Seeing Red
Jaune's Subconscious
Within the inner part of Jaune's mind, a pure black body with the horns of a ram materialized in his mind. What's stranger, is that the "man" didn't look shocked at his sudden appearance, in fact, he didn't even have a face to begin with!
"Hmm, so this is where my brother sent "it" to." The "man" said, looking around with his "eyes", as if looking for something. It then sigh while placing it's hand on it's forehead, "My brother always was the more experimental one of the family."
The "man" looked around Jaune's mind, seeing memory after memory of Jaune's past. Birthdays, parties, and even a wedding. The dark being began to wander around Jaune's Subconscious, looking around, seeing if "it" still lurked here. "Hmm, I still don't understand why my brother gave "it" to this mortal of all things," the "man" said, opening up a memory to look inside, "If anything, it should have been given to some other higher lifeform."
Growl!
"Hmm?"
As the dark being was about to continue his search, a deep, but nothing he hasn't heard of, growl came from his left. And what he saw left him mildly amazed. " Fascinating. Truly fascinating, Brother." The "man" said with no small amount of awe in his voice, "I have a feeling that this new experiment will have better benefits than the last one." he stated, " Which reminds me, it's time to check on Ozma. I am aware that my brother said not to interfere until the day of judgement, but I am simply curious as to why we haven't been called yet."
With that statement, the mysterious man vanished, turning into purple smoke. The growl from his left came from a humanoid figure, with black skin, a red tail, no eyes, and a crystal the size of a baseball inside it's chest. For a brief moment, only for a moment, it smiled a bloodthirsty smile.
—Seeing Red—
"It's alright Jaune. Just do your best." His partner reassured him softly.
It did feel good that his partner was so caring, but it still felt weird. Not that someone was caring about him, but the fact that Pyrrha Nikos had a crush on him. Yes, despite all the rumors about him being dense as a rock, it wasn't true. He had his seven sisters to teach about picking up a girls feelings. Sure it was embarrassing at first, but he ended up finally getting it.
It definitely didn't take 44 tries to get him to understand.
Anyway, after he found out he couldn't look her in the eyes for a little while. Eventually, he got used to her crush. (That didn't mean he was going to make his move now.) Getting back on track, he was told to grab his equipment from his locker, since he already had his hoodie on. On his way back, the knight found Pyrrha waiting outside for him. Now here he was, being pep-talked by his red-headed partner.
"That's just it Pyrrha. I do try my best, but my best is my worst." He argued, trying to prove to his partner that he was going to fail again.
The champion sighed, "Jaune, stop putting yourself down like that. I saw you and how you took down those beowolfs like nothing, so how is this any different?" she shot back, "You are just as good out there as you are in there. You just need to try."
He looked up at her and clearly saw that her expression left no room for argument. With a sigh, knowing that she was right, he picked himself up and steeled his expression into a look of determination.
"Okay," he breathed out nervously, "I can do this." Pyrrha smiled, happy that she could cheer up her leader. "That's the spirit!"
SMACK
"OW!"
She was going to give an encouraging pat on the back, but that pat turned into a slap on the back—which resulted in Jaune getting knock on the ground.
"I'm sorry!"
—Seeing Red—
The Winchester son grinned smugly, thinking he knew the outcome, "So Jauney Boy, ready to lose for the 17th time?"
Before him the Arc gulped nervously, a bead of sweat pouring down his face. Before the match could begin, The Headmistress of Beacon called the Knight's attention, "Mister Arc, while Ozpin gave you permission to wear the hood, I'm going to have to ask you to remove the part that is covering your forehead. It could hinder your vision" the witch said with strictness.
"Y-yes ma'am," he said with nervousness. Reluctantly, he slowly pulled it off, revealing the now slightly longer horns in their glory.
He heard the bully laugh, "Well, well, well, another FREAK in Beacon, huh? I think I need to have a chat with Ozpin about the recent infestation of animals." Cardin mocked. Velvet—the girl he has been picking on— looked sympathetic towards the blonde 'faunus'. Now he has to deal with the discrimination and the hate too. Blake on the other hand, glared daggers at the bully. 'Animal Infestation?,' she thought with ever growing rage, 'Animal Infestation?!'. Blake had her fair share of racist comments and insults all her life, but to go as low as to call the an Infestation? It was just made her sick to her stomach.
"And I can't wait," the bully twirled his mace around an hitting it into the ground, "cuz' I'm gonna enjoy beating the life out of you." Cardin twistedly said.
"Ready?...BEGIN!"
And with the confirmation of Goodwitch, Cardin ran up to Jaune with his mace in hand. Said Arc, pulled up his shield in front of him. Despite his lower than average grades in combat class, even Cardin had to admit he's improved. 'But despite that, he still can't beat me.' He thought with a snarky grin.
SLAM
With a powerful overhead swing, Cardin landed a devastating blow to the knight's shield, nearly denting it. Jaune could barely keep his ground. With some effort, he got Cardin off his shield and prepared to counterattack. He managed to get in a couple hits, but that only got the bully's aura to descend into the yellow. Cardin suddenly jumped backwards, his mace glowing with his semblance. A shockwave emitted from his mace as soon as it hit the ground. Jaune's balance was disrupted and he fell on one knee, sword hanging loosely by his side. With unsuspected speed, Cardin came towards the Arc and landed hit after brutal hit on the poor young man's shield. 'Even after all that time training,' he thought, feeling something rise within him, 'I still can't beat an asshole like him.' He tried to think back to what Pyrrha told him before. He searched deep within his mind…
Somewhere deep in his mind, he heard a similar voice, "Why in the world would I waste my time on a dunce like you!?" The all too familiar voice if Weiss Schnee, clouded his concentration. It sounded like she was right in his ear. He shook the hurtful voice away and tried to focus on something to cheer him up. Maybe Yang…
"Why should I make a joke when looking right at one?" Yang? No, no she wouldn't say that all. Yang did tease him from time to time, but other than that nothing hurtful. He was friends with the buxom blonde, she wouldn't hurt him like this…
Would she?
"Y'know what? I should just be with Cardin instead of you." Even his own partner? She was the second friend in Beacon, she even threatened Cardin when she didn't have to! Did she really think of him like that? Now that he thought about it, did she really love him?
He heard more voices, so many voices overlapping each other. Ruby's, Blake's, even his own familys' voice all doing the same thing: hurting him.
"AAAAAAHHHHHH"
With a scream Cardin suddenly backed off, looking at the scene before him in confusion. Why was Arc screaming like that? Had he finally lost his mind?
"Dunce."
"Vomit Boy."
"Worthless."
Those same three words kept repeating in his head. Over and over and over and over again. He hit his head to try and knock the voices out of his head, but it didn't work. In fact the voices became louder and more hurtful.
"Make it stop….m-make the voices stop." He weakly pleaded. Then, as if he heard the answers to his prayers, a new voice appeared and all the other voices silenced.
"DO YOU WANT TO MAKE THE VOICES STOP?" The strange and terrifyingly dark voice asked. Jaune couldn't see what was speaking to him, but he could care less. He just wanted the voices to stop! "Yes! Please just make them stop talking!" he screamed out. For some reason, he could feel the voice smile and in a instant, felt something flow through him. It wasn't his Aura he usually feels, which feels like warmth flowing through his body. This was completely different.
In the outside world, Jaune's friends looked on worried. He was doing fine a second ago, and then the next, he was screaming his head off! Ruby was worried about her friend. He was the first person who became her friend. Ever since the Initiation, he was like the brother she never had. Only second best sibling to Yang.
Now he was screaming like he was in pain, was he hurt?!
Back in the arena, Jaune was no longer moving. Now he was just standing there, totally immobile. Cardin saw this as an easy win, and with his mace slung over his shoulder. "So, is that it? A girly scream and that's it? Well, I guess I shouldn't expect something from literally nothing." He mocked as he calmly walked over. "You lose again, Arc." With a fast swing of his mace—combined with his shockwave Semblance— hit the knight with a powerful overhead. Shattering the ground beneath Jaune ad knock his Aura in the red—or that's what he thought.
CRUSH
He looked down below his mace to see something…horrifying. Gone was the boyish goofball face his friends, and ever present was an infuriated snarl on his face. Now his horns were longer and curved, showing black and with patterns on them. His normally deep ocean blue eyes were now a red and black pool.
With a roar that could scare Grimm away, Jaune launches forth…
In Ozpin's Office
Ozpin, his personal assistant Glynda, his colleague Qrow, his friend James Ironwood, were all watching in either seriousness or anger. Anger came from one dusty old crow.
"Ozpin. We need to discuss the matter at hand. That being Mister Arc's…transformation." The witch told her Headmaster. How he managed to keep calm in situations like this was beyond her— and she's the second one who's known him the longest!
"Oz! Why the hell are we letting that THING with Jimmy of all people?!" the Branwen male exclaimed, "Excuse me?!"the general exclaimed, offended that he wasviewed as the bad guy.
"You may not realize it yet, Qrow. But we need this boy contained! He nearly murdered another student for Brother's sake!" James shot back. Qrow bit his tounge, admitting that he was right. As much as he didn't want to. He was still trying to figure out how that kid could just punch through Aura like it wasn't even there. He saw how the kid's friends tried to hold him down, but the kid just knocked them away. What really had him this mad was when Jaune bit Ruby's hand, leaving a nasty injury on it. Glynda between the kid and a raging Yang, picking up the Arc and slamming him repeatedly into the ground. It took to the point where he was bleeding a little for him to calm down.
Ozpin's eyebrows furrowed in seriousness, garnering the attention of his inner circle, "Listen. Mister Arc's new power may be unknown so we need to keep him in a secure place, like James's military. However, we all know that the Atlas military isn't as trustworthy as we want to believe."
James stepped forward with more force in his voice, "Ozpin, you may be my friend, but will not talk about military like that!" the headmaster sighed, "I understand James, but Mr. Arc is in my school, so I decide where he goes. And I've decided that he will remain here."
Again, the general looked even more frustrated with him. The old wizard sensed his anger and looked in his direction, " But, if Mr. Arc cannot control himself he will be in your custody. Indefinitely."
Ironwood didn't like the way he said that. He felt like he wasn't going to get Mr. Arc under military surveillance anytime soon, but he was satisfied nonetheless. Wordlessly, he walk towards the elevator, but not before looking towards Glynda.
With the general gone, the trio focused on the holographic screen. It showed Jaune absolutely shredding Cardin' armor and flesh to pieces. Not enough to kill him thankfully, but enough to mortality wound him.
'You have piqued my interest, Mr. Arc…'
—Seeing Red—
Salem was not an easily scared woman.
She had experienced everything—thanks to her immortality. She had seen a dragon—grimm hybrid, a real soul, and even a war between humans and faunus. So, why was she gripping her chest, trying to ease he rapidly beating heart? Her eyes were wide-open with terror, despite being the only one in the room.
Salem was breathing heavily and mildly sweating. She sensed a rising power coming from Ozma's pathetic academy and assumed me died and revived. However, this was an entirely different power. How the hell hasn't she noticed before?! She was all powerful, so why was she so scared of something that isn't even there?!
"My Goddess, what ever is the matter?!" Tyrian Callows, her personal assassin. He was a scorpion faunus, with scars decorating his body. He came through the large wooden doors in panic, trying to see what was wrong with his mistress.
"I heard screaming! Are you alright my—GAH!" he was about to address his reasoning of why he was there, but was cut off by a large, bone-like Grimm hand pinned against the wall. "I. AM. FINE! I don't recall asking for YOUR concern!" she screeched, further terrorizing her minion.
"Y-yes! I apologize for my misguided concern! Forgive me!" he pleaded. Slowly, the Grimm hand retracted into the black portal it spawned from. He fell on his knees in object terror, head down. Not daring to look his mistress in her eyes. "Rise, Tyrian." He did as he was told, scared if the slightest mistake would have him dead.
She took a deep breath and put on her serious mask, "How is the search for the Spring Maiden coming along?" His smiled a sadistic and twisted smile, giggling manically, "It is going rather well. She may be good at hiding, but I'll find her. I ALWAYS find my victims." He answered.
She rose up from her seat and walked towards the window, observing the Grimm pools. "I have sensed a very powerful force coming from Beacon, and I fear it is even more powerful than I." she finished, leaving the scorpion in mild anger and confusion.
"Who dares to mock your power?!" he all but screamed in anger, "That I don't know. I need you to tell Cinder to tell Lionheart to let them into Beacon early and discover that power. I don't want to destroy it," she said as her eyes glowed and a strange figure rose up from the Grimm pool. It had multiple eyes and jagged, sharp teeth. It looked like a Beowolf except it stood at 8'0 ft. tall and it's legs looked like a lion's. On its back was two pairs of wings with Bone like armor covering it's entire body. It's wings were as black as the pool behind it. This was known as the Aswraith.
"I want to posses it."
—Seeing Red—
Welp, looks like Salem finally found out Jaune's secret.
And, there goes your second chapter! I'm sorry its rushed, I had a very stressful morning. Also, here is the Harem list so far:
Ruby
Yang
Weiss
Blake
Pyrrha
Velvet
Coco
Glynda
Winter
Raven
I know, long list right? Jaune better have stamina as big as his aura then, cuz' the list keep getting bigger!
This is CubainCobain, over and OUT!
PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW AND THANK YOU!