Here's chapter 2 already, feeling really motivated at the moment so will probably crack out a few chapters in a coming weeks. I hope by soon that I'll get better at writing but here's to hoping. Anyways enjoy.
Jaune stood tall and victorious over they Beowolf, a sword in one hand while a shield on his other, his armor shining brightly against the bright sun as he looked down at the monster he slayed. The creatures lifeless body laying before him with x's over it's eyes and tongue hanging out of it's mouth, the brave knight then turned to see the beautiful princess he saved from the monster. As he slowly approached the maiden he could hear her saying something as a whisper, "….ake….u…"
The knight sheathed his mighty weapons as he came to a stop before the maiden, the light from the sun blocking her face from view but this did not sway the knight. "What did you say fair princess? No doubt thanking me for saving you of course!" The knight said as a most dashing smile appeared across his face.
The princess stayed still, not moving at all while the words seemed to come from her mouth, slightly louder now. "wa...e...p…!"
The knight still smiled and leaned his head down and faced the right side of his head towards the princess, cupping his ear to hear her better.
Suddenly the world around the knight shifted as everything turned black around him and the princess as a voice boomed throughout the land.
"WAKE UP!"
Jaune woke up with a yelp as his eyes flew open, his head flying upwards as he woke with a start but stopped when his forehead hit something hard but fleshy feeling. "OW! What the fu!" A loud yell could be heard after as Jaune quickly moved his hands to his now sore forehead, closing his eyes while he winced in pain, whatever he hit had been human he guessed with the sudden talking.
"That's what you get for yelling so close to the boy's face." A voice sounding like it belonged to a grown man said, it sounded annoyed and tired at the same time.
"How was I supposed to know the kid would shoot up like that when he got up huh?!" The same voice from earlier said now, sounding pissed off above anything else.
Jaune slowly opened his eyes as his moved his hand's away from his head, his vision now surrounded by a bright clearing in the sunlight surrounded by trees. In front of him he say two men, one slightly skinny with the middle part of his hair mostly slicked back with the sides cut short; the man wore a mismatch of clothes and armor but with a main theme with the color orange. He was clenching a hand around his nose while looking pissed off at Jaune. 'Ah, must have been who I hit…" He thought as he rubbed his still stinging for head.
The other man was sat down on a log that was laying on the ground, the man looked more buff with his hair unkempt, the other man also having a mismatch of clothes and armor but this time with a main theme of dark green, but what stood out the most to Jaune was the man's face. Two large scars covered the mans face, making an X shape right between his eyes and nose.
Jaune looked at both of the men as they started to bicker between themselves, still trying to process where he was and who they were, but before he could get his bearing straight he heard foot steps come up behind him. "Well well, look who's awake." A voice that sounded like a women's said from behind.
He turned around to see a women standing behind him, looking down towards him. The women had dark red hair that was kept in a pony tail; she also followed the trend of clothing as the other two but seemed to be more armor then clothes on her, they also centered around a color but this time a lighter shade of blue…. like a light-ish blue some would say.
Jaune looked at the women confused, trying to remember where he was before a sharp pain attacked his head, he quickly moved his hands to his head, gripping it tightly as he fell back onto the ground on his side, his eyes clenching shut at the sudden pain. He let out a yell of pain that made the two men stop with argument as the women fell to her knee next to him. "Are you alright?!" she asked quickly as both of the men moved towards them, standing above him wondering what happened.
Jaune laid on the ground as he gripped his head, flashes of memories flowing through his mind, one of a dark night in woods, another of of trees running past him, and one last one of bright red eyes.
As he laid there, his mind now focused on the pain instead of remembering, the pain suddenly left as quickly as it appeared, he slowly opened his eyes as he panted heavily for a 7 year old. He slowly rose into a sitting position as his mind wondered, "I… I think I am now…." He said, trying to figure out why his head suddenly hurt then.
The women sighed in relief as the man with the scars on his face just groaned annoyed, while the other man wiped non-existent sweat off his face, "Jesus kid, scare us a second time already huh? What's a kid like you doing out here anyways?"
Jaune looked at the man for a second before thinking, he also wished to know what he was doing out here. "I…. I don't know…" He said, rubbing his head a small twinge of the pain from before returned now.
"You don't know how you ended up here in the middle of the forest? Kid we're not going to believe that." The man responded.
"I… I really don't know why… the last thing I remember is waking up here…" Jaune said as he closed his eyes, thinking of why he didn't know.
While he did this the three adults looked at each other, each of their faces showing an expression of worry or confusion. "You don't think after last night he lost his memory in his panic do you?" The man in orange asked the others, trying to figure out why he couldn't remember.
"That or he lost it when he hit your face, He got you good, almost thought you'd go down from it." The scarred man replied, taking a shot at the other man.
"Please, he just got me off guard is all"
"Off guard enough to crooked nose? Or have you always looked deformed like that?"
"I don't want to hear anything about looks scar face!"
"Yeah well-"
"ENOUGH!" The women shouted, making the men and Jaune turn towards her, she looked at the two men annoyed. "Felix, Locus, shut up." She told the two men before looking back down at Jaune, her expression going softer looking at him. "Can you remember anything? Like your name or where you're from?" she asked.
Jaune thought for a moment before he frowned trying to recall his own name. "...Jaune….?" He said with uncertainty, not even sure how he knew the name he said.
"Okay Jaune's your name, can you recall anything else?" the women asked. Jaune shook his head sadly as he couldn't recall anything else, his mind hazing on anything other then the present.
"Carolina this isn't getting us anywhere, let's just drop the kid off at the nearest village and get back to the tribe." The man in orange, Felix he guessed, said."N-No!" Jaune said quickly an innate desire to not return to a village burned inside him for reason unbeknownst to himself.
The three adult's looked down at him again, expressions of confusion dawning their faces, "You don't want to go to a village? Thought you couldn't remember anything?" Felix said to Jaune, his suspicion of thew boy slowly growing.
"I… I don't know why but I just don't want to go to a village…" He said as he looked at the ground., confused by his own actions and reasons for dreading villages.
Felix looked at him for a few more seconds before dropping his suspicion and sighing,"Fine, whatever you say kid. Still doesn't help us figure out what to do with you." Felix shook his head before the women, Carolina, spoke "We could take him back to the tribe with us." She suggested to the men.
"What? No way am I watching some brat at the tribe. First Vernal, then the brat Raven brought back? I'm not dealing with another one." Felix said backing away slightly from the group.
"You wouldn't have to, tribes rules, he looks older then 5 so he would have to watch over himself." The scarred man, Locus, said to him.
"Hm, you may be right… but you think this kid could handle it? He looks like a wimp."
Jaune upon hearing this jumped up onto his feet and angrily pointed a thumb at his chest, "I am strong enough to handle anything, even whatever you guys are talking about!" He exclaimed at the 3 adults, his eyes taking on a glare towards them.
The three looked at him before Carolina laughed, "Guess you got your answer Felix, looks like he thinks he can handle taking care of himself at the tribe, besides I believe he can do it." Carolina said as Felix sighed shaking his head, while Locus just grunted before standing. "Well we should get moving then, we're still a few miles away from the village I want to get back soon, I'm ready to rest for a bit." He said before walking towards the tents, ready to take them down and pack them.
The other two nodded and followed his to their campsite, quickly dismantling it and packing it into large bags they had. Once they looked ready to leave Jaune made himself ready to follow them but before he could, one of the heavy packs was thrown over to him, knocking him down onto the ground with it on top of him.
He quickly pushed the bag off of himself as he looked and saw Felix looking at him, having been the one to throw his bag at Jaune. "Here kid, you can bring that with you while I run as our protection from grimm. Think of it as a way to compensate for hitting my nose earlier." He smugly as he began to walk away, towards a path through some trees that seemed to have some regular use.
Jaune grumbled angrily before standing and grabbing the bag, struggling to lift it as he threw it over his shoulder, having to lean forward to just not tip backwards because of the weight. "Stupid bag…" He muttered as he followed the three adults, making their way through the woods now.
The group had been walking for what Jaune felt like years, in reality is had been about 2 hours but he knew that was time playing tricks on them. There's no way his feet would hurt so much otherwise.
Saving his grumblings about his poor feet for another time, Jaune spirit's rose as he saw what appeared to be a crudely made wall made out of wooden logs with an open entrance in it's front with two guards standing on either side of the gate. As the four of them approached the two guards raised their eyebrows upon seeing Jaune, but before they could ask any questions Felix stepped in."Just some extra baggage we picked up, don't worry probably won't last 2 weeks." He told the guards, they looked at him then to Jaune then to each other before shrugging and letting them through.
As the 4 of them walked into the tribe, Jaune looked around, taking the tribe in for what it was. He saw all of their tents while rough looking people talked, worked, or drank away, not paying any mind to the group. He also noticed at all of the adults, younger or older carried weapons on their person, as well as all wore mismatches or clothing and armor, but the last thing he noticed were the cages. They looked just big enough to hold a large animal, or even full grown people in them.
Before Jaune could say anything to the other three, he felt Felix's bag that he was carrying get taken from him as he stumbled from the less weight on his body now. Felix not even saying anything to him as he and Locust walked away towards empty spots on the ground, starting to unpack their belongings their.
Carolina looked down at Jaune and sighed, "This is as far as we associate, now you're on your own for everything here, your food, shelter, and well being are now dependent on yourself, good luck. She simply said as she made her own way to a different spot on the ground, beginning to unpack as well.
Jaune looked around now, finally realizing what he was going to have to do. He was going to have to worry about himself while no one would give him a hand without either expecting anything from him or if they took pity on him.
For some reason though he hated that thought, of the people around him not taking him seriously, how they didn't spare him a glance because they thought that he wouldn't last among them and wouldn't be worth the trouble. The feeling thinking about that resonated inside of him fiercely, a fire burning inside his body that he couldn't ignore.
He was going to prove them wrong.
Mainly focused on Jaune this chapter, I say mainly but it entirely was. But don't worry, we'll get to the other characters within the next few chapters. But for the time being thanks for reading and just know that all reviews, positive or negative are welcome.