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My dreams were haunted by glimmering amber eyes. In my nightmares I died over and over again, Cinder immolated me, like she'd done to Pyrrha, her eyes full of malicious humor. I slipped in and out of consciousness as she murdered me; I woke up sweating in my bag only to slip back under again.
Ruby was beside me when I woke up for the first time for real.
My head was pounding so I groaned and stretched. As I did, she bolted upright next to me. "Jaune! Jaune you're up!" I rubbed the back of my head and she pulled my hand back and her soft hands through my hair.
They were so small.
She rubbed against a large goose-egg just gently enough so that it eased the pain.
Ruby leaned in curious and worried. She rested one of her hands against my chest as she bent close to me in my sleeping bag. I was out of my armor and in some different clothes, I could feel her hand on my chest for real. I would blush at the implication that she changed me but I didn't really have it in me. "How are you feeling…?"
"I'm in pain but…" I had killed someone. My eyes widened as I gazed into Ruby's.
She gaped at my reaction. "Sorry, too, rough?" She pulled her hand back from my head and I moaned at the loss.
I rolled my head around in a circle as I let the noise out. "No, no, it's all me."
"What is?"
"I killed that kid."
"Jaune he made you do it." She threw her arms around my neck. "It wasn't your fault."
"It was." I disagreed. "Ruby I'll kill again."
"Not like them, though." She insisted. "Jaune you are not like them. You are good. You feel so much pain for everyone around you. You regret what happened."
"I don't though." I winced. "I regret that you saw." I managed looking in her eyes. "I didn't want you to see. I knew I would probably have to murder somebody, I just didn't want you to…"
"Jaune I don't think any less of you. It was… I…. I never taught you your strength." She frowned. "It wasn't murder. It was defense."
I snorted.
"It's true," Ruby insisted. "And it's my fault too."
"Please, you were doing everything you could spare his life and I just cut him down." I cut him down like it was sport. I rubbed my eyebrow hard. It was full of course dirt from our travels and I missed the Beacon showers deep in my chest.
I wanted to curl up in one like I had in the early days of Beacon and be forgotten for a while.
She straddled me looking into my eyes. "Jaune it isn't like that. I- do you trust me." Her hands rested one over the other in the middle of my chest. I took both of them in one of mine.
"Yes."
"You're not a bad person." I looked away from the tears that pooled like mercury in the corner of her eyes.
There was no escape from her honesty.
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The girl, Virisent, Ruby had extracted her name somehow, was more wary of me than she was of Ruby. I wasn't sure what to make of that. Sure, I was the guy who killed her friend, but when two hunters come into town and one of them is a big two meter guy and the other is a four foot something girl you already know who I'm more afraid of. Of course, there was no reason to let her in on that little source of intuition. That was the first rule of warfare after all. Keep your enemies in the dark.
She didn't need to know that out of the two of us, Ruby was more likely to be able to pull her in half. Of course, out of the two of us, Ruby would never. I might.
I could be motivated to, too. "So I'm super curious."
"Yeah?" She had to wonder. And let's be honest here, I was intentionally being an asshole. Her eyes flicked to Ruby then back to me. "Curious about what?"
"Killing people to lure the monster around; was that your idea?"
"No." She shook her head. I bit my cheek. "It was my Khatun's."
"Yeah, I'm a little hazy on that concept too. That's…" I looked over to Ruby
"It's like… a bandit princess." The prisoner nodded on the ground with Ruby's words. Her purple clothes clashed with the brown and green ground. Sparse grass over dried out, partially frozen, mud.
"And Khagan?" I wondered.
Ruby shrugged. "It sort of means Empress bandit." The prisoner glared at that but said nothing. She visibly bit her cheek as she sat on the ground.
"Got it." I managed. I really had no idea how the internal power dynamics between bandits and groups of them were supposed to work. I liked having people I trusted like Ruby around. "Where is the next target?"
She shrugged. "Wherever it wanders to next, I suppose."
"That's so not good enough." I informed her.
She turned her nose up at me. I sighed. "I told you, I won't tell you anything. My Khatun will kill me."
I pulled my sword off my back and clubbed her on the side of the head with the large flat of the blade. I watched it ring her aura. Ruby gasped and stepped towards me. "Jaune!"
"I'll kill you," I told her. "You shot me in the dark twice when you thought you could get away with it. You'll do it again. I see you."
She was sprawled out on the ground, unable to rise due to her bound wrists. She slugged away from me briefly before realizing the futility when I crossed the same distance she worked for a half a minute to achieve in a single heartbeat. She rolled over and looked at me.
She jerked her head in Ruby's direction. "She said you'd take me to prison."
"I don't know where one is and unless you give me motivation to keep you around, then I won't even take you back to civilization." I looked over at Ruby. "I survived, but I'm not going to wait for you to shoot one of us again." Ruby didn't have my amount of aura. If someone shot her like she did me, she would die. Ruby would be fucking dead. "I'm not taking that risk unless I feel I have to."
I wasn't entirely sure what I would do if Ruby died but I wasn't having a good time thinking about it.
"So…" She wondered.
"So motivate me." I leaned down and grabbed her by the collar. I pulled her into the air with a single arm. With a flex of will, I activated my nearly charged semblance and pressed the tip of Crocea Mors against her stomach. "Who and where is Vernal?"
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Vernal evidently could be anywhere. I learned that Khagan Raven's semblance was portals and she just showed up sometimes and took Vernal. This was one of those times. In the meantime, Vernal's gang remained on course, hunting the people of Anima like livestock.
Viriscent hadn't been able to give me the location of their camp either. Unwilling perhaps, but as she explained it the camp was constantly moving and should be in mid rotation. I tied her up and threw her over a horse and blindfolded her.
Yee-haw.
Who was Vernal was a bit more interesting. She used a series of hooked blades and Viriscent hadn't revealed the girl's semblance to me. Perhaps she herself didn't know it but perhaps not. We at least had a name to go with our distant enemy.
"So what does it feel like? Does it-like-feel good?" Ruby asked.
"Huh?" Ruby's question caught me off guard as we rode together.
"Your semblance." She clarified for my addled brain, smiling back at me. Something like relief in my usual response in her gleaming eyes but I knew she was worried.
I thought about it. "I'm not sure. I haven't been able to spend it outside of a real fight where I wasn't burning or being shot."
She nodded. "It's like that sometimes. How do you feel when it's active?" It was pretty transparent she was trying to destract me from my murder. It was working a little. She pushed her hair behind her ear as she spoke and I was forced to stare at her and shake my head.
"It's hard to say. It's a bit of a rush you know? Then it builds up and releases."
"You make it sound like-"
"Enough out of you." I cut her off. She giggled at me but I had to wonder, "what does it feel like for you? When you fly apart?"
"Is like my head is finally clear and I can stop thinking about all my real problems." She sighed. "Sometimes I wish I could spend all my time as petals."
I nodded along.
"Is that worrying?" She wondered.
"Not really. Sometimes I wish I could leave and hang out with you without me around, so…"
"That's worrying, Jaune. When you say things like that I worry about you."
"Sorry."
Her eyes narrowed. "Sorry for what specifically? Sorry for feeling that way?" She scoffed. "Sorry for telling me? You need to tell me what you feel."
"You want me to tell you more?" I had to ask. It was unusual for someone to actually wonder about me.
"More," she purred. "You goofball. When are you going to tell me more about you?"
"I thought I made it clear I wanted you to like me."
"You did and I do like you. That's not going to change if you tell me more about you."
"I can't really think of anything." I hummed holding my chin. "I always wanted to be a huntsman and attend Beacon. Now that that's gone all I really want to do is help you."
"Why me?"
I shrugged. "You're special like that."
"I'm not special. I'm normal."
"No one who has ever met you believes that, there's something immediately special about you Ruby. You're visibly diagnosable as special." I thought about what I just said. "Wait not like that. I meant how you're a good person."
She laughed at me. "I don't think you'd say something hurtful Jaune, just easy to misunderstand." She hesitated. "So it surprised me when you hurt her." I was hoping she'd let that slip on account of the Grimm worship but that was just too much.
I didn't have to think hard about what she meant. "Ruby I cannot… if you were shot…" I sniffed hard and Ruby watched me rub my eyes. Tears threatened me. "I can't do it again. If you die, I can't do it again. I just can't. I don't have it in me." She frowned looking at me. "Seriously what would I do if you died? Real talk."
"You think you're for me?" She wondered.
"I'd like to be," I pleaded.
"That's scarier than it is sweet."
"You said you wanted to know more."
"What else is there?"
"I'm not sure. I can't remember it all at once. Plus I don't want to think about it all the time. Can you blame me?"
She shook her head so gently the tips of her hair barely moved before her eyes. "How's your head feeling, Jaune?"
"Throbbing but much better than it would be. Trust me when I say you help me Ruby."
"We'll get to that Jaune. We'll see how much I help for real." She turned back to ride in silence and I let her. She pursed her lips in thought and lightly tapped with her finger. "We'll see if I help anyone for real."
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Taking care of one other person wasn't the absolute worst. Sure we had to watch her all the time and give her our food. So it did actually suck. Considering she'd shot me in the head and I was now making her breakfast.
"He can cook."
"He sure can."
"I scramble eggs." I insisted when Ruby rose to almost brag about it. "I'm not exactly Jorgon Ramsey."
"I suppose with seven sisters you'd learn a thing or too." She trailed off teasingly.
"Look, these things happen. I also know how to braid hair or put it into ponytails." Ruby smirked. "Seven. Ruby. Seven of them. I never had a chance."
"I should have let you two kill me."
"Don't be a spoilsport. We're not so bad." I let her bindings off. Her eyes flicked to where her pistol was still in my belt. I wanted to say something about it but if someone had Crocea Mors that close to me I would be unnerved too. She didn't make a move, though, so I really had nothing to say.
"You did beat me."
"You did shoot me. Plus I doubt if you would have won over us, you would be kind enough to keep giving us meals."
"You didn't want to give me any food. She convinced you."
"Yeah. Remind me," I encouraged.
Silence for a beat.
"Where are you taking me next?" She wondered between less stubborn bites.
Ruby slapped me across the chest with our map. "The next place is Oniyuri. It's supposed to be large enough that it probably has a place we can keep her. Hand her over to some real authority."
"I'm right here." I ignored the girl.
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Oniyuri was a ghost town.
Ruby took the lead bouncing up until she stood on horseback and peered out at grey walls. The buildings looked dilapidated, as did the fence now that I thought about it. I checked the map. "That's strange."
"Another destroyed town?" Ruby wondered.
"We should search for survivors." I stowed the map and took off.
"Don't leave me in the dark!" Our blindfolded prisoner shouted.
I sprinted towards the circle shaped opening in the walls. Ruby made it there first and in a single great leap no normal woman could pull off, she landed antop of the walls. She bounced from there to a watch tower which had no platform to stand on from which one could watch.
I checked and found nothing. Ruby dropped down, her legs easily taking the thirty foot fall. She lifted the platform in question from where it lay beside the tower on the ground, checking under it. "Anything?" She called out.
"Clear over here." I moved from the building I'd been checking. "The place seems abandoned."
"Hey I found something!" Ruby called out to me. She brushed aside leaves where a small sign had been overgrown. "Oniyuri," she read. "This is it? What happened?" Ruby wondered, her voice coming out small in the courtyard.
Grimm claw marks on what was left of a door. Shattered windows and broken down walls.
I didn't hesitate, it was time to get moving. "Come on, let's push through here." I mustered, sticking around so much negativity wasn't going to serve us any.
My hand rose to my weapon, pulling at the hilt slightly. Nervously. I felt something. I wasn't alone in it, either. Ruby peered ahead through the scope of Crescent Rose.
A man in brown and white flipped into the courtyard, landing neatly with a bowed posture.
The man said nothing but his hands flicked out claw like weapons drawing on either hand. Without a word he blitzed towards us, no straight towards Ruby, with a manic laugh.
Ruby intercepted him first, lashing out like an insane tornado. The man danced back, giving ground easily.
Ruby snapped a kick out and followed it with a spray of bullets. She twisted and he ducked under the massive swing before raising his arm and stepping inside her guard. A clawed hand lashed out and Ruby had to lean far out of the way to dodge it. She gave a gasp as she did. Put on the defensive, a swift kick from the clawed man forced her back. The man went high but kicked low again, Ruby ate the attack with a grunt.
The man laughed like he was in hysterics all the while. He whipped out the blades on his forearms, Ruby blocked them with Crescent Rose but didn't block a jump kick which caught her center of mass. She rolled back but the man had speed to spare, he was able to catch up to her.
He crossed both arms, scissor-slashing at her but she caught the blow against the barrel of her weapon. A high crescent kick lashed out at Ruby followed by a jab. She rotated Crescent Rose to block but the man was within her range and didn't miss with the brutal shoulder check that flicked her to the ground.
I was there to cover Ruby immediately. The man slid beneath my slash and bounced up at me, landing on the edges of the shield. The man peered down at me with a wide grin. I glared up at the man, and I swung the man back and Ruby hit him hard with Crescent Rose, clipping him.
He launched back through a white wall, cartwheeling through the air. His yellow eyes glowed out at us from the building. Ruby got back to her feet preparing Crescent Rose for a second assault.
"We're not looking for a fight!" I called out to him.
Though you've found one by attacking Ruby.
"Who are you?" Ruby wondered.
The man flipped down. "Who I am matters not to you, or- well I am curious about you." He pointed at me.
"Not interested," I returned.
"No?" The man continued, he seemed to take it in stride. "Well, I suppose I only really matter to you." He pointed behind my tank at the backline Ruby. I didn't so much as take my eyes off the man.
"Me?" Ruby wondered.
The man broke down laughing. "You really don't have the slightest clue, do you? Oh how exciting this must be." That laugh was really getting on my nerves.
"What do you want?" Ruby demanded.
"Oh the rose has thorns. My little flower, I'm here to whisk you away with me."
"And what if she doesn't want to go with you."
"Well, I'll take her." He made it sound so obvious. Like getting through and killing me would be the most straightforward thing in the world. The way he'd danced around us so far… the fight didn't look promising.
"Yeah. You'll have to kill me," I vowed anyways, my shield at the ready and sword poised to strike from behind it.
"Perfect," The man purred.
I blinked and the man was gone. My eyes traced his outline but...
"Jaune!" Ruby called out to me in warning. I felt the danger from behind me. Ruby immediately opened fire, trusting my aura, armor, and shield to see me through. I began to turn around towards the blindingly fast opponent.
The man had to duck under Ruby's fire, unable or unwilling to press his attack and eat the bullets with his aura. The man bounced in the air, spinning like a top off my shield. I threw him off. Pressing my attack with a shout.
The man turned it into an elegant flip and kicked Ruby so hard she flew off her feet. I swept my sword at him. I tried to catch him off guard but the man cartwelled under the attack.
Too telegraphed.
His heel came down on my head, a cry of pain left my lips before I could stop it followed closely by a second one as I was swiftly side kicked in the face. I fell backwards and our aggressor charged at Ruby again, unrelenting.
My semblance activated, strumming through me like a cord, I dashed forward and Ruby did too, we scissored him and I spent my semblance now faster than ever, as soon as I got it, really.
I bunkered behind my shield, waiting out the shockwave Ruby's speed and my attack had created. When I peeked. Our opponent was still standing. He'd… caught my attack with his tail. A long brown scorpion's tail which protruded from his lower back and a deep gash in his aura from where Ruby pounced.
Now she stalked around the outside of a wide circle with him and I in the center, waiting for the right moment to strike like a wolf.
The man giggled. "Surprise." He kicked off the ground and then towards me. He kicked me twice; brutal kicks seemed to be the man's style in conjunction with his claws.
"What is this about?" Ruby stepped forward. "The White Fang? Roman Torchwick?"
"Plastic soldiers and pawns. My heart and body belong only to our goddess." The scorpion took an arrogant bow.
"Cinder." Ruby murmured. Her eyes narrowed up at him.
The bitch herself.
"Hm. Only in her wildest dreams!" With that the man launched towards us again, kicking off the roof he was on hard enough to splinter it. His tail whipped out at Ruby. She deflected it but a brutal punch knocked her down again.
I sidestepped the tail twice but not the following kick to the back. I tried to rush him, trying to flank him but the man's foot colliding with my shield stopped my approach. Against this opponent the shield was just getting in the way. I slid the sword into the shield and slid it off my arm, drawing the massive sword from it.
My foe was fast enough to get in on me but hopefully with a little range and a little luck...
The blade clicked into place, the simple mechanism snapping into position easily. The blade was enormously heavy compared to the bastard sword I'd been wielding, I gripped it in both hands to steady it. I wasn't sure I'd be fast enough to catch the man with it, but I'd promised I'd die before I let this creep take Ruby and dammit I would.
I dashed forward but my opponent dashed away from him towards Ruby. He punched her twice with the brutal blades and flicked her into the air. With blinding speed, the man was already where Ruby was going to land, he wound up and comboed a kick to her stomach.
I could see her aura break in a radial pattern from the foot.
"Ruby!" I shouted.
The man glanced up at my charge, his eyes widening in surprise for a brief satisfying moment before I caught him center of mass with the broadsword. I started by drawing an 'x' in the air and on his body. The glow of my sword stayed where it struck him, holding him in place.
Next I carved a shallow 'L,' with two cuts. Low and then rising. I watched him. He was stuck in place still, like he was in butter or stuck in slow motion.
I finished with a tremendous slash all the way through the patterns I had drawn which showed through the air. I cut through the sapphire blue haze and shattered the shapes I carved in the air with a flash.
I watched a crackle of purple sweep out across his torso from where the sword impacted him. You can't fake that. One hundred pounds of brutal steel impacting him had hurt him. I held Crocea Mors steady in one hand. Steady, easily, even with just the one arm.
It was light. I swung it casually across his body and back towards neutral, glaring at the man.
"Jaune!"
"Stay down Ruby!"
I began to charge the next one.
I watched the man roll across the ground before he stopped, catching himself with the hooked blades. He let out a viscous sound, part snarl, part laugh. He scuttled towards me, low towards the ground but…
I met him in the middle and Ruby shot him in the face. I refused to give ground and allow the lunatic to get any closer to Ruby. Crocea Mors swept forward but was deflected off the man's right wrist blade. I reversed the blade, bringing it around his body and back down.
My foe grunted catching the blade again with both wrists.
The tail…
I leaned out of the way as the tail lashed through his space. It whipped from over the man's head towards me but I'd seen it coming. The man was getting predictable. Plus with six feet of metal between us, I was outside his range. I brought my blade down towards the tail and the man reared back, giving ground and watching me warily.
I didn't let up. I jumped, raising Crocea Mors over my head in a tremendous arc and brought it down against the man again. The man braced his tail and blades against the attack but three hundred pounds of man and metal bore down on him. I watched as the man's feet sunk into the cobbled ground, aura sparking from here his tail braced against the blade.
Believing he saw an opportunity the man rushed me, closing the distance that my long arms and sword provided. I lashed out with a low kick, unable to bring the blade to bear in time. It connected against the side of the man's knee. I threw my weight into another kick with the other leg, a round kick which impacted the man's gut.
My jab and follow up brought him the space I needed to bring Crocea Mors around in a low flat arc. It sung through the air with thick satisfying noise, but not nearly as satisfying as the sound the blade made against the man's aura.
He rolled back and I chased him.
I need to end this now.
I jumped like I was going to hammer him with another massive overhead blow. He raised his weapons in defense. It was a tomahawk landing and I stepped in and grabbed him out of the empty hop. I tossed him into the ground and where he bounced I pursued. I slid my sword into the ground and brutally shoved the edge into his chest. I tore up the cobblestone street behind me as I did.
I screamed out a battle cry, trying to land a decisive blow. I rushed forward with all my might and thrust Crocea Mors forward. The man slipped to the side, dodging by a fraction of a hair. He followed it with two brutal kicks and three jabs into my chest. Then he sank his hooked gauntlet into my stomach.
I grunted. It wasn't so bad. He hit like a fucking pussy.
I spat up some blood and looked down.
It was pretty bad. The worst, even.
"Jaune!"
"What's the matter?" The man mocked. "Run out of power? Or do you have another one in you?" Tyrian twisted his fist and the blade sank further into my stomach. The tail came around and hovered just before my face. Giggling and wiggling the tail right in front of my mouth before it vanished, the pressure disappearing from me accompanied by an agonized howl.
"Jaune, oh lord stay with me!"
I didn't.
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-WG