a Grimm-infested forest."
The white haired girl gasped and snapped her eyes open, watching them with a guarded expression, her light blue eyes narrowed.
Blake needed to find a partner and a team. But where would she find that in a Grimm-filled forest? That was the 10,000 Lien question.
Blake jumped through the trees and killed the Grimm that she saw on the ground, mostly Beowolves and Ursai. The Cat Faunus saw the bloody remains of Grimm bone-plates and sun-baked corpses of the other initiates. Gulping and shaking her head, she moved away from the bodies of the other dead students, trying to get the smell out of her nose.
Blake jumped down the tree she was perched in and hissed in pain, she still felt the residual pain from her sprained ankle, even though her Aura was slowly healing it. She knew that Aura Healers were extremely rare, and the only Aura Healers were Aura Sages or those with specific healing Semblances. Aura Sages are so rare that the number of people who have the necessary type of Aura are fewer than the people that have Elemental Semblances.
Breathing through her mouth and holding up Gambol Shroud's Gun-Shift, pistol form, Blake closed her eyes and tried to focus on something other than the pain she was feeling all down her leg.
Her ear twitched a bit, and she quickly made a Shadow and shot out a bullet of Fire Dust at the shimmer of Aura she saw.
A scream ripped out of the boy who had just appeared. He dropped the person on his back, which Blake didn't see until the Mohawk haired boy dropped to one knee, holding his side. Even with his Aura activated and his Semblance, Russel was discovered. When he looked up at his assailant he noticed the cat ears on her head. Her amber eyes narrowed at him dangerously.
"Wait! We mean you no harm, please! My partner is hurt." The blonde-green haired boy pleaded with Blake.
"Why should I believe you? He could be faking it." Blake hissed.
"Why would he be faking? His ears are damaged from his Semblance. We were fighting two upperclassmen and he had to do something drastic. He's been unconscious for hours. Please, I doubt I could defeat you and protect him by myself." Russel said.
"What's your name?" Blake asked the boy.
"Russel, his is Sky. What about you?" Russel asked the Cat Faunus.
"Blake. Come on; let's get him into that cave." Blake said, pointing out the cave that Russel had missed and probably wouldn't have stopped at.
Blake helped heave Sky up and together the two dragged him into the cave. However, they didn't get far when they saw what awaited them inside.
Blake gasped and gagged at the horrible display in the cave, dropping Sky in the process of slapping a hand over her mouth and nose and running out of the cave, leaving Russel struggling with holding up Sky. Collapsing onto her knees, Blake vomited up her meager breakfast and dry heaved for a few minutes before wiping her mouth with the back of hand, she wiped the vomit on her hand on the ground.
Grunting and stumbling back up, she glanced back at the cave. Blake really didn't want to go back into that cave, but she need to. She breathed in a deep breath of fresh air before going back in. Her night vision helping her find Russel and Sky.
"I'm sorry. I was just surprised." Blake whispered to Russel.
He waved her off. "It's fine. This would get anyone, even veteran Hunters probably. Don't worry about it. Do you want to get out of here?" Russel asked, looking around and shuddering. He was glad that
The inside of the cave was splattered in so much blood, that even if the corpses have decomposed over years, it was still horrifying to see. The gnawed on bones of the past initiates and decomposing corpses, broken weapons, and a small Grimm Spawning Pool.
"What is that?" Blake whispered as she pointed to the bubbling mass of black ooze.
"That's a Grimm Spawning Pool. We need to get out of here. Now." Russel said, his voice strained with fear.
The two teenagers grabbed the comatose boy and ran out of the cave. The two tried to find somewhere else to go and rest. Russel, Blake, and an unconscious Sky walked cautiously through the Emerald Forest, glancing every which way to see if they could spot another cave, Grimm, or any of the other initiates.
The two teens found a small outcropping of boulders and slabs of stone near the base of a large rock face, they set Sky down and collapsed on the ground themselves. Both needing to rest after the trek from the cave to the outcropping.
"So what do we do now?" Russel asked Blake, looking every so often at his partner.
"The objective of the Initiation is teamwork. We need to find another person or spit up and find other people to team up with." Blake said.
"I got some advice from an upperclassman that Sky and I were fighting before you found us." Russel said, that got Blake's attention quickly. "She said not to try hunting the Grimm or finding the relics at night. Violet said that's basically a death sentence." Russel told the Cat Faunus.
"Lovely. What do we do about the Grimm Spawning Pool?" Blake asked.
"What do you expect to do with it?" The Mohawk haired boy asked, glancing worriedly at her.
"I figure we would destroy it." Blake said nonchalantly.
Russel had heard some crazy ideas before, hell he's participated in some of the more out-there schemes his friends had come up with in Vacuo, but what Blake was suggesting… that was damn madness!
"You're insane! We can't take on a Grimm Spawning Pool! We would need a team of – at least – two Fourth-Year teams and a professor to take it down properly, even if it is a small one!" Russel said harshly.
"We don't have that." Blake said, and then sighed. "Why is it so dangerous that we try? It's not night." Blake asked the other teen.
Russel shook his head, "The reason it's so dangerous to take on a Grimm Spawning Pool by ourselves and without a professor or other teams with us, is simple. The harder you come at a Spawning Pool, the more Grimm come out and try and kill you. We would be dead before we could even make a sizable dent in it to destroy it. More than that, we would need to blow it up, taking the cave with it and possibly creating a crater or sinkhole in the middle of the Emerald Forest, and I don't think the Headmaster or any of the professors would appreciate that."
The Cat Faunus looked at him with disturbed shock. "How do you know all of this?"
"Grew up in Vacuo, it may be basically lawless in terms of a govermen' but there are multiple Grimm Spawning Pools that are small at first, but can grow into monstrosities, a Spawning Pool completely overran one of the only non-nomadic villages that we had. It was a tradin' post for nomads to trade and rest at. Couple of my friends died." Russel shared.
"I… I'm sorry for your loss, Russel, truly." Blake whispered.
"'s fine, Blake." He waved her off.
The three of them rested in the small outcropping that they had found, Blake taking first watch so as to let Russel get some sleep. She made sure to keep an eye on Sky to see if he would wake up soon, she hoped so.
Cardin was scared out of his mind. He was following a boy he barely knew down a huge cliff. Dove went at a slow pace to accommodate Cardin, and when he looked up, he sighed. 'Cardin may be strong physically, but mentally… he'll get himself and whoever his team is killed. That is if he makes it through Initiation.'
The two teenage boys finally got down the cliffs after three hours of bouldering. Cardin was a mess when he and Dove finally made it back onto solid ground. The burnt-orange haired teen panted heavily and hugged himself to try and calm his racing heart and bring feeling back to his arms and legs. It didn't really work out for him.
Dove, on the other hand, didn't need much of a rest since he rock climbs for fun whenever he has the chance. "Come on, we need to get going. We've wasted enough time getting down." Dove commanded.
Cardin picked up his head and looked at Dove with a dazed expression. "I gotta take a break." He said in between pants.
"We can't. We don't want to get stuck out in the forest at night, its better if we get going now and find some other people to meet up with. A bigger group will be better if we encounter a large pack of Grimm, and if we get stuck out in the open when night falls, we'll be sitting ducks for the Grimm. They become more active at night. So come on, get up or I'm leaving you here." Dove said in an annoyed tone.
Cardin grunted, trying to get up. Grabbing his mace from his holster on his belt he followed the more experienced boy through the forest and away from Beacon Cliffs. Cardin had never fought a Grimm before, he didn't know what the hell he was thinking about being a Hunter, he didn't what the job even entailed and he is now stupidly going through a Grimm-infested forest.
He wanted to get away from his family and their business; he thought becoming a Hunter would help with that. Nope! His plan fell apart when the Headmaster of this crazy university decided to have them go into a forest filled with Grimm for three days and find relics. Where the hell would they even start looking?! The man didn't even give them a single clue!
Cardin's negative thoughts brought the Grimm down upon him and Dove.
"Shit!" Dove swore, as he leapt to the side to avoid a swipe from the claws of an Ursa. "What the fuck are you doing?! Fight you idiot!" Dove shouted at his temporary partner. Even if Dove's weapon was utter shit, it was still able to handle some Grimm, mainly the smaller, weaker ones. But if push comes to shove, he could just use hand-to-hand. Though there was a risk of losing a hand, but he didn't really have much choice, he didn't have a lot of money to make his weapon and found a lot of the parts in scrapyards and the local junkyard.
Dove also didn't have much Aura, neither did Cardin, apparently. But that didn't really matter, not right now when they were both in the thick of fighting a pack of Ursai. Which, in Dove's opinion, was just really irritating.
Gripping Umbria, Dove charged at the Ursa that was attacking him. Dove ran and dropped down to his knees, slashing horizontally through the Ursa's legs and taking them out from under it. Cardin was trying to fight another Ursa, but was failing… miserably. Dove flipped his sword in his hand and stabbed the Bear-Grimm through its neck, severing it and decapitating the monster.
The brown haired teenager ran to help his partner; he truly hoped that Cardin would have been more competent, but that didn't happen. 'Oh for fucks sake!' Dove growled and jumped off of the ground, swinging Umbria downward, it connected with the Ursa's back. The Grimm roared in pain and stumbled forward, landing on top of Cardin, who was too shocked and frozen to move out of the way.
He was crushed by the dying Grimm, his Aura shattering. Cardin screamed in pain as his yellow-rust colored Aura shattered like glass. Dove's Aura flickered around his body, a brown-tan color, deactivating it; the brown haired teen looked down at his partner.
"You're fucking stupid." Dove said sternly without an ounce of regret for his partner.
"You're a dick! Fucking help me!" He screamed, trying to get up, but failing because his broken arm. And since he didn't have any Aura, he couldn't heal himself.
'You've gotta be kidding me. How the hell did I get stuck with an idiot for a partner?' Dove thought, cursing the Brother Gods. "Use your other arm, idiot. For the Gods' sake, just get up and stop complaining. You're Aura just broke, and since you have a broken arm, you won't be able to heal it until your Aura is fully restored, which could take up to a week. That arm will be useless for the next few weeks. That is, if we survive the next few days in this shitty forest." Dove said, walking away from his partner.
Nora and Ren traveled efficiently through the Emerald Forest. The two childhood friends killed Grimm systematically and almost clinically. Ren didn't waste any time killing the Grimm he sensed that would have ambushed Nora. He took care of the more… elusive Grimm. While Nora took care of killing the Alphas they encountered and the larger packs, Ren only going to attack when he saw that Nora was about to be overwhelmed.
"Good job, you're getting better." Ren commented before he tackled Nora to the hard ground.
A burst of Lightning Dust bullets struck the point where Nora's head was just a moment ago. He whispered in Nora's ear, "Two Humans. Male and female. One has a lot of Aura, the male I think."
Nora nodded, narrowing her teal eyes and growling silently. No one attacked Ren while Nora still breathed. True, whoever was shooting at them, was aiming at her, but the point still stood. Touch Ren, and Nora wouldn't hesitate to kill whoever it is that hurt her best friend and the boy who saved her life.
Slowly and quietly getting up, she waddled onto her knees and then bounced up a bit, making sure to stay low. Ren put a hand on her shoulder and closed his eyes. Both of them started to become dull like all of the color was being drained out of them.
Ren's Semblance, which they had named: Transcendence. They still didn't know its fully capabilities, but what they did know, was that it could hide them from the Grimm and from Humans and Faunus, even with the Faunus' advanced senses. It could also help Ren sense if anyone was around him, though he doesn't know the limits of that power, distance wise.
Unwrapping the sting she had in her pocket, Nora crept forward, making sure that both ends of the string were tightly wrapped around their wrists, so that Ren's Semblance could keep being active around Nora.
"Okay, I'm ready." Nora whispered. Ren nodded and gave her a small smile. She returned it and booped him on his nose.
Waddling on the balls of her feet was a bit difficult for Nora to do quietly, but she managed. Creeping forward toward the area she figured that the two people were at, the orange haired girl grinned darkly.
'If you try and hurt Ren, you deserve no mercy.' Nora thought darkly. Nora would not lose the only person she valued and loved. The teal-eyed teen stopped when she heard voices. A male and a female, just like Ren said. Her grin stretched a bit wider.
But she didn't attack; Nora frowned hearing the female's voice. 'Shit! I can't attack now. That's Pyrrha. Ren said that she was hiding something, but that she was a good person. I can't kill her, or hurt her. Not her partner either, if they were partners. Damn it.'
She stood up, and sighed, though she put on her bubbly smile. It wasn't fake, per say, but she was really looking forward to getting to see if the other initiates could match her in raw strength. Even without her Semblance or her Aura augmenting her physical strength, Nora was still really strong.
Nora tugged hard on the string, telling Ren to release it. After a few more tugs back and forth, the string slid on the dirt ground. The redhead rolled it up and put it in her pocket.
"Hi!" She said happily. The two other initiates startled badly and spun around, aiming their weapons at Nora. She didn't blink, just tilted her head a bit to the side. She wasn't afraid, she knew that they couldn't kill her, and even if they got close, Ren would kill them ruthlessly for them hurting her.
"Nora!" Pyrrha shrieked. The boy with her, bright blond hair and dark blue eyes looked at Nora like she had just sprouted another head.
"I'm Nora. Who are you? And who shot me?" Nora asked, looking between the two, but lingering more on Jaune.
"I'm Jaune… Uh… I don't know how to answer your second question." Juane said.
Nora hummed and then turned to look at the tall redhead. She had a guilty look on her face. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to hurt you! Are you okay? Do you have a partner?" Pyrrha asked all of this in rapid succession but Nora was able to follow it.
"Yes and Yes. It's Ren. Ren! You can come out, it's Pyrrha and a blond named Janue. You were right!" Nora shouted behind her. Without so much as a sound, Ren stepped through the undergrowth of the forest and came up to Nora, Pyrrha, and Jaune.
"Who-" Jaune tried to ask. He didn't get the chance.
"I'm Ren, this is Nora. Pleased to meet you, sorry for scaring you." Ren apologized.
"It's fine. No harm done." Pyrrha smiled. Ren nodded to her and then turned to Jaune.
"Uh… I'm Jaune Arc! Sorry, I didn't mean to be rude." Jaune said, hoping his teammates wouldn't hate him. But it wouldn't be the first time, so he wasn't really holding out hope.
Ren's eyes widen just a fraction, but Nora caught in and then wiped her head to stare at Jaune with dark teal eyes. Before Nora could do anything, Ren clamps his hand down onto her shoulder in a vice grip.
"No." He said with authority. Nora backed down immediately and looked at her friend.
"Where to?" She asked.
"Follow me; I know the general area and direction of the relics." Ren said, leading the three others with him deeper into the forest.
Jaune back flipped and free fell through the air. He was crazy, there was no denying that, but it was certainly fun. It was way more fun than riding in any form of transportation. He knew he would need to get rid of his motion sickness, fast. But he didn't know how to do that without getting a tolerance and resistance to motion sickness medicine.
Landing in a crouch, he smiled. He may not know a lot about Aura, but he knew he had a whole fucking lot of it. Surprisingly enough, he found that out when he was travelling through Anima. He was ambushed by bandits. The only reason he's alive is thanks to his massive amount of Aura.
The woman he had to fight to get away with his life and what meager belongings he had was extremely tough and powerful.
…
It had only been a few weeks since he had left home to become a Hunter. He was in the wilds of Anima, and was slowly coming to regret his choice of leaving home, but he couldn't go home. If he did, he would be killed.
His father would not welcome him back; Jaune had stolen the family weapons, more than that, because he was the only son born into the Arc family this generation he would have to fight his father to the death should he ever show his face to his family ever again. He didn't know if his mother and father would have another child, trying for a son or not, but he hoped that his father wouldn't try and marry off his sisters.
That… that would break Jaune if he found out that his sisters had been sold off and treated like cattle. He wouldn't know what he would do to his father if he found that his sisters had been hurt by his decision. He knew it was selfish, but he couldn't keep living like the way he had been.
His father had trained him for two years, from his third birthday to his fifth birthday. That was how it went in their family. Since the Arc Family was such an old family, their lineage could be traced back to before the Great War. Males start training to become Hunters at age three; they have to unlock their Aura's and Semblances on their own by their fifth birthday.
If not, they are considered a failure and are usually cast out of the main family line, but since Jaune was the only male that his father had, he was still in the main line to inherit. Unfortunately, since he had stolen from the family and disregarded his duties… he was no longer an Arc.
The females in the Arc family started training at age five. If the girls didn't unlock their Aura's and Semblances by age eight, they were set to… other duties in the family. Those of which Jaune didn't want to think about. He hoped his younger sisters were okay. He hoped his older ones were safe, and he prayed that Saphron was alive and enjoying her life and freedom.
Jaune wanted to find her one day, and possibly reconnect. He hoped she would be proud of him, going against the family. He knew that she had rebelled and was practically disowned when she came out to their parents, saying that she was a lesbian. It was funny to him, remembering their shocked and horrified expressions. But that was before the horrible yelling, screaming, and sobbing started.
That night, Saphron left home, only saying goodbye to him, and passing on her scroll number to him so should he need her, she was available.
After Jaune left, he tried to find a village to stay at, maybe offer his services to defend the village from Grimm, but that didn't happen. He stumbled on something horrific.
The village he had been planning on resting at for a few days was overrun with Grimm. He saw people fighting, but not having enough time to really check if the people fighting back the Grimm were the villagers or other people, official Hunters.
What he found was, no, the people killing the Grimm were not a part of the village. They were the reason it was destroyed in the first place. Bandits had come in the night, raping and killing. The able-bodied men were captured and forced to decide their fate, join the bandits or die by either the sword or the Grimm. Many chose to die, but some, Jaune didn't know if they were the unlucky ones or the lucky ones, chose to join the bandits.
As he was beating back the Grimm that were killing both villager and bandit alike, he realized that, the bandits weren't the normal ones that would usually come out and loot. These bandits knew to come at night to cause the most panic; they had a system to who was kept alive and who died.
A woman came out of nowhere and attacked fiercely. She was like a wild animal. The woman had a mane of black hair and a Grimm mask on that seemed to make her eyes red. An angry snarl on her face as she fought him. He was sloppy, trying to block her, not attack. Because he didn't think he could and get away. He didn't think that the woman would allow that.
But he tried anyway. And it saved his life.
He was somehow able to gain some distance as she was distracted by three Ursai that had come up behind them as they fought. He brought up his shield close to his body and tucked in his arm. He activated his Aura, not really knowing what he was doing but feeling, rather than thinking.
His white-gold Aura burning brightly around him and shining as a beacon in the night, he swung with all his might, his Aura pushing outwards and exploding towards the woman and the Grimm, disintegrating the Grimm in an instant and hurling the woman away from him. As his attack struck her, she screamed in utter agony. The other bandits froze in shock and horror, hearing the woman's screams out in pure pain.
Jaune saw her red Aura shatter and her body become bloody from what he had done. The blonde had no time to even think about the consequences of, what potentially, could be his first kill, when all of the bandits converged on him, all of them forgoing the Grimm they were fighting to try and kill him.
His Aura still activated around his body, Jaune did something incredibly stupid. He swung his sword again, the white-gold Aura exploding outward in a semicircle, the bandits went down with screams of horror and pain as their Aura's shattered, their weapons breaking in their hands, and were slowly dying from blood loss as huge lacerations cut through their bodies.
Jaune did the only thing he could: he ran. He ran as far and as fast as his legs and Aura could support him, which, was actually three weeks of constant running, fighting Grimm, and fearing for his life. He didn't know whether or not the bandits would try and hunt him down, but he would have to be ready for them if they did come for him.
Later, when he had finally collapsed from utter exhaustion, he woke up in the caring hands of an old lady who told him of the story of the village as well as other settlements that had been destroyed by bandits.
As well as the name of the bandits that had attacked the village.
The Branwen Tribe.
…
He heard something and his instincts flared, Aura active, he did the same thing he did to the bandits. His Aura shot out and pulverized the trees around him.
He heard a shrill scream, it was female.
Looking up, Jaune saw that there was a redhead girl with green eyes staring in shock at him, and also slowly raising her hands, showing him that she was no threat to him.
"Sorry! I didn't know you were an initate, I thought you were a Grimm. I'm on edge a bit." Jaune said to the girl, who was still staring at him.
"No worries, I shouldn't have startled you. That was my fault. My name is Pyrrha. It seems we are partners." The redhead, Pyrrha, said.
"I'm Jaune, nice to meet you Pyrrha, at least under the circumstances." Jaune said.
He walked forward, toward Pyrrha and stuck out his hand. She shook it. "Let's find the relics, partner." He smiled at her, she mimicked him. Pyrrha's smile was genuine this time, for the first time in a long while.
Pyrrha's destiny was changing for the better.
They all have issues, all 12 of them. Ren, Nora, and Jaune especially. It's going to be fun exploring their inner personalities and show the darker aspects of our beloved RWBY characters. Regarding Jaune's family… let's just say very old families have some very screwed up traditions (the Schnee family/Arc family).
Who do you think Jaune was fighting?
…
OC's:
Violet Spark: She is a young woman who is a Third-Year at Beacon University and a member of Team SLVR. She has purple hair and light red eyes. Violet his the heavy-hitter of her team, as she uses talon-shotguns, that use Fire and Lightning Dust primarily. Her weapons are called: Fang. She loves a good fight and won't hesitate to provoke someone she feels would be a good opponent for her. Her partner is Rust Ouroboros, and together they make a fierce tag-team duo. The girl is also from Anima, and loves to travel. If she could, she would traverse all over Remnant while killing and battling stronger Grimm and opponents. She is also a thrill-seeker and has the stamina to kill Grimm for hours without a break. Her Aura is an ash-blonde color and her Semblance is Spark, she can make anything she touches into an explosive.
…
Full list of Glyphs the Schnee's can use:
(All of the Glyphs will be in the shape of the Schnee snowflake emblem, except Time Dilation and Summoning.)
Pull Glyphs: can pull opponents and allies toward the caster (light blue)
Push Glyphs: can repeal and push opponents away from the caster or the area they are in (dark purple, activated with Gravity Dust)
Speed Glyphs: can dash across any surface (white)
Jump Glyphs: creates multiple glyphs in an area and able to jump from (light pink)
Platform Glyphs: can create platforms (light purple)
Time Dilation Glyphs: speed up or slow down allies or opponents (yellow with a rotating clock face, Lightning and Gravity Dust needed to activate the glyph)
Elemental Glyphs: the five primary elements and Gravity – Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, Lightning, Gravity (red, dark blue, dark green, brown, yellow, dark purple)
Summoning Glyphs: this glyph can only be used when a Schnee has mastered and tamed those that they have slain in battle. Summoning is the hardest skill in the Schnee Semblance to master and use, because the person (Schnee family member) needs to be completely in sync with themselves and their Semblance for the Summoning to work. Many Schnee's keep this part of their Semblance a secret with how dangerous and high-level this is in terms of what a Semblance is capable of. The glyph is surrounded by swords pointed outward. (Platinum color)