"So you're telling me that you're not dead?" Russel asked, pointing at Pyrrha. "You're half grimm," he continued pointing at Jaune. "And there is a grimm living inside of Weiss that is keeping her alive?" he finished pointing at Weiss.
"That about sums it up." Jaune answered, taking a half step to his left when Russel pointed at Weiss since he was making Layla nervous.
"So why shouldn't I kill all three of you?" he asked bluntly.
It was Weiss or more to the point Layla that answered. "Because you wouldn't last seven seconds against the four of us."
Russel knew she was right but he still didn't like it. "And you can't have me telling anyone about you either," he added stepping between them and Whitley.
He could read the feeling of the room and if he was right then he and Whitley were about to die very bloody and violent deaths
"Do I have your word that you will keep our secret?" Jaune asked.
Russel, recognizing who was actually in charge, turned to Pyrrha. "You do but only as long as you mind your manners with the locals. If any of them start getting hurt or go missing them I'm coming back with three armies of pissed off nineteen year olds in body armor.
that seemed fair to them but before they could respond Pyrrha looked through the ship to the grimm that was sent by Edward. Turning to Jaune she said. " Sheriff McAllen is calling for you". Jaune answered with a wordless nod and headed for the ursa he had called.
mounting up he rode to town finding that there was still little activity in the town given how early it was. McAllen was waiting for him with a rifle in his arms. That was a bad sign for Jaune since there wasn't much that he couldn't handle with his pistol.
"What's the problem?" he asked, dismounting.
"There are two, one some sort of werewolf-like species is back and needs to be destroyed, and two Mordecai it back" when McAllen mentions Mordecai he saw Jaune's widden.
"where is he?" Jaune asked. he had a history with Mordecai and if he was really back in the area then Jaune wanted to be able to control how they met.
"He and Yang are out hunting the thing's down. no idea how long they're gonna be." McAllen explained.
Jaune nodded silently thinking about his options. "I'll send a unit of grimm into the surrounding area to patrol the area and keep these things out of the village for now I think it would be best if we stayed here and waited for Mordecai."
it was clear that McAllen didn't share Jaune's view of the Mordecai situation but he ultimately made the choice to trust him. there wasn't much more they could do.
...
Yang and Mordecai were set up on a hillside overlooking the town. this wasn't what Yang meant when she said she wanted to hunt these things down but she was still appreciating Mordecai's company.
That is until Jaune rode into town and Mordecai tried to shoot him. Yang was barely able to wrestle the rifle away from him in time. He was abnormally strong for a man of his size. "What is wrong with you!" he whispered, not wanting to alert any nearby beasts.
Mordecai was furious, so mad in fact that it caught Yang off guard. "that bastard betrayed me!" he yelled, not caring about the woodland creatures.
he was tearing up as he continued. "It was just me, him, Edward, Ethan, and old man Hanlan." Mordecai sat back against a tree pulling his knees to his chest. "Ethan and Edward left, old man Hanlan died, and then Jaune left." by the end of his sentence he was growling. holding up his left hand he showed her a small scar on the meat of his thumb.
"We were brother's made a pact in blood to be there for each other and he left me." his rage was building and Yang was starting to realize that Mordecai's aura was unlocked. she could see it flaring up as he yelled further fueled by his anger. " Then the damn things showed up and I killed em all myself with bullets and blades. so when I heard that Jaune was back I started this way, when I learned that he had somehow become fused with the grimm I made up my mind to kill him."
all at once Yang saw the anger break, Mordecai couldn't kill Jaune he didn't hate him, Jaune was still his best friend how could he. with so much anger and nothing to do with it Yang who was herself very familiar with anger saw the next step coming.
bringing his hands to his head Mordecai started crying. He was melting down plain and simple. Yang could hear the monsters getting closer and knowing the Mordecai wouldn't be of much use, she got up and went into her kind of a hunt. She was going to kill these damn things before they killed Mordecai.
she felt relief wash over her as a beowolf moved into sight. it must have been one of Jaune's since it wasn't attacking. the creature approached her and took up a guarding post next to her. letting the grimm stand guard she went to Mordecai who still had yet to look up from his hands.
she reached out and set her hand on his shoulder. This seemed to trigger his touch starved nature since he wrapped his arms around her and just sorta did his best to cling to her. If he were a normal man it would have been no problem but his aura was active and he was much stronger than a normal man. All the same she was able to handle it so she positioned in a way that let her be a bit more comfortable.
they both looked up when they heard growling. the beowolf was gone and there was a werewolf in its place. before Yang could act Mordecai's instinct took over and he threw himself at the beast. he grabbed his by the body and ran it into a tree. using one of his hands he pushed up on it's jaw and drove his hunting knife into the beast throat.
lifeless the body slumped to the leave but Mordecai kept going stabbing it over and over again. Yang had to stop him but once she did he calmed down. she pulled him away and watched as right in front of her the beast started to change.
it was subtle but something was happening. not wanting to wait for more to show up and aware that these things seemed to be able to bypass the grimm she half dragged Mordecai to his feet and led him back to town.
There was no one in the street so she brought him to the hotel. In hindsight that was a bad idea because once they were inside and Mordecai saw Jaune she could feel his anger flare up. she was hoping that Jaune would be the cooler head of the two but given the look on Jaune's face she doubted that.
Mordecai didn't say anything he just stared at Jaune with eyes that would have sent most people running. there was only one thing behind those eyes, rage. Yang made sure that she kept a tight grip on Mordecai's hand but she worried that she wouldn't be able to hold him back if he really made up his mind to attack Jaune.
"what do you want Mordecai?" Jaune snarled. as he did so Yang saw the anger in Jaune's eyes shift. it wasn't the same now it was more of a fearful look. it certainly wasn't fear of Mordecai Yang was fairly certain that she could take him and Jaune went at it with her and Blake at the same time. no he was scared of something else.
Mordecai didn't answer lightly, tugging his hand free from Yang he walked over to Jaune. she was still worried but she could tell from his posture that he wasn't going to attack him. "you left." Mordecai growled. "you made me a promise and you broke it."
now it was Jaune's turn to stay silent. Mordecai was right but he had no idea what Jaune had been doing in that time. What was meant to be a few months to start his huntsman career turned into a several year long war for the fate of the whole world.
their staredown was interrupted by a scream from the street. Everyone rushed outside and saw a massive bear was about to kill a child. Yang went to stop it but Edward was first. He fired one round that took off the bear's lower jaw, killing it instantly. the child ran over to Jaune and hid behind him. a sight that would have been unthinkable anywhere else. but Jaune was a known person to this town. He was trusted even in his current state.
"run home." he told them before approaching the body to drag it out of town. when he reached it he stopped. something was wrong with the body but he had to take care of it first. turning to Mordecai he motioned for help and Mordecai oddly obliged grabbing a foot and dragging the dead bear out of the town.
Yang went after them not wanting to leave them alone. Once they were outside of town Jaune looked the beast over. It was at this time that Yang's scroll chimed and when she answered it a very worried looking Weiss asked ``Where's Jaune, Pyrrha can't sense him and she's freaking out?"
pointing the camera at Jaune Yang could hear Weiss breath a sigh of relief as she said. "Pyrrha, he's okay and he's with Yang."
"then why can't I sense him?" Pyrrha yelled. now Yang was worried, if Pyrrha came down from her mountain on the war path then she might hurt anyone who gets in her way.
"Jaune tends to Pyrrha, she's having a panic attack." Yang barked. no sooner had she said the words then Jaune was running back through the woods heading for the mountain. hoping that the matter was now in hand and knowing that Mordecai wasn't going back into town that so many people were in the street. Yang asked him. "where do you normally sleep?"
when Mordecai answered he was visibly calmer than before. presumably because Jaune was now gone. "I gotta cabin about two miles away. it ain't much but it's where I sleep."
Yang nodded and asked. "mind showing me there?"
without a word Mordecai started through the forest leading Yang to his home. sure enough it wasn't much barley more than one room but it was enough. inside was a modest looking bed. seeing a bed she realized just how tired she was. she didn't sleep last night so she started moving towards the bed.
she stopped when she remembered that it wasn't her bed. turning to Mordecai she saw that he was just as tired as she was. going over to the window she pulled down the sheepskin curtain and motioned towards the bed. "lets get some sleep." she said half dragging Mordecai into the bed.
...
Jaune ran as fast as he could back to Pyrrha. he could feel her fear and he didn't like it. not to mention he lost connection with three of his grimm. one last night and two more since. whatever was going on needed a full offensive. that meant planning and coordination with Pyrrha.
...
Back at Mordecai and Yang's old hunting spot the changes Yang noticed were completed and instead of a werewolf a dead beowolf lay on the ground slowly fading away.