I know chapter two of this story is coming out pretty quick but I already had a rough draft for it and, due to the fact I'm leaving again, sorry I know, I wanted this one out as quick as possible. The next chapter here will probably be a re-write of "A Piece of Me" chapter 2 only this time with a much more angry Jaune. I hope you guys will like that so look forward to it, and without adieu here is your chapter.
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The Shadow over Beacon:
Trapped in the unorthodox town of Beacon, Jaune stands alone against a horde of strange people. Without a way to get out of town soon enough he must find the one man who might help him: Qrow. But getting to him is easier said then done, especially when the town's folk start to get closer...
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Goddammit it all I muttered silently as my head swiveled around trying to find some way out of this godforsaken place. Much to my dismay, that did not help in the slightest as I now noticed there were no cars, other buses, wagons, horses, not even a fucking bicycle in this hellhole.
The "child" in front of me stared expectantly into my eyes like she was waiting for something.
"So, ugh, you got a name kid?" I asked hesitantly, she pouted in what would have been an adorable way had it not been for the ghostly white skin and memories from last night.
"I'm no kid! I'm 15 and I drink milk!" she said like that solved the case. Whatever, I wasn't going to fucking argue with this freak so I took it as my cue to leave.
"Well, I gotta go so bye!" I said hurriedly before speeding out of her general area before she could ask any questions. The day was overcast, and not even a single ray of sunshine pierced the gloomy atmosphere of this place. My shoes clicked down the broken sidewalk as I avoided eye contact with the strange, huddled folk around me.
Whoever this Qrow guy is he might be able to tell me something I took a glance at the cold, unwelcome glares from the townsfolk. Well, no way in hell am I asking them for directions.
Not knowing my way around town I wandered aimlessly until I came upon a street that looked semi-familiar. The same street the bus went down when we first arrived into town! Feeling a small glimmer of hope I walked quickly down more of the broken sidewalk and took notice of my surroundings. The same decrepit houses and shops littered the side streets but, to my utter horror, going down the road would lead me right past the damnable church.
I thought of crossing the street but soon myself equally detested at the idea due to the large number of strange people congregated on the other sidewalk. Steeling my nerves I walked briskly and with a confident step, perhaps if I didn't stop none of those weirdos would talk to me. As I approached the strange building I could see the same women in the red dress standing at the door where she was talking to two others: a cat faunus and a rabbit faunus.
Deciding it was none of my business I continued onward and had made it halfway across the expanse of the sidewalk before those two faunus turned to me with expectant smiles.
Oh shit, now I was in for it. I fingered the gun hidden in my jacket, I would play dumb until they pulled their weird, sacrificial knives then I'd open fire like I was Billy the Kid. Sure enough the two walked over to me, cutting my path off, and acting like we were the best of friends.
"Oh hi there! You must be new in town, so sorry if the way the others were acting put you off." said the rabbit girl, a strange accent to her voice, but I could not give less of a shit. I was out, out, outta here.
"Don't worry, just looking to head out of here." I semi-lied, maybe I'd just risk walking back to town instead of waiting for the bus to be "fixed" (I wasn't that dense).
"Oh my, but didn't you hear? A nasty storm is coming in!" the rabbit girl said with what I assumed to faux worry. "I'm Velvet by the way so nice to meet you. And my friend here is Blake."
"Blake" nodded with a small smile as her ears twitched.
"Oh, right then I must be off!" I said, not giving her an answer to the storm thing. I had just taken the first step before a hand closed in on my arm with a steel grip not unlike that of a mugger or some kind of bodybuilder rapist. I shrieked like the damned and ripped the pistol from the confines of my jacket, the flailing about dislodged my arm, and whirled around to my attacker.
Oh shit, it was the light ginger girl with that freaky fucking smile, only now she looked surprised and kinda worried. Whatever, I'm out; there is no way these freaks are going to surround me here! I took off with the speed of the great god Hermes as I bounded down the sidewalk, not caring to look behind me.
I sped down the sidewalk, almost knocking over more pale figures, as I attempted to run from the cultists that were probably behind me. I turned the corner and hid there for a moment, pistol drawn and head inched around the corner to see how many were coming.
None.
There was no one coming after me wielding satanic knives like I thought. I took a moment to nearly collapse and catch my breath, then, to my additional horror, a guttural roar sounded from all around me.
Damn, I forgot to eat breakfast now that I think about it. I checked the street I was on for anything and, thankfully, there was a small convenience store nearby where I assumed they must have something edible.
I entered the shabby place and looked around for the attendant and found the man with the pink highlight running the counter. Swallowing my displeasure I searched for some breakfast and found it in a few peanut butter cracker packages. As I took another one I noticed the lack of drink in the dingy refrigerators, but perhaps this cult had some weird prohibition thing going on.
I went to pay and pinky gave me a knowing smile. "Wondering why we don't have much drink? Blame Qrow."
Damn, there's that name again. This Qrow fellow could be my only hope, so I attempted to prod him subtly. "Oh? And who's that?"
"The town drunk as everyone calls him, doesn't really do much for the community. He usually just sleeps in the old park and drinks whenever he can, never did know how he scrounged up the money."
The old park! A perfect place to find my ally! I paid, thanked him, and was about to leave when the ginger girl with the rapist-like grip bounded into the small convenience store.
"Reen! I need help finding-" she stopped when she looked at me, and, in defense, I reached for the gun.
Noticing our reactions "Ren" sighed and looked at her. "Nora, what did you do to him?"
"Nora" looked sheepish as she prodded her index fingers together. "Well, I sorta kinda grabbed him from behind when he wasn't expecting it."
Ren groaned and facepalmed at her answer as she tried to defend herself. "Well I thought it was going to be a big joke and he'd laugh but instead he freaked out and ran away!"
She pouted and Ren looked at me apologetically. "Sorry about her, she doesn't have much common sense so if she scared you she didn't mean it."
I swallowed dryly and nodded, and then quickly vacated the premises much to the disappointment of Nora and the resigned sighing of Ren.
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Jesus H Christ what was wrong with the people in this town? Oh what am I saying, that's the wrong question to ask right now. I took a moment to clear my head as I ducked into a small alleyway, it took a moment but I calmed down enough to think about last night and today.
From what I could tell there immediate mission was not "Kill the heretic outsider" and was instead more like "convert the heretic outsider" which didn't exactly put my mind at ease either. They seem to be tolerating my presence, for now, but I feel that there is more to this story than just a bunch of country bumpkins trying to bring me into their cult of weird.
I took off stealthily towards the direction, I assumed, of the park given some faded town maps that showed a graphic of a large green area that lacked buildings in it. Avoiding the stares and attempts at more weird conversation I arrived at the park itself, a far cry from the town it looked to be the one place that actually had some life in it. Nice greenery and healthy trees invited me into a pretty well-trimmed grass ground that had a myriad of benches for people to sit on.
Still, I moved quickly in trying to find my drunken ally but, although I had just stepped into the lush park, I only saw more strange folk. The one who stood out was a colossal beast of a man standing over seven feet and coursing with thick muscle, I mean holy shit was this guy big! The dude looked like he could fold cars like cardboard boxes! He was asian of some kind, judging by his features, and wore some sort of green karate outfit, you know the ones with the belt and the white robes? Like that, but in green.
He was... meditating or praying or something so I though I could just slip past him without him really noticing. But, goddammit it all, just as I was about to make it past him he apparently woke up and called out to me in a surprisingly soft voice.
"You must be the new man in town! Come! Come! I would like to speak with you for a moment." now, I was never one to just go over to someone just because they ask but, at the same time, I really didn't want to anger this guy by offending his culture or some shit.
I walked over, but remained standing, and waited for him to talk. He looked at me and smiled, petting a small pigeon in his hand. "I heard around town that you're quite the runner!" he chuckled, but I found it less funny.
"Y-Yeah, just gotta take care of something before I leave."
He looked surprised at that. "With that storm coming? Young man, I'd hate to imagine what could happen to you!"
"I'll take my chances." I blurted out before I could stop myself, damn it now this guy was gonna go all psycho on my ass.
But he didn't, instead he just chuckled to himself while shaking his head. "Sir, if this is about our... disposition towards newcomers then I would like to apologize on their behalf. Mayor Rose always says we need to be more welcoming to newcomers or our town will never improve. That being said, those who take this lesson to heart have more than a fair bit of trouble trying to connect with those from outside the town."
Yeah, no shit. Weird cult meetings in hotel rooms, surrounding me with their weird pale skin, and grabbing my arm like you're about to tear it off doesn't strike me as something normal people do.
"Again, I'd like to apologize to those who have scared you. I promise we are not as unwelcoming as we seem!" he smiled a pretty genuine smile but it wouldn't work on me. I wasn't about to let this weird, golly-green-giant looking-ass cult recruiter sway me with a few kind words.
"Well so sad I gotta y'know seeya!" I rushed out before leaving the scene in a light jog, continuing my search for this Qrow fellow. 10 minutes later I believed I had found him, sitting alone on a park bench was a scruffy man in a shabby suit without a coat hunched over with a bottle in his hand. Strangely he lacked the "Beacon Look" as I dubbed it, no pale skin to be seen. So, I sat down next to him and tapped him lightly, he roused himself and blearily looked at me like he wasn't sure if I was real.
"Who're you kidsh?" he asked drunkenly.
"My name is Jaune Arc, I came here for some stupid adventure but now I'm fucking stuck in this shithole town." I said in a harsh whisper. "People are saying you might know something so please! I just want to get out of here."
He blinked once. Twice. "Arc? Ash in those Arcs? Your dadsh wash an adventurer?"
"Yes that's him! Did you know him?"
He chuckled to himself. "Yeah, I knew him. Look kidsh, if you want to find out what is going on just take a quick listen-"
He sobered up almost immediately, in fact, it was so fast I questioned if he was drunk in the first place.
"A long time ago this place was a ghost town, even more so than now. It stayed that way until this guy, Auburn Rose, shows up in town and magically becomes mayor. Just then, all this shit is getting fixed left and right. Auburn, the goddamned maniac, claims it was through the power of this weird religion he picked up from overseas, he was a sailor you see. Of course, people being people, flock to that shit because it saved and then bam! We got our very own cult, so anyways this gets passed down year after year after year. The folks in this town get pretty fucking weird in this time, that pale skin you see is some genetic shit they got going on here. I don't know the specifics but trust me, that ain't normal. Ever since then we got good enough business, the damned Rose family keeps themselves in power with those arrogant Schnee pricks acting as every other important person in town, meanwhile the regular joes are going fucking bananas over this weird religion in town. Kid, I'll tell you what, this place is all kinds of wrong, but I can't leave. They don't want me to you ya see, they made it pretty clear last time I tried to leave what would happen if I did. So listen to me kid, storm or no storm, you gotta get the fuck outta here right now!"
At the end of his spiel I was packed up and ready to bolt. I took his advice to heart and resolutely decided to book it out of here, I thanked him sincerely and made my way to the street I can in on. There it was, at the end of the street, the gates out of here.
They were locked.
Damn, did they know I talked to Qrow?
Whatever, I wasn't sticking around to find out and I had hopped a few fences in my time so screw it. I ran to the gate and began to shimmy up the black metal and over. I had hooked one of my legs over the edge of the gate when I saw it, a couple of townsfolk bolting down the street right at me.
One was the deep redhead with green eyes I had seen hanging around Nora and Ren, another was some kid with a green mohawk, and the last one was that cat faunus and they obviously were coming for me. I jumped the rest of the fence and made down the bumpy and cracked road on foot casting glances behind my shoulder. I had gotten over in time so that they would need to stop and either unlock the gate or try to climb over it like I did, either way it gave me a head start and I took it wholeheartedly.
I raced down the street with the winged feet of Hermes on me, gun firmly in hand, and I wasn't stopping for anything. I threw another glance over my shoulder and, to my terror, found mohawk kid and cat faunus had easily climbed over the gate and were racing at me, still I was faster and had a head start as well.
I flicked the safety off the gun but continued my route, the street had not changed since I came in yesterday it was still cracked and weathered but the actual weather was a different story. Much to my surprise, I found that there was indeed a storm brewing off in the distance, the grey clouds turning bruise black, but I could make it back to Vale with time to spare. I looked behind me and found mohawk kid still pursuing me with vigor in his step, so yeah, I was not having that shit.
I fired once, blindly in his direction, and that cut his chase short. He stopped, ducked, skid across the ground, and bolted back to the safety of that wretched town. Good. I didn't give a shit if I hit him or not but that let him know just who the fuck he was chasing.
With a smug laugh I continued bounding down the winding street, a sloped cliff to my left and the open sea to my right. If I took a quick break from running, but continued walking and watched for more townsfolk, I could make it back to Vale in time for supper! Perhaps I should call my dad too, so, in the interest of hearing my dad's voice just in case I didn't come back, I pulled out my scroll and phoned him.
I didn't have nearly as much service as I would like but the call still went through.
"Jaune? What's going? Are you ok?"
"Not at all dad, you were right! These people are fucking crazy and they were chasing after me!"
"Jesus Christ, you still have the amulet and gun don't you?"
"Yeah, of course. But I ran out of the town and a few of them tried to follow me."
"Where are you now Jaune?"
"I'm outside the town and I shot at one of the guys chasing me."
"Jesus Chri- Ok, your mother and I are going to come pick you up just keep running along the road 'til you find us."
"O-Ok Dad, I'm on my way."
He hung up and I decided to keep running after I had that opportunity to catch my breath.
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I had spent hours walking and walking and running and occasionally just sitting there and catching my breath but something wasn't right. It was nearly 7 in the PM and I hadn't seen anything near Vale. The storm clouds grew closer, I could see them very much so and heard their raucous thunder overhead, so I tried to do something crazy. I had a sneaking suspicion of what was going on but I just couldn't prove it. So, I went to one of the road speed signs and tied my black hoodie around it. At worse I'd lose a hoodie, and at "best" I confirm my truth.
After that I kept walking and walking and walking until bam!
Same road speed sign, and my coat still firmly tied around it. What the fuck was going on in this town? I know I didn't take a wrong turn, you needed to have turns to do that! The feeling of helplessness, running and walking for hours, and the dumb confusion caused me to violently vomit up whatever was left in my stomach. I sat there, choking and crying like a child as I just tried to think on what to do.
Maybe that crazy, "hoodoo you voodoo" religion had some merit. I mean, obviously this isn't supposed to happen right? And then a though hit me, so vile and chilling I almost wretched right there: what about mom and dad?
Could they get caught in this shit too? And what of the storm? Did the cultists conjure that shit up now too? Are they wizards? Is that what's going on? That we're being attacked by wizards? Fuck it, as much as I hated to say it, I needed to get back to the town. I ran the other way in hopes of this spell or whatever reversing itself and, sure enough, I was in sight of the front gates in no time. Thunder rumbled ominously overhead and I bit back more displeasure as I tried to make out what was happening at the gates, because there was something going on.
A couple of people were huddled around a... car... my parent's car... my parents. I roared a defiant rebel yell as the thunder accented it with its own roar and I charged, gun in hand and ready to shoot like I was stuck in the Alamo. As I got closer I saw the figure at my dad's side point into the town and they drove in, the bastards probably told them I came back to town!
I slowed my run and ducked next to some rocks as the figures entered back inside, leaving the gate wide open. So be it, if they wanted to play hardball well then I'm game for it too. The first few drops of ran began to pour down upon me, I knew that once the rain started to let loose I could get in there undetected for the most part. So I'd wait, and bide my time before I'd just jump one of the fucking townsfolk and make them talk to me. I made sure my gun was loaded, the safety was off, and I was ready for the inevitability of having to kill someone.
Perhaps I would go talk to Qrow again, he didn't seem to like this town so perhaps I could convince him to lend me a hand in exchange for his freedom. Add on mom and dad who are badasses in their own right and we've got a fighting force fit to fuck up this shitty little town. I watched silently as more figures crossed near the gates, none of which I recognized, as I continued to bide my time. The rain slowly got heavier until it was noticeable enough to head inside for anyone else, but I knew this storm was about to release a downpour the likes Noah would have balked at. Sure enough, timed at the crack of thunder and a spear of lightning in the distance, the downpour became a reality. So thick you couldn't see 20 feet away and anything closer would have been a muddled blob if they weren't right up on you, a perfect time to strike. I crept into the town without issue and stayed close to the alleys and secluded areas I could find, I scoped out for what I was looking for and found it as I grew nearer. Yes, a local yokel with silvery-blue hair and pretty boy features. He wouldn't put up a fight at all, so I decided to creep a little bit closer with a fire in my eyes that warmed me from the ice cold rain.
I'm going to burn down this town if need be...