I: Mindscape/ Morganna
BI: Morganna emphasized
B:Grimm
[???]
"Do you believe in destiny?"
The question left a pregnant pause in the air as Jaune Arc watched the scene unfold.
The Grimm Dragon perched on the edge of the tower roared with an errie finality. The city itself was covered in a sea of flames and grimm, the screams of suffering citizens could be heard far and wide.
It was here that Jaune Arc found himself, watching his partners final moments.
"What kind of destiny is this...to just throw your life away...?"
He couldn't hold back his hurt feelings.
He never understood words like fate and destiny, he'd always felt that man and faunus made their own choices and paths in life, yet here was Pyrrha. Subjecting herself to a fate that didnt have to be.
"Witness..."
Powerless to do anything but watch, he found himself without a body to interfere with. If he could, he would've ran Cinder through ten times over with his sword.
"Witness the truth, with your own eyes..."
And yet, here he was... Cursed to have a front-row viewing of Pyrrhas death.
"There is nothing you could have done... to change the outcome..."
Cinder Fall, the criminal, terrorist herself, raised her hands as she called upon her mystical, newfound powers to conjure up a bow... with one notched arrow.
"Yes."
She smirked as she spoke the last words his friend and partner would ever hear.
The arrow was released.
Pyrrha was struck, dead center in the chest.
"You would have only taken her place in death..."
He screamed.
She cried out, her body burning from within as she faded into ash.
His rage, his sadness and sorrow...they were unfathomable.
Never had he felt more worthless than right now, to see the truth with his own eyes.
To know that no matter what happened that day, Pyrrha would die as ordained and he was powerless to stop it.
"Accept your powerlessness,"
He lacked the strength to stand by her side.
"Accept your pain,"
He didn't have the chance to tell her how he felt about her, about what she did for him.
"Embrace your suffering..."
"...and evolve beyond it..."
"No matter what I would have done, I would have lost her anyway...? Because of Fate? Destiny!?"
The world around him began to burn. The tower and sky itself were engulfed in flames. His own personal visage of Hell, fully realized.
"YOU MUST OVERCOME YOURSELF."
"DEVOUR YOUR PAIN AND LOSS, AND TAME THE NIGHT."
Darkness washed over him.
[???, Laguna]
A soft breeze whistled through the cloudy skies, the smell of salt and sand wafted around. The sounds of the seas waves, crashing into the beachfront echoed far across the land. The squawks and caws of Seagulls filled the area, ravenously diving into the nearby waters for sustenance.
It was on this unknown beach that Jaune found himself as he began to stir. His eyes shot open, scrambling to his feet as he scanned his surroundings warily. Wait... he has feet... and hands! Regardless of his physical condition, he was really getting tired of being thrown around, thankful as he was for having his body back.
The pain inside however, that was a different story. Seeing Pyrrha die so horrifically had added a new weight of shame onto his shoulders, and another stab of guilt to his heart.
She knew she was going to die. She knew she wasn't strong enough, yet she still marched onward to her own demise.
He felt so small.
The young Arc weakly picked himself up from the ground, eyes bloodshot from crying more useless tears.
He Turned to view every available angle and finding nothing but sand, ocean and in the distance... a castle?
How strange, the palace looked so familiar.
"At last, I can finally see you young one."
"Wha!?"
Spinning on his heel, he turned to face whoever it was behind that damned voice. His nerves were shot to hell after his recent trip down Vales memory lane, he wasn't sure how much he could take before he lost it.
Who greeted him however, was not what he expected.
His eyes were drawn to her flowing, lengthy black hair. As dark as the night itself and a complete contrast to the white-grey sky above. The way each strand glistened he could tell it was well taken care of. Her shoulders were covered in a long, Lavender shawl that draped down to her knees. A sleeveless, maroon dress with black, glittering, furred edges down to the beach floor adorned her shapely form.
She was by all accounts a very beautiful woman, blessed with a goddess-like figure and curve. Her height was nothing to laugh at either as she was quite easily a foot taller than the Arc lad, and he's considered tall by many people.
As his eyes traveled towards her face however, it was her own eyes that caught him of guard.
Those piercing, violet eyes. It was her.
The face behind the voice.
Jaune tensed up immediately, to which she responded by holding up her hand in a stopping motion. Her face quickly taking a sad frown as she locked eyes with him.
"I mean you no harm, my child and I apologize... you are not from our Kingdom so you did not know of my boon..."
The young Arc swore he could feel the sadness rolling off of her with each word that was said. It was such an odd feeling, he wanted to speak but for some reason couldn't find the words to say.
"Oh my, where are my manners? I am Morganna Laguna... or rather I am what remains of her..." she said with a somber expression on her face, the young arc gasped at the declaration.
"R-remains? Are you... dead..?"
He wasn't really sure how to process that. Her remains? What does that mean?
"Well, yes and no. Im sure Slade explained it to you but he has a way of... breezing through details," she huffed. Quietly laughing to herself all the while.
"When the walls were breached, the Grimm became more coordinated and more vicious than we had ever seen them, but that wasn't until I saw it. The monster that spawned them..." Her frown returned as she relived the tale for the Young arc.
"At first, I didn't... couldn't believe my eyes but I knew it was real when it revealed itself. Within the darkening clouds, there was one in particular that stood out from the rest. It rained the black lifeblood of the Grimm all over the land it cast its shadow over... but it did it did far more than just spawn the Grimm." She cast her gaze to the ground in a palpable sadness, he could somehow feel it around her.
If he had a seat, he'd be at the edge of it. The General hadn't told him any of this, a Grimm cloud??
"It became the dark mist that covers this land. The mist itself has been here when my ancestors founded Laguna over 200 years ago, though it was much smaller and seemingly contained within the Drakehead. Overtime it spread, changing the land through the years. The Palewood use to be far larger, taking up half of Nidhogg," She summarized, giving Jaune a quick history lesson of the land. Her expression however, stayed just as sad as she explained.
"How could we possibly have known what the true cause of that night had been, or the perpetrator behind it. Even my trusted Oracle could only see glimpses of what was to come for us, though one thing was clear... It was a single Grimm behind it all. Within that dark cloud was an abomination in pure form and as it descended on its skyward seat; large, absurdly plump and covered in white bone plating, I knew we would not survive if it reached us."
Jaune was as shocked as he was confused and could not believe his ears, "A grimm that controlled the clouds in the sky? How could something big go unnoticed for so long? That doesn't make any sense."
"You misunderstand... It did not control the clouds, It simply made its own. As for how we couldn't find it, not only did its mist cloak its presence on our machines, it was somehow able to tamper with our Aura by corroding it through contact. Our semblances were no different, its why I came here to the coast. I needed the space and time to prepare... for my last stand."
He then remembered the story Lord Granite shared with him about the Laguna's history, about the Grimm attack, and the Empress's sacrifice. "Wait... you sacrificed yourself... didn't you...?" It stumbled out of his mouth.
"I did. For my people... just as she did for you." She spoke in a calm yet stern tone.
"What-,"
"You are in great pain, Jaune Arc. Her death weighs on you heavily but you must accept that and let go of it. Neither of you were strong enough to face that woman, and your partner knew that but she wanted you to live more than anything."
That sadness in her voice returned with a vengeance.
"You did not have the strength to challenge such a foe, nor did you have the will to do so."
At this point, Jaune had grown tired of this one-sided discussion. What did she know? Who was she to tell him how he should've proceeded?
"Because she was too strong! She had some kind of power that was beyond anything we could imagine! She had a Grimm dragon backing her and she killed our Headmaster. How could I just throw my partner into that hell!?" He all but shouted at the Empress, yet her sad expression never changed.
"She knew that you wouldn't, she knew your choice was the wiser of the two." Morganna uttered, never raising or lowering her voice beyond its calm octave.
"Regardless, she chose to fight. You knew your partner better than most, do you truly think she would've accepted running away?"
He turned away from her in shame, he hated it so much... that she was right. That this person that knew next to nothing about him, could somehow know exactly what he went through and what he feels... what she felt.
Pyrrha had aways believed that it was her destiny to save people, to save this world. She had spent the majority of her life training towards that very goal. The blood, sweat and tears made all the more real with a clear goal in sight. Knowing her, she probably knew the entire time that she was going to agree to... whatever it was that Ozpin was going to do to her.
Then it hit him, and he remembered the talk they had about destiny. How flustered and afraid she looked before she threw him into that wall. How she had went on about how she believed how destiny was a straight line, a path that was she was being lead down.
She was trying to tell him the truth, trying to tell him everything... and he... he...
He felt to knees, unable to hold back his sadness and shame. He cried, he bawled and screamed as he clutched his heart. His hands pounding into the sand in self-hate and anguish. How could he have been so blind to her feelings?
Because of how dense he was?? Because of Weiss!? He simply couldn't believe his own stupidity...
"Pyrrha... oh Pyrrha... Im so sorry. I failed you..." He sobbed loudly, not caring who heard him or how he would be seen.
"You did not."
He tilted up his head to see Morganna, kneeling down in front of him. Understanding violet starred into the saddened blue and her hands cupped his cheeks.
"You are alive, you are healthy. That is what her mission was... to make sure that you of all people, survived. That was the truest expression of her love for you, the gift of life."
He cried once more, but now it was in the arms of the once Empress.
"In truth, Your true pain isn't just because of Pyrrha's death. That is a by-product of it, albeit a very meaningful one. Your pain lies in your own self-loathing, your own shame and your hate for your own weaknesses and shortcomings... but now it is time to face those feelings and accept them."
He stared at the her in disbelief, could he? Could he really accept all of this sorrow and sadness?
"It was those very feelings of shame and inadequacy that pushed you to try harder for your team. Those feelings were what pushed you to stand up to your bully and it was that shame that gave you the courage to put on that dress and dance with her." She helped him to his feet wiping his tears for him along the way.
"Embrace your faults, Jaune Arc. They are just as much a part of you as your greater qualities. You will always carry the scars of that day on you, but those very scars can be a source of strength to push you forward and it already has been. Look at you now, you faced impossible odds and came out of it better than before... the same is true now."
On his own two feet, he felt a moment of clarity wash over him. All his life, he was denied the chance to prove himself and show his worth until Pyrrha came into his life. She showed him that he could be more, that he was capable of more and he was not about to prove her wrong. He refused to spit on her memory that way.
"I can't keep doing this, I can't be my own worst enemy. I have to keep moving forward. I don't know if I'll ever fully get over Pyrrha but I won't keep spitting on her memory like this... I... Im ready."
"Then tame the night within you..."
Instantly to the right of him, a shadow emerged, his shadow to be precise. A pitch black copy of himself was staring at him, the difference being that it was still wearing his old beacon armor with his trademark Pumpkin Pete hoodie.
Jaune could see it all within his dark copy, the regrets and pains of his life all personified.
"Here stands all of your negativity, your pains and sorrows, Your shame and regrets personified. It is here where your shame will become your greatest strength."
They walked towards each-other,
The shadow spoke,
"Do you hate me...?"
Jaune frowned a bit at that, "how could I ever truly hate myself?"
"So, you still need me?"
"Of course, but maybe just sit in the backseat and let me drive. Okay?"
Jaune extended his hand.
It smiled and reached out.
"... Id like that."
As they joined hands a light washed over them, covering the coast in a warm glow.
Sporting a small smile of her own, Morganna watched as the dazzling display swallowed the landscape.
"Go forth, Jaune Arc. Show the world your newfound strength."
[Southern Coast, Laguna]
"...Arc... sir Arc... SIR ARC!!"
Jaune shot upright, his upper body shooting out of the shallow waters.
"Huh!? Wha!??" He spazzed, looking around frantically trying to find his bearings. His eyesight focused on Navy as she knelt down next to him with a somewhat worried look on her face.
"N-Navy? Where...?" He somewhat croaked out feeling very disoriented.
"We've arrived at the coast, you... beat us here..." Navy muttered the last part a bit quietly, only for the Generals voice to chime in.
"Turn around boy."
As he acknowledged the Lords request, he gasped in shock.
Before him was a large, pitch black sphere. Perfectly rounded in shape, its inky black surface writhed and pulsed. Was what was connected to it, however gave him pause.
At the lower center of the sphere, was a body. Its arms, seemingly fused to the structure stretched and open and out on both sides. Its head hung down, flowing midnight hair draped down from its head and was long enough to cover its modesty. Its legs hung from the bottom of the sphere, they looked to be in perfect condition. It was as if time itself never affected her, he could tell it was a woman by her shape alone.
Yet It took him but a moment to recognize the body.
"Morganna..."
"Yes... this is where our Empress made her last stand. Though, she only shows herself to those who've past her trial..." He said as he stared into the young Arcs eyes.
"You've gained the Bond, I see."
Navy jumped in shock, she couldn't believe it. An outsider was chosen by the Empress herself. She couldn't help but admire him somewhat for the impressive feat.
The General was truly surprised, an outsider was shown favor by their Empress... what were the chances of that?
"Then the time has come for me to take your training more seriously it seems..."
At that, Jaune grinned. Something none of them had seen from the boy since they met him.
"A-are you alright sir Arc, the bond can be pretty intense..." Navy quietly said to him.
"Im fine Navy, oh and please... just call me Jaune. Sir Arc sounds too... important." Still grinning as he said his piece the Fish Faunus. To his surprise, that earned a small nod from her.
"I... understand."
Tired of waiting around, the General cleared his throat to gain their attention once more.
"If you two are finished getting better acquainted, come. We must find the other troops and let them know we've completed the mission." The two teens nodded in unison.
"Then your training will begin at once, you may not be aware of it but you've gained a new power through overcoming the trial."
"Wait what!?" His eyes widened like a cartoon characters as he heard the General speak.
"That's what the purpose of the bond is, she tests you by showing you the dark truth about yourself. She forces you to come to terms with your regrets and fears. The trial itself uses your own negativity and darkness as a catalyst to transform you. She turns our weaknesses into our strength."
"Woah..." Morganna didn't mention all of that...
"What kind of power is it??" Curiosity was knocking at his brain.
"It could manifest in a multitude of ways, some have had their semblances mutated. Others may gain a secondary ability or trait that aids or strengthens their own power. She truly thought of everything..."
Slate stared into the sphere, a look of nostalgia painted his features.
"To be here again... standing beside you...," How long has it been since he'd seen her?
He let out a exhausted sigh and turned to his protégés. "The past is the past for a reason. No sense dwelling in it."
"Well... its time we go. Arc, Tsunami. With me."
"Sir."
"Sir."
The trio shared a nod amongst themselves before heading back into the ruins of Laguna.
[ three months later]
After finally understanding the cities layout, Jaune could honestly say he liked it there. Not getting lost was a big factor in enjoying a new place. It had been an eventful few weeks to be sure and navigating those Stream Pads proved to be a challenge by itself.
Still he managed all the same, and now he could more or less get to wherever he needed to be pretty quickly. Granted, he still had varying degrees of motion sickness from time to time... he took the good with the bad.
The day after his surprise meeting with Morganna, his real training with the Lord apparent Began in earnest. The General ended up being quite the teacher as he quickly set about fixing Jaunes fencing stance. After a bit of trial and error, Slade realized that Jaune was turning out to be one of those 'one in a million type' fighters who don't really have, need or use a stance. As they would clash, Jaune would constantly be switching his foot placement using some Pyrrhas stances as a starting point. Though, he made sure to keep his new dancing footwork mixed into his sessions and often times he'd stop using a stance altogether.
Doing this made his unpredictability skyrocket, Navy would often find herself on her heels when sparring with him.
Navy was also heavily involved in Jaunes training to helping him to discover and develop his new ability or abilities he may have gained. He quickly figured out how she was able to dish out such a variety effects in battle, in her own words she called it "status effect."
Status inducement, a peculiar semblance in and of itself. She's able to change the status of anyone and thing through her aura and/or contact with her or things on her person. It was through the bond that she gained the ability to control her berserker state as she goes into battle. When its active, her semblance is amplified along with her physical strength, she can be quite... vicious at times.
He thought about all the role-playing games he's played and the status effects were always make or break factors and after seeing her literally "charm" a guy, nothing was off the table now.
He'd finally got around to asking her about her weapons, namely how she made them materialize into being. Apparently, her belt is another result of their Aura-defying technologies.
The Armiger. Pretty nice piece of equipment given it was the first and only of its kind. It basically stores a piece of her aura inside of it and uses it to make a sort of "space," or compartment within the belt. Her Tonfas also carry some of her aura and can interface with the belt. It allows them to be stored inside a pocket space for later retrieval.
How that was possible... he had no clue...
On the topic of weapons, he'd already spoke to the General about finding a blacksmith to help him fashion a new one. He had a few ideas on what he wanted and thankfully, the General had a personal blacksmith for the unit.
It took some time, but ultimately the young arc settled on something he could be proud of, something of his own making. A long sword-spear with violet-colored blade and gold engravings along the blade. Its dark blue pole was length-adjustable allowing for a sword-like mode and the entire weapon was completely dust-compatible. The icing on the cake? When it was in its sword mode, it's fully capable of mechashifting into a miniature railgun of sorts.
Through a ridiculous amount of effort, he'd managed to master his new weapon but he made sure to keep Crocea Mors with him. He still felt like he didn't have much of a right to wield it but felt better with it on his person.
Later on when Navy asked him what he would name his weapon, he knew exactly what he wanted to call it.
Pyrrha once told him he had a lot of Aura, his shined brightly and lit the Emerald Forest up in that moment. He thought about destiny, his own, his friends and family alike. Though he still hated the concept of a preconceived fate, he couldn't deny that everyone was own their own path. His own path shined like his aura, and it came to him. He took two words from the old Valean dialect; light and road, and simply put them together.
Via Lux. Light Road.
A month and a half after Via Luxes creation and mastery, he awoke a... strange ability.
While he was in the middle of a patrol with the initiate trio, they were ambushed by flock of Griffons. In the middle of cleaving a lone bird in two that had got past his eye and nearly killed Coral. He flared his aura as he swung and something unexpected happened. He blinked twice and opened his eyes to the sight of the black ichor of the Grimm swirling around him. It was being sucked into his aura, which was now flowing outward from his body. It was as if his Aura was reaching out to the mist to retrieve it.
Stranger still, as he absorbed the mist, he could feel his body becoming stronger and his senses sharpening, he could feel the land around him. The longer he fought, the more mist he would absorb and the more he took in the stronger he would become. So much so that his strikes would naturally coat themselves in the black mist, adding a deadly bite to his attacks and making them truly debilitating to the Grimm.
At first, it seemed to just happen as he flexed his aura but as he trained his newfound power, he noticed something odd. When this ability would activate, he would be overcome by an odd wave of shame and guilt. Though it wasn't a focused feeling, just the pure feeling itself. He would think back to his time on the coast with Morganna and the wisdom she imparted. His shame and guilt were his motivation, his means of overcoming those very feelings meant completely accepting them.
After the realization and having astounding success through its usage, he would tap into that shame to rise above his circumstances quite literally.
The last few months into his training revealed some new information to the Young Arc. Apparently, the Elder Grimm they planned to kill had been spotted near the Kingdom several times within the months, moving in an out of Laguna's firing range. Why was anyones guess as it always barely crossed the line before going back out into the undetectable, cloudy areas of Nidhogg. Such erratic movements put the General on edge, having seem first hand what it was capable of, he'd even given it a name: Miasma.
It was no secret that the General had a massive hard-on for the Elder Grimm in the worst way.
Wanting it dead was quite the understatement.
Which lead to todays current events, planning a small recon mission, for five.
[Drakes Head, Nidhogg]
Storms rolled and waved across the lands surface, thunder and lightning were the only sights and sounds in this desolate hell-mouth.
Dark clouds roved along the skies, blotting out any chance of sunlight.
"Rrrrrrrrrrrrr..."
A low but bellowing growl rumbled through the air, its thrum vibrating the area around it. An out of place, pitch black cloud descended from the rest of its slightly lighter counterparts.
"Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrraaa..."
Atop the ominous cloud, a pure picture of gluttony sat upon its nimbus-like throne. An armored face covered in red markings with red, assaulting eyes and two horns peered over its territory. Its face oddly similar to an Ursa yet with much more pronounced features. White, bonelike plating spread down from its neck to its upper chest and shoulders, the occasional spike spread down its biceps and forearms. Its large, obscene gut was covered in thick, black fur.
"Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrraaaaahh...!"
A surge of thunder and lightning flashed across the sky as the rain began to fall. A black rain, congealing and coagulating as it hit the ground. Churning and twisting until it took shape, Grimm of different shapes an sizes began to form, scouring the land and looking to their parent.
Miasma was amassing its forces once more...
Words from the Author:
Yea, getting into the meat and potatoes of this story now. Jaune's got some gains, a new weapon with a new skill too. Looking good, Vomit boy.
Not gonna change his semblance btw, so yea there is that.
Okay, so I made a few timeline changes so things would make a bit more sense i.e. in chapter 2, I changed the four month timeskip to eight months. Why? Because after researching the rwby official timeline I realized RNJR doesn't make it to Haven for the better part of a year so eight months seems more feasible.
I don't plan on reintroducing Jaune into the story until halfway through s6 and I wont say anymore on that...
Also Im planning on a Ruby fanfic focusing on her Semblance and a betrayed Jaune Fanfic. Both coming soon ;)
Mangaelf1997: this
LATER~