I'll start sounding like a broken record if I keep being late, sorry again and hope you like my newest chapter!
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Chapter 19
Jaune couldn't keep his mind from wandering away from the professors lessons, James' words from only a few hours ago still echoed in his mind. Did torturing that woman really protect anybody? Could he say it was for the greater good?
All they had found out was Adam was trying to kill him and some mystery woman was instigating it. How did that help anybody? James had made him feel a bit better about what he had done but it didn't suddenly make the sick feeling in Jaune's stomach disappear.
"You coming Jaune?" Ruby's voice snapped him back to reality, had class already ended? He didn't realize how fast the time had passed, leaving him the only one still seated in the quickly emptying room.
"Remember you promised to show me some of your moves after class right?" Yang pointed out with a grin from behind Ruby. "I want my sparring match, don't think you can punk out now." She added with a glint of excitement in her eye.
Weiss scowled at her partner. "You enjoy fighting far too much." Yang shrugged in response "Only when it's fun, so what do ya say Jaune?" Jaune copied Yang's shrug and got up.
"Sure, I could use some practice." Maybe some training would help him feel a bit more prepared for whatever Adam and mystery woman were planning. At the very least the distraction might help take his mind off the impending dangers.
The training hall was a massive gymnasium-like room split into several sections, each with its own purpose. The area to Jaune's left held state of the art exercise equipment while the area to his right was far more open with lines painted along the ground meant for runners. The final area held a training arena similar to the one in Miss Goodwitch's class.
Jaune stared around in awe, never had he seen this room during his time in Beacon; all his training was done deep in the forest far from prying eyes. "Are we allowed to just... use the training ring without asking?" Jaune asked a bit nervously, what if they damaged something? Would they get in trouble or was it open to students whenever they wanted to train?
"Of course" Weiss scoffed "Beacon doesn't want students training in the emerald forest, so this hall is open at all times." She explained and Jaune nodded his understanding, the forest was a hot zone for Grimm and he could imagine accidents happening without a proper hunter present. Countless times during his training with Qrow they would need to stop and deal with a pack of Beowolves or a flock of Nevermore before they could continue.
Would you… like my assistance? Whitback sounded almost unsure of itself, was it feeling guilty for what it had done? Jaune almost let out a sigh, of course it didn't feel guilty for what it had done. It was feeling bad for hurting Jaune, not the woman they mentally crippled.
A part of Jaune wanted to be angry, furious even, that Whitback had forced him to hurt someone so much without remorse but in the end wasn't the whole thing his own fault? He was the one incited the WhiteFang to attack. He was the one who refused to follow Whitback's plan without offering an alternative. And it was him who agreed and allowed Whitback to proceed with it's alternative.
Jaune nodded to Whitback while he stepped into his place in the arena "Just remember, we're only sparring." Jaune mumbled too quietly for Yang to hear as she got into her own position opposite of him. Of course! It sounded pleased, whether that was because Jaune responded positively or because it could fight again wasn't clear.
"You better not go easy on me just because Goodwitch isn't here grading us." Yang said with a playful smirk, throwing some practice punches as if to warm up. "I want to see first hand how you gave Pyrrha such a hard time."
Jaune didn't respond, knowing his voice would be mixed with Whitback's, he instead just lowered himself into a defensive stance and waited. Jaune had seen Yang fight once or twice now and knew her style was very aggressive, relying heavily on pure ferocity to beat her opponent down.
It was effective but when Jaune compared it to Qrows calculated swings, strikes and dodges she was brutish; just like his own "style". The major difference would be her lack of a being like Whitback watching her back and keeping openings to a minimum.
It almost felt like cheating.
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Yang couldn't keep the smile from her face, she finally had the chance to fight someone who she could go all out on and not have to worry about hurting them. Originally she thought it would have been Pyrrha but after seeing her fight, Yang had to admit she needed much more practice before she could stand a chance against the champ.
Jaune continued to wait in the exact stance he had shown Pyrrha, a very simple form that kept the shield in front and the sword resting gently atop it. She guessed he would try to keep her at a distance with lunges and slashes but the sword wasn't what she was worried about. His shield was kept close to his body and moved fast, Yang knew that would cause much more trouble for her combat style.
Yang inched forward but when Jaune didn't react she began to calmly walk forward until she stood just out of his reach. "You're not used to making the first move are you?" Yang teased with a grin but Jaune remained still as a statue, so much so that she couldn't even see his chest moving to breath.
Then he moved so suddenly Yang almost missed it, her experience in CQC being the only reason she avoided the first strike. She moved in quickly while his blade was still extended and retaliated with her Ember Celica. A moment later she was sent flying back by his shield, causing her aura to flare and proving he wasn't going easy on her. The thought brought a smile to her face.
"Not holding back, even against your teammates?" Yang giggled after landing, readying her weapons in the same moment. "Good" She launched herself forward with her shotgun gauntlets, closing the distance again and setting into an aggressive barrage of shotgun enhanced punches.
Yang didn't think she could win, not after watching him fight, but that wouldn't stop her from letting loose and having a blast while she was at it. She was top of her class before coming to Beacon and was often told to hold back when sparring. By comparison this felt absolutely liberating!
The pair separated after only a few short seconds and a few dozen blocked punches, Jaune having thrown her back once more. Yang had a bit of trouble seeing him clearly through the surrounding air that thickened with smoke from her overzealous use of explosive dust.
"You know you can't win just by blocking, plus it's no fun if you don't fight back." She teased while idly wondering how strong her semblance would get if Jaune went all out. could she even take the hit to begin with? She figured there was only one way to find out.
She went at Jaune in hopes of testing her theory but a low rasping noise caused her to stop midway. Was he… Coughing? Yang couldn't remember Jaune ever sounding winded no matter the exercise and his Aura should have protected him from the smoke. So what was happening?
"Jaune?" Yang spoke softly while approaching slowly. "Are you alright?" He didn't budge but she could still hear the quiet rasping noise coming from behind his mask. Then he began to shake, dropping his weapons and doubling over while the rasping got much worse.
"Jaune?!" Yang leapt forward, she didn't know what was happening but something was very obviously wrong. "Jaune what's wrong?!" instead of answering, he reached for his mask and desperately began fumbling to get it off as if it was stuck to his face.
"Yang! What's happening?!" Yang heard her sisters voice but could only see her silhouette through the smoke. "Something's wrong with Jaune! I don't know what to do!" Yang could feel her heart pounding in her chest, what was she supposed to do!?
"Weiss, call Miss Goodwitch here quickly." Ruby didn't waste time as Yang saw her silhouette give the order to Weiss before running towards the arena's barrier controls.
"You're going to be fine Jaune, Miss Goodwitch should be here soon. Just hang on!" Yang tried to encourage her teammate but he didn't show any signs of hearing while he violently tore off his mask.
At the same instant she met his eyes she felt everything shift and suddenly she was nothing but a scared little girl with an even smaller sister behind her. And all that stood ahead was those monstrous eyes that were so familiar in this terrifying world.
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Jaune felt like his throat was closing, felt like he couldn't breath as smoke clogged his lungs and fire burned his flesh. He couldn't think straight and the ringing in his ears only served to further disorient him. Why wasn't his body moving?! He needed to get away, needed to find his family and escape this burning hell!
He needed to breath! Was something covering his face? He reached up and was surprised when he felt his arms obey the order. It took a few seconds to find the edges of the mask but once he yanked the thing off and took in a large breath of air a different scent filled his nose. A sickly sweet smell that brought the world crashing down onto him.
Can you hear me!? The familiar voice spoke loudly in Jaune's head. Jaune you need to come back! I can't properly maintain our body when you're resisting so much! Whitback sounded panicked, not a tone Jaune heard often coming from the unique Grimm.
He was about to ask what happened when he looked up and saw Yang and Ruby a couple meters from him, the former of which was absolutely covered in that familiarly sweet scent. Why was she holding Ruby back?
"Yang what are you doing!? He needs help!" Ruby was trying to push her way past but Yang continued to stop her from getting any closer. Why was she so afraid? What had he done? Neither of them looked hurt so what had happened?
Yang didn't say a word but Jaune had his question answered nonetheless when he felt Whitback move a portion of their mass to cover his face with a fresh mask. I've covered our face but it I'll need some time to find and reverse all the changes your subconscious has done.
"Wha…?" Jaune tried to respond but everything felt so… different, almost fake. Like he was in some sort of dream. He could see and even understand that was happening with Yang and Ruby but it just didn't feel real.
"Yang? What are you doing?" Weiss came into the ring as the smoke surrounding them finally dissipated enough to see clearly. Yang jumped at the sound of Wiess's voice and accidently let Ruby slip underneath her arms.
"Get away from him!" Yang reached to pull Ruby away but Weiss got between them quickly. "Yang you need to calm down! What's wrong?!" Weiss tried to make eye contact but Yang just shook her head and stared at Jaune with fear written all over her face.
"-ear me? Jaune are you alright?" Jaune slowly looked to Ruby who was kneeling beside him, worry in her eyes. "Yea…" He answered while nodding his head just as slow as he spoke, Why couldn't he focus properly? He knew he had screwed up but it was like getting punched in a dream, he just felt detached.
Glynda swung the doors open and drew the eyes of team RASY (Rhapsody) and every other student in the hall that was watching the scene unfold. She scanned the room and quickly made her way to Jaune, making something of a show to look him over for injuries and check his pulse.
"Can you walk Jaune?" he stared at the professor for a few seconds before the question finally registered and he slowly picked himself up with only minor trouble. "Good, you're coming with me to the infirmary. And you three." She turned and face the rest of Team RASY. "Ozpin will want to hear the full story, please head there now."
No arguments were heard.
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"How's she doing?" A friendly voice drew the drowsy officer's attention from his post. "Better Ma'am." The officer responded with a salute to his superior, blinking away any sleep still in his eyes. He had been guarding this lunatic for his entire shift, when would his replacement get here?
"She stopped screaming about things eating her a couple hours ago, now she's just mumbling incoherently. Haven't been able to catch much." He reported dutifully, leaving out the fact that he hadn't been listening for the past hour or two. At this point he just wanted to go home, crawl into bed and forget about the day.
The superior simply hummed in response and leaned in to look through the eye slot of the isolated cell. "She's looking rather pale… Perhaps I should get a doctor down here…?" She spoke quietly to herself before shrugging and turning back to the guarding officer. "I appreciate you doing this, why don't you take tomorrow off and start your weekend early?"
The officer showed her a genuine smile and responded with a nod "Thank you Ma'am." That would make the rest of his shift much easier to bear, now he could sleep in as late as he wanted. "Have a goodnight, I'll see you next week." The superior waved as she left the officer to his thoughts.
Another hour went by before the replacement showed up to cover the graveyard shift, ten minutes later than expected. "Sorry I'm late, damn car wouldn't start and I had to take a cab." The disheveled looking replacement offered his apologies and the officered simply waved it off.
"Don't worry about it, I got plenty of... Do you hear that?" Both men paused and listened to the gently humming of vents before the replacement shook his head. "No…?" The officer looked confused and turned to the isolated cell. "When did she stop muttering?"
The officer took a peek into the cell's eye slot and saw the prisoner with her back to him, giving him a view of nothing but her hair. "What in the name of…" The officer turned to his replacement with a confused expression. "How'd she change hair color?"
The replacement raised an eyebrow just as the officer's expression changed from confusion to shock, his eyes bulging outward suddenly. A moment later his flesh blackened and fell inwards like a rotting carapace before disappearing altogether.
The replacement was left alone, staring horrified at the writhing mass of black and white tendrils that slipped through the cell's eye slot.
His scream was cut off before it could even begin.
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I'll be honest, not sure if I did Yang justice but I hope I'm not doing too bad with her or any member of rwby. most of you will notice I tried to tie in yang's experience as a child when she tried to run away with ruby and i felt such a near death experience at such a young age would leave some damage on anyone. But let me know what you think! also some new things happening at the police station, I hope you enjoy the direction I decided to take this and please let me know if I've stopped making sense or made something unclear! I wish you all a good morning/evening!
Khor Evik Vlakhavlakh, Glad to hear you're feeling better! and I know exactly what you mean, people tend to over complicate things (Guilty of it myself) but I guess it's just human nature. That would suck to lose a doc like that! I hope google keeps this story safe for me and I hope to hear how you think the story is progressing. Have a good day/night!