Hope you're enjoying Grimm choices, let me know what you think!
Chapter 11
It had been quite the night for James. First Jaune had failed in his mission, which on its own wasn't a big deal but then he was discovered by Qrow of all people before running off despite his order to hold. Worst of all he now had to prepare for the risk that Whitback had been controlling Jaune this entire time and chose now to betray them.
"Sir, if you don't mind me asking." Winter's voice snapped James back to the bullhead they both sat within as it took them away from Beacon towards Atlas. "Why aren't we hunting Jaune and Whitback? If they have betrayed us wouldn't they be a far bigger threat than any average Grimm?" She was confused how they could just fly back to Atlas without securing such a great threat to humanity's security.
Winter wasn't apart of Ozpin's group and as such James couldn't tell her anything about his meeting with Ozpin but she was already privy to Whitback's existence. He couldn't tell her nothing and expect her to feel satisfied, that would only risk breeding dissent.
"You're correct, Whitback is a far bigger threat than any grimm we have ever faced before." He wouldn't deny it, even Ozpin warned of creating a second ruler for the grimm not unlike the legendary Salem he had only heard tales about. "But Jaune is not some malicious criminal, I doubt he could kill even the worst of the White Fang without Whitback helping him. He is too gentle a soul."
"Doesn't that prove how much Whitback controls him? What if what we think is Jaune is really just Whitback using Jaune's memories to trick us?" That very same question gave James many sleepless nights. What if Jaune was killed at Jacques' facility and the grimm was just waiting for the perfect moment to do the most damage against the humans the rest of its kind slaughtered so carelessly.
"That's exactly why we have weapons specifically made for Whitback's unique physiology. There is simply no way to be positive if it is really on our side." James crossed his arms "That being said after spending such a long time with him I can't see Jaune as anything other than human." He practically raised the child for the past six years, if the grimm had already taken full control it was doing a damn good job of hiding it.
"Even then, should we not attempt to bring him back? Jaune could still be a risk with too much negativity." Winter didn't like the thought of Jaune or Whitback losing control in a crowded area. The loss of life on its own would be tragic but the fear it would bring could draw far more problems.
"Someone is already handling it." He didn't like it but James knew Qrow wouldn't fail, a rude, scruffy drunkard he might be but Qrow was still the best huntsmen James ever met. If anyone could keep Jaune out of trouble it would be him. "All we need to do is prepare our viral-grimm countermeasures and hope Jaune makes the right choice."
"With all due respect sir, you don't look very happy about that." Winter was always preceptive, though not usual so forward with her superiors. James didn't mind though since they were the only ones in the bullhead aside from the pilot in the cockpit.
"I am not." He admitted with a sigh, he always had trouble leaving problems to other people. It wasn't that he didn't trust Ozpin or even Qrow for that matter, James just didn't trust problems to not explode in people's faces. "Keep an ear out in Vale if you would, make a note of any rumors that have to do with new kinds of grimm and report them to me."
If he couldn't help find Jaune he would at least keep track of the public's knowledge of him, he might be able to notice panic rising before it happens. And just maybe he would hear about the people Jaune helped, wouldn't that be something.
"Of course sir, I'll get in touch with some of our contacts in Vale."
\-/
"So we can breath underwater now?" Jaune still couldn't believe they had just walked across the ocean floor while he looked back at the restless waves. It was a comparatively small distance when looking at a map but it still took them an entire day to make the journey. I thought I clarified everything during the trek? Or were you too distracted by the leviathans that were inspecting us?
"Hey, that thing was massive! Could've eaten us in a single bite with plenty of room to spare." They weren't able to see so deep underwater but Whitback's advanced sense of hearing and touch "learnt" from the unique deep-sea grimm allowed them to experience everything first hand. And if it did I would've eaten it from the inside.
"...Why can't I absorb and learn about things like you can? Like what you did with the fish you caught." Jaune changed the subject, thinking about how Whitback had said Jaune's brain was apart of its own body. Shouldn't that mean he could control it like Whitback did? Tendrils and all?
You should be able to but I admit My knowledge is as limited as yours in this respect, even James knew very little about us. My best guess is that your mind is having a bit of trouble adjusting to its new body and is only accepting information that it finds familiar.
Jaune looked down at his pearly white hands, the white material wrapped thinly around his new flesh like a glove. Since Whitback fully absorbed his body Jaune had noticed far more black veins wrapping around his bare body underneath the white material, presumably to allow for the same ease of movement normal skin offered.
Dont worry too much about things we can't change, we should focus on our current goal. Jaune shook his head, Whitback was right; they shouldn't be standing around wasting time. "Of course… But where are we?" He had no idea where they were, only that the buildings around them looked to be a bit run down.
From the maps I remember we should be on the closest shore in Vale to Patch, which is in Vale's industrial district. Though from the lack of activity I would guess this area has been left abandoned. I would recommend looking around, I'll give us a cloak like earlier to to help hide our face. The veins covered a much larger portion of his face now while his eyes remained a glowing red, not something Whitback would think other humans would ignore.
"Maybe you could make us a mask?" Jaune suggested as he began walking "So we don't scare people I mean, I wanna avoid that sickening smell as much as possible." He had also scared Ruby with his voice, should he avoid speaking as well? Maybe people would just think he was older? Or maybe hurt with how rough it sounded?
Very well The mask grew directly from his face, the material shifting and hardening so his entire face was covered by a plate of pure white with two holes for his eyes. A thin veil of black material from the inside move over the holes to cover the red glow their eyes gave off.
As they wandered Jaune began to see people and as he continued down the streets more and more seemed to come out of nowhere. None of them spared him much of a glance, most thinking he was just an eccentric huntsman or student of beacon.
"How big is this place…?" Jaune had trouble holding the awe from his voice, They had been walking for at least an hour now and the city only showed them more people and buildings the deeper Jaune went. He had seen massive buildings before but the sheer number of people shocked him.
The amount of sounds and smells was starting to make him dizzy, everywhere he turned there was people moving around making so much noise. He couldn't stay out here, he couldn't handle so much commotion all at once and neither could Whitback. Suddenly he was inside a burning building again with burning fire licking at his body and ice cold eyes staring at him from everywhere.
he made his way to a secluded alleyway, stumbling into a few people who were completely knocked over due to his weight but he didn't notice. Once out of the way he took deep breaths and leaned against the nearby alley-wall, trying to block out the smell of burning flesh. I'm sorry Jaune… I would have calmed us but there were so many people… So many potential threats to sort through...
"It-it's alright Whitback…" Jaune took one more deep breath as Whitback calmed them. Even if they didn't need to breath Jaune found the motion was helping steady his shaking hands and clear his burning nose. They was no fire, he was not inside a burning building and there was no charred corpses. He just needed to keep telling himself that.
"You know I've never seen someone so short knock a full grown man over like that." A voice drew Jaune's attention back to the entrance of the alley. "You must be a lot stronger than you look, are you a huntsman?" The orange haired man asked, spinning his cane lazily in his hand.
\-/
"No…" The mysterious hooded figure spoke in a voice that set Roman on edge immediately, but he didn't let it show, forcing the face of a calm gentleman. He knew a potential recruit when he saw one, someone who could easily knock over people twice their size by accident could be dangerous, and useful.
"Fantastic! Glad to make your acquaintance then, Roman torchwick" he took a bow, tipping his bowler hat to the masked stranger and hoping for a introduction in return. "Why can't I see your friend? I can smell her beside you and yet nothing is there." the figure caught Roman off guard, he had smelled her?
Neo shattered into view a moment later, her tri colored outfit matching her pink, white and brown hair perfectly. She wore a smile that showed more than a hint of curiosity, rarely did she meet someone who radiated such an ominous presence. "Let me introduce Neopolitan, she doesn't talk much but she won't hurt you." Neo curtsied politely while keeping a critical eye and the masked person in front of her.
"My name's Jaune, and I won't hurt you either." He mimicked the curtsy slightly, as if unsure what to do. Maybe he was a recluse or some kind of hermit? Roman wasn't sure but he could use someone with such a threatening presence, a victim would think twice about playing the hero with him around. "I'll cut straight to the chase Jaune, how would you like to work for me? I could use the help of someone strong like you."
"...Work for you?" did the stranger not understand what that meant? Had Roman found an idiot? That could prove useful, a dumb strongman was easier to control than someone with some brains. Though Roman hated hearing the excuses idiots tended to make when they eventually made some stupid mistake.
"Never had a job before eh? It's simple really, you help me and in exchange I give you lots of lien." He tried not to sound condescending but who had never heard of working before?
Jaune stayed silent, tilting his head upwards slightly like he was listening to something before answering "I don't need anything like that." with a careless shrug.
"You don't want money?" Roman could hardly believe his ears, lien could make your life a hundred times easier, you could never have enough of the stuff! "Then what do you want?"
"I want to fight for good!" Roman could only stare in disbelief, did such a chilling, even monstrous voice, really just say something so childish? Fight for good?! What the fuck did that mean?! "You want to fight for good…?" He heard an odd wheezing noise beside him and realized Neo had started laughing while pointing at the dumbfounded look on his face.
"What? What did I say?" No matter the depth of his voice, Roman could hear the honest confusion in it. The figure had no idea how foolish he sounded telling the criminal mastermind Roman Torchwick that he wanted to fight for good.
"Nothing at all, she just has a screw loose." He recovered quickly, glaring at Neo while she stuck her tongue out at him with a pout. "Unrelated but… How old are you?" Of course it was related but depending how young the idiot was it wouldn't matter.
"Fifteen, why?"
"No reason." Roman shrugged off the question, thinking this just got a whole lot easier. "I can help you fight for "good"" He took a step closer. "But I'm wondering who's good you want to fight for." First he would make the child question himself, confusing and leaving him vulnerable to be manipulated.
"What do you mean? For the good of everybody of course." Jaune sounded so sure of himself that Roman could almost feel the naivety. This kid did not grow up in the city, no way someone so stupid would survive long enough to get such fine looking clothing. "But what's good for one person might hurt another, it's impossible to help everybody that way."
"Then I'll fight for whoever needs the most help." Jaune argued but Roman could hear doubt in his voice, Roman could tell Jaune hadn't thought his idea over very clearly. "Even if you hurt someone else in the process? What about after the person doesn't need your help, will you help the person you just hurt because he now needs help more?"
"I-I…" Roman knew his words were getting through, he just needed to push a bit more. "I get where you're coming from kid, I really do but your goal isn't realistic." Roman moved closer as he spoke, Jaune was too distracted by his inner thoughts to notice.
"How about this." He stopped right in front of Jaune who looked up at him slowly. "You work for me and I'll teach you about how things work around here. Just until you figure out who's good you want to fight for I mean." Roman extended his free hand to Jaune. "deal?"
Jaune hesitated while staring at the hand in front of him silently but Roman knew he would accept. The kid was confused now and without a firm goal in his mind anymore it was only a matter of time before Jaune reached out and accepted the deal.
Grabbing his hand in a firm Handshake Roman quickly paled at the contact, not at the texture of Jaune's glove, though that was disturbing as well. No, what drove a sliver of fear into the Great Roman Torchwick was instead a simple sentence spoken with a haunting terror inside his mind.
Do not disappoint us.
\-/
Somewhere over the beaches of Patch flew a lone crow, frantically flapping from one end of the beach to the other before landing on the sand with a thud. An instant later Qrow Branwen stood in its place, a look of frustration plain on his face. "Freakin brat… not taking a boat or bullhead like a normal damned person… Making me look like an idiot." he mumbled under his breath.
He had been searching all over Patch for any hint of where the brat could've gone but it was like he just jumped into the ocean! For all Qrow knew that's exactly what he did, not like the aquatic grimm would give him any trouble but that didn't mean he could breathe underwater or even swim! The kid was still part human and needed air to breathe, right? James should have explained things more thoroughly, that bastard always left useful little details.
The beeping from his scroll distracted him from his lamenting, a message from Ozpin with an attached image popping up on the screen. "Oz couldn't know I lost the kid already right?" He tapped the message and went bug eyed at what he saw.
The image displayed showed a figure dressed in a white cloak that looked suspiciously similar to Ruby's and a pearly white mask covering its face walking through a small crowd of people. The message below read "One of my drones snapped this image in the industrial district. The mighty Qrow isn't getting too old to do his job is he?"
Qrow all but threw his scroll into his pocket, did Ozpin really just call him old? Must be nice standing inside that glass house of his! Reincarnating didn't count as an age reset in Qrow's books whether Oz liked it or not.
With a loud sigh Qrow took off into the sky once more in the form of a crow, heading directly east over the ocean back towards Vale. At least he had a solid idea where the kid was now, now he just needed to catch up to him.
How hard could that be?
\~/
Took me a bit longer to finish this one, I've been having trouble thinking clearly with my personal life being bleh but I will continue to do my very best! I'd like to mention the leviathan Jaune and Whitback saw hasn't been seen in the anime, just what i theorized would be growing closer to the depths of the ocean similar to the massive mammoth like grimm that have been seen avoiding humans to grow bigger. I think I'm getting an idea of where i want this story to go and with even the origins of salem, ozpin, the grimm and the gods (I haven't seen that far in the anime but I've read about them) and I'd like to warn that I will be going a different route then what's canon. I will try to keep the characters as canonical as I can but I don't think i will be following the story as closely as some people might maybe like. I'm very open to suggestions and ideas about Roman and Neo, I find Neo a bit more difficult to tell her intentions as i haven't seen her conclusion anime-wise(But i think i read about it on the wiki) but from what i have seen she is a damaged person with incredible skills and a loyalty to Roman that borders familial. Everything else I see as changeable as long as it is consistent with her behavior(interest, hobbies and even attractions so long as she remains something of an adrenaline junky (is how i see her). Anyhow I'm rambling at this point, hope you enjoy my portrayal of them and please have a good night/day.
Sm0keyPanda thank you so much! It means a lot to me to know people are enjoying my writing, encourages me more then you could know. Hope you continue to read and enjoy my work! hope to hear what you think of this latest chapter! (ps; I may have not realized where i was going comment so not sure when beacon will be coming but it isn't far off.)
Artjom435, I admit i blundered a bit and forget to show that reaction, damn scatter brain. But I hope I made up for it this chapter and showed a consistent James and Winter. You're right, the virus does merge with the human part! more specifically it merges with the brain while working to strengthen the hosts body, at this point though Whitback has replaced his host(Jaune)'s body with a stronger one (hope I made it clear in the chapter when and why it happened then and not sooner). And as for Ruby meeting him I can't see it happening next chapter(Not positive, just with how i'm thinking of taking the next chapter) but I at the very least plan on following canon and having Ruby visit Vale when she's fifteen (thirteen right now if my math is right) to possibly stop Roman (This chapter will most likely change how that plays out). Hope i didn't answer too ambiguously, Glad you've taken an interest! can't wait to hear from you again.